Hollywood is courting Gen Z with movies like #BodiesBodiesBodies, #SharpStick and #NotOkay.
But has it actually figured out bring them out to the movies? latimes.com/entertainment-…
The three movies — all directed by women — are part of a spate of recent films to grapple with how the medium can engage a generation versed in a new visual language and culture. latimes.com/entertainment-…
Their 20-something, predominantly female characters are defined to an extent by the way they define themselves online, a mix of jokey memes, earnest questioning, engaged activism, real horniness, performative fakeness and the search for an authentic self. latimes.com/entertainment-…
“This is just the best age group to examine human behavior,” said #BodiesBodiesBodies director Halina Reijn. “When the power goes out and the Wi-Fi goes out, they change. The animal comes out. It’s like the Wi-Fi is our oxygen. Wi-Fi out, demons in.” latimes.com/entertainment-…
“Instead of documenting my friends, it feels like I’m like 100, trying to do sociological research,” said #SharpStick filmmaker Lena Dunham. “A lot of the movie did come out of the fact that during the height of the pandemic, I discovered TikTok.” latimes.com/entertainment-…
Dunham created a secret TikTok account during the pandemic — the first time in a while she had actively used social media.
“I wanted to do it from a place that wasn’t a judgmental parody,” she says of exploring online culture with #SharpStick. latimes.com/entertainment-…
Sprinkled throughout #NotOkay are real-life internet personalities like Caroline Calloway, Reece Feldman and more. Shephard also makes a cameo appearance as part of an online shaming support group. And yes, there is a joke about Lena Dunham too. latimes.com/entertainment-…
“Something I found really heartening about the people that we worked with for cameos was that they immediately understood that the film was satirizing a culture and not specifically criticizing them,” said #NotOkay director Quinn Shephard. latimes.com/entertainment-…
Zoey Deutch understands why Gen Z is skeptical of older generations trying to speak its language and co-opt its attitudes to reach a younger audience: “It just reeks of inauthenticity when people are trying to impress or understand Gen-Z when they don’t.” latimes.com/entertainment-…
Read Mark Olsen’s (@IndieFocus) latest, on Hollywood’s most recent attempts to bring Gen Z sensibilities to the movies. latimes.com/entertainment-…
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