“Exploitative”, “violating” and “disgusting” are just a few of the words that are being used these days on social media, especially on Twitter, when referring to Sam Taylor Johnson’s upcoming Amy Winehouse biopic, Back to Black.
This particular reaction has been caused by photos from the set that see Marisa Abela, the Industry actress that has been selected for the difficult task of portraying Amy, in full attire, wearing a wig and makeup that have been described as “cartoonish”, crying on the streets of Soho.
But what exactly has pushed Twitter users into this feeling of hatred towards the first pictures of the film? If firstly it can look like simple hate directed towards the costume-looking hair and makeup or the choice of the actress who, according to some, does not look like Winehouse at all, the reasons why fans are hostile towards the new film are multiple.
A common theme that can be found in the Tweets is surely that of exploitation, worsened by the fact that Amy Winehouse has been, as it was underlined by the users, taken advantage of improperly and without respect many times in the media in the past. The singer’s fans are identifying the new movie as yet another way to use Amy’s tragic story with the sole purpose of making money, not as a fair representation of Winehouse’s life and her career but as another movie that relies on trauma as the main plot. We’ve recently seen this sort of representation in the film Blonde about the life of Marylin Monroe, that was heavily criticised because of its only purpose being showing Monroe’s troubles in a way that was morbid and even sexualised. Back to Black would be just a rehash of those aspects of Amy’s life that always caught the media’s attention, like her addictions and her eating disorder, while fans’ desire is for Amy to be “left in peace”.
Another reason why fans were outraged with the movie was the participation of Amy’s father, Mitchell Winehouse, in the production of the film, as the Amy Winehouse estate is fully supporting the film. This includes Mitch, who, in the past, has been criticised harshly by fans who believe he had a negative role in his daughter’s life and downfall especially in the early part of Amy’s career. It is known that when the singer started using and drinking heavily, it was Mitch who said that Amy didn’t need to go to rehab and could keep working. As Amy’s friends identify it, this was “the first time Amy died”, and fans are not likely to forgive Mitch for it.
This would be yet another attempt from the singer’s father to monetise his daughter’s tragedy just like he did in St Lucia in 2009 when Amy was experiencing a particularly hard moment of her life recovering from drugs and was finding an escape on the Island in the Caribbean. On this occasion Mitch went to St Lucia to be close to his daughter only to be followed by an entire troupe of cameramen who were shooting for his series “My daughter, Amy”. As Amy put it herself at the time “Why are you doing a ‘your life story’ which is really a ‘my life story?’ Do you want the money? I’ll give you the money”. The hard relationship Amy had with her father that was based on the lack of attention she received from him during her childhood and during her life in general and the constant fixation Mitch allegedly had with profit is what is making fans around the world turn their back from this film. In fact, since the family is involved in the production, this makes us think that the way it will be portrayed in the film will probably be sugar coated and that the actual role Mitch had on Amy’s downfall will probably be concealed. As many users on Twitter are inviting others not to stream the film, it will be interesting to see if director Sam Taylor Johnson, who was a personal friend of Amy, will actually “focus on Amy’s extraordinary genius, creativity and honesty that infused everything she did” as it was said on the log line that was released with the first picture of the film, or if Back to Black will be yet another example of where biopics fail.