After scrolling through countless angry tweets, TikToks, and memes about a new film, 27-year-old Mila Davis decided that it was time for her to watch it herself – solely so that she could join the discourse surrounding it and start fighting online too.
“I had to see what all the hubbub was about,” Mila told reporters while sitting down in her movie theater seat. “How else am I supposed to know whether or not I should hate the director and anyone else who defends them?”
While Mila was excited to get to the bottom of the discourse, her friends seemed to be less than enthused about her reasons to watch the film.
“I was with her when she first saw the trailer for it and she told me that she had no interest in watching it whatsoever,” Mila’s friend, Katrina Johnson, said. “But now, after so many arguments about it have blown up on Twitter and TikTok, she keeps asking me when I can go see it with her so we can exchange our opinions about it afterwards. I don’t really want to go though, because I think she just wants to fight with me afterwards, which isn’t really my ideal movie watching experience.”
However, Mila maintains that her reason for watching the movie is as good as anyone else’s.
“Does it really matter why I want to see it? It’s not like anyone else’s reasons for watching a movie are usually that worthwhile,” she said. “Sure, maybe I’m not going in with an open mind or letting the movie wash over me to find something personally meaningful in it, but that’s okay, because fighting online is what’s truly meaningful to me.”
In preparation for the film, Mila browsed Letterboxd for all the varying reviews users had about the story, and then drafted a few Tweets of her possible responses to the movie.
“I made sure I had some inflammatory statements ready to go,” she said. “So, I wrote one that said, ‘This is the most disgusting film I’ve ever seen in my life, and anyone who liked it should rot in hell,’ and then I wrote one that was like, ‘I’ve never had a film speak to me more than this one. Anyone who didn’t like it should probably rot in hell.’ We’ll see which one I’ll actually agree with after this!”
At press time, Mila had left the theater feeling surprisingly neutral about the film
“I don’t really have much to say,” she told reporters. “It seems like both sides have pretty good arguments, which is super disappointing.”
