you were never really here (lynne ramsay, 2017)
"Close your eyes.
The article in the newspaper reads 'Banker guilty of murdering £1,000 escort with pestle' and this is really where it all starts.
There's an advertising screen in the station that rotates through a number of advertisements. The one that hits me hardest is one for Love Island. Because when I first read it I'm confused, and then I realise that I Saw it First is the name of the clothing label that is working in association with the show. I don't know if this means that all of the clothes the contestants wear on Love Island are produced by I Saw it First.
'Can lightning strike twice for Love Island's new fashion partner?' reads a headline that I find later to investigate what the link is between the show and the clothes, but I grow weary before I even click the link. Deep down I don't care if all the clothes are made by I Saw it First.
'What are the Love Island girls of 2019 wearing tonight?' reads another article. 'Get the look.' reads a link embedded within the article.
The Lama folds his hands together, fingers interlacing.
Somewhere along the way culture and commerce became entwined, like the Lama's hands.
I find myself thinking back to the first appearance of the Kardashians in... God knows when it was... but it was a period when people seemed less eager to be funnelled in one particular direction. Or maybe I'm wrong.
'Banker guilty of murdering £1,000 escort with pestle.'
£1,000 escort.
There's no mention of her name in the entire first paragraph of the article. The Banker is named immediately. But she isn't. That's her impact on the world. That's how she's remembered. £1,000 escort.
When the Kardashians started people laughed at the concept of the show. But no one's laughing anymore. We even have television shows of people watching television shows like the Kardashians, which you can watch at home. Get the look.
'Body found.'
'Mother of three found dead.'
'Grandmother pushed in front of train.'
'Security Guard slays two.'
'Homeless man burned alive.'
'Wife killed.'
'Girlfriend beaten to death.'
Time after time after time these people are unnamed, described in the strangest way, described in, perhaps, a way that best summarises who they are. Or perhaps it best summarises who they are to the readers of whichever newspaper you're reading. But in no newspaper is their name the most relevant identifier.
The pages of each newspaper seem to be accompanied by the stench of something fetid. Some of them are stuck together.
My brother asks me if I saw Dr Strange, I tell him yes, but I didn't enjoy it. He looks out the taxi window and says 'I saw it 3 times.'
'Girlfriend beaten to death. Get the look.'
The I Saw it First instagram page contains links to the instagram pages of all the Love Island contestants. Amber, Lucie, Amy, Anna, Yewande, Molly May, Arabella, Elma, Maura. None of the men. Is that surprising? And these aren't links to their actual instagram pages either. These are their I Saw it First pages. Looking fire. Link in the bio.
I Saw it First. That's an interesting name. I'm reminded of the way in which currency matters. Who can be the first to get to their feet and wander the corridors wrapped in a shroud and howling 'Prince is dead! Prince is dead!'
Bio used to be short for 'biography,' but I don't think anyone's ever called it a biography. It's the area where you write your bio, info about yourself. Stuff like 'proud parent' or 'I make Youtube videos' or 'cinema - philosophy - music' or '28, self-employed' or 'words are immortal' or 'editor-in-chief' or 'influencer.'
One thing ties into another. It used to be that the furthest this went was that a film came out and you could also buy the soundtrack or the book. Or, if there wasn't a book, you could buy a novelisation of it. As a child I could not wrap my head around the difference between a book of the film and a novelisation of the film. They seemed the same to me.
I blame Marvel for a lot of this stuff, but are Marvel any more responsible than anyone else? Are they a cause or a symptom?
'Predict who will get dumped from the island to win.'
The instagram page for I Saw it First contains videos, but I'm unsure as to whether these are actually clips from Love Island or if they're advertising videos. I should watch the show to find out, but I'm not going to do that.
'Banker guilty of murdering £1,000 escort with pestle.' Pestle is a strange addition. I wonder how many people there are who can readily identify a pestle. And even within that group, how many of them are easily able to tell you which part of the pestle & mortar double act *is* the pestle.
Maybe it's because they can't identify it so readily. Maybe that's the point. Maybe because it all ties together on the topic of money to create a patchwork quilt of excess - Banker - £1,000 escort - pestle - maybe it's language turned into money, fired into your face the way James Bond fired cards into the villain's face in Live and Let Die (Guy Hamilton, 1973). Who really needs a pestle & mortar anyway?
'I can't find black denim skirt on the website.'
'<3 <3 This is gorgeous <3 <3'
'Please check your DM!'
'I <3 the boots!'
'These are amazing!'
'Follow us all for the memes and news'
But now it's insidious. Now we're not only buying the soundtrack and the novelisation, we're even buying the clothes we see people wear. The watches they wear. The cars they drive. The slim tea they pretend to drink. And there's no pretence about this, it's all up front. The clothing company and the media producer are working together, in tandem. And no one seems to care.
'3 Britons dead in plane crash killing 136.'
'Now they want *your* taxes to pay for it.'
'We're not standing for this!'
'What are *you* going to do about it!'
'You must fight them!'
Never before have I been so vague about terms like 'we' and 'they' and 'you' and so on. Personally I feel neither part of a group, nor completely detached from everyone. But that's just me.
That's just me.
Just me.
Recently I read an article called Many Mansions and it pointed out that no one on a tour could identify what a pastry marble might have been used for. And the author was reminded of the heroine from Mary McCarthy's Birds of America and her identification of America's moral decline in the disappearance of the first course. The author acknowledges that such arguments open one up to accusations of elitism.
America is no longer the only place in the world to have no definition of 'crass,' no definition of 'sell out.' We used to talk about how stupid Americans were. You don't hear that one so much any more. The author acknowledges that such arguments open one up to accusations of elitism.
If you choose a side to be against, then you choose a side to be on, and, as far as I've noticed, once you choose a side to be on then you run the risk of not thinking anymore.
Get the look.
'3 Britons dead in plane crash killing 136. Get the look.'
'Now they want *your* taxes to pay for it. Get the look.'
'Mother of three found dead. Get the look.'
'What are *you* going to do about it! Get the look.'
'Girlfriend beaten to death. Get the look.'
'You must fight them! Get the look.'
And back where I started:
'Banker guilty of murdering £1,000 escort with pestle. Get the look.'
Next to the article there's a link to the pestle & mortar from Heals or Habitat or somewhere. Click back to the article itself: You can also get the look of the Banker - Ozwald Boateng, naturally, Jimmy Choo, of course. It even provides a discount to Kai Mayfair for Tuesdays and Wednesdays only. The £1,000 escort look is also available, with a strong focus on her Calzedonia underwear. And getting the escort's look also comes accompanied with a strange effect, one where it looks for all the world like your face has been scratched out of a photograph with a scalpel. Get the look.
The article in the newspaper reads 'Banker guilty of murdering £1,000 escort with pestle' and this is really where it all starts.
There's an advertising screen in the station that rotates through a number of advertisements. The one that hits me hardest is one for Love Island. Because when I first read it I'm confused, and then I realise that I Saw it First is the name of the clothing label that is working in association with the show. I don't know if this means that all of the clothes the contestants wear on Love Island are produced by I Saw it First.
'Can lightning strike twice for Love Island's new fashion partner?' reads a headline that I find later to investigate what the link is between the show and the clothes, but I grow weary before I even click the link. Deep down I don't care if all the clothes are made by I Saw it First.
'What are the Love Island girls of 2019 wearing tonight?' reads another article. 'Get the look.' reads a link embedded within the article.
The Lama folds his hands together, fingers interlacing.
Somewhere along the way culture and commerce became entwined, like the Lama's hands.
I find myself thinking back to the first appearance of the Kardashians in... God knows when it was... but it was a period when people seemed less eager to be funnelled in one particular direction. Or maybe I'm wrong.
'Banker guilty of murdering £1,000 escort with pestle.'
£1,000 escort.
There's no mention of her name in the entire first paragraph of the article. The Banker is named immediately. But she isn't. That's her impact on the world. That's how she's remembered. £1,000 escort.
When the Kardashians started people laughed at the concept of the show. But no one's laughing anymore. We even have television shows of people watching television shows like the Kardashians, which you can watch at home. Get the look.
'Body found.'
'Mother of three found dead.'
'Grandmother pushed in front of train.'
'Security Guard slays two.'
'Homeless man burned alive.'
'Wife killed.'
'Girlfriend beaten to death.'
Time after time after time these people are unnamed, described in the strangest way, described in, perhaps, a way that best summarises who they are. Or perhaps it best summarises who they are to the readers of whichever newspaper you're reading. But in no newspaper is their name the most relevant identifier.
The pages of each newspaper seem to be accompanied by the stench of something fetid. Some of them are stuck together.
My brother asks me if I saw Dr Strange, I tell him yes, but I didn't enjoy it. He looks out the taxi window and says 'I saw it 3 times.'
'Girlfriend beaten to death. Get the look.'
The I Saw it First instagram page contains links to the instagram pages of all the Love Island contestants. Amber, Lucie, Amy, Anna, Yewande, Molly May, Arabella, Elma, Maura. None of the men. Is that surprising? And these aren't links to their actual instagram pages either. These are their I Saw it First pages. Looking fire. Link in the bio.
I Saw it First. That's an interesting name. I'm reminded of the way in which currency matters. Who can be the first to get to their feet and wander the corridors wrapped in a shroud and howling 'Prince is dead! Prince is dead!'
Bio used to be short for 'biography,' but I don't think anyone's ever called it a biography. It's the area where you write your bio, info about yourself. Stuff like 'proud parent' or 'I make Youtube videos' or 'cinema - philosophy - music' or '28, self-employed' or 'words are immortal' or 'editor-in-chief' or 'influencer.'
One thing ties into another. It used to be that the furthest this went was that a film came out and you could also buy the soundtrack or the book. Or, if there wasn't a book, you could buy a novelisation of it. As a child I could not wrap my head around the difference between a book of the film and a novelisation of the film. They seemed the same to me.
I blame Marvel for a lot of this stuff, but are Marvel any more responsible than anyone else? Are they a cause or a symptom?
'Predict who will get dumped from the island to win.'
The instagram page for I Saw it First contains videos, but I'm unsure as to whether these are actually clips from Love Island or if they're advertising videos. I should watch the show to find out, but I'm not going to do that.
'Banker guilty of murdering £1,000 escort with pestle.' Pestle is a strange addition. I wonder how many people there are who can readily identify a pestle. And even within that group, how many of them are easily able to tell you which part of the pestle & mortar double act *is* the pestle.
Maybe it's because they can't identify it so readily. Maybe that's the point. Maybe because it all ties together on the topic of money to create a patchwork quilt of excess - Banker - £1,000 escort - pestle - maybe it's language turned into money, fired into your face the way James Bond fired cards into the villain's face in Live and Let Die (Guy Hamilton, 1973). Who really needs a pestle & mortar anyway?
'I can't find black denim skirt on the website.'
'<3 <3 This is gorgeous <3 <3'
'Please check your DM!'
'I <3 the boots!'
'These are amazing!'
'Follow us all for the memes and news'
But now it's insidious. Now we're not only buying the soundtrack and the novelisation, we're even buying the clothes we see people wear. The watches they wear. The cars they drive. The slim tea they pretend to drink. And there's no pretence about this, it's all up front. The clothing company and the media producer are working together, in tandem. And no one seems to care.
'3 Britons dead in plane crash killing 136.'
'Now they want *your* taxes to pay for it.'
'We're not standing for this!'
'What are *you* going to do about it!'
'You must fight them!'
Never before have I been so vague about terms like 'we' and 'they' and 'you' and so on. Personally I feel neither part of a group, nor completely detached from everyone. But that's just me.
That's just me.
Just me.
Recently I read an article called Many Mansions and it pointed out that no one on a tour could identify what a pastry marble might have been used for. And the author was reminded of the heroine from Mary McCarthy's Birds of America and her identification of America's moral decline in the disappearance of the first course. The author acknowledges that such arguments open one up to accusations of elitism.
America is no longer the only place in the world to have no definition of 'crass,' no definition of 'sell out.' We used to talk about how stupid Americans were. You don't hear that one so much any more. The author acknowledges that such arguments open one up to accusations of elitism.
If you choose a side to be against, then you choose a side to be on, and, as far as I've noticed, once you choose a side to be on then you run the risk of not thinking anymore.
Get the look.
'3 Britons dead in plane crash killing 136. Get the look.'
'Now they want *your* taxes to pay for it. Get the look.'
'Mother of three found dead. Get the look.'
'What are *you* going to do about it! Get the look.'
'Girlfriend beaten to death. Get the look.'
'You must fight them! Get the look.'
And back where I started:
'Banker guilty of murdering £1,000 escort with pestle. Get the look.'
Next to the article there's a link to the pestle & mortar from Heals or Habitat or somewhere. Click back to the article itself: You can also get the look of the Banker - Ozwald Boateng, naturally, Jimmy Choo, of course. It even provides a discount to Kai Mayfair for Tuesdays and Wednesdays only. The £1,000 escort look is also available, with a strong focus on her Calzedonia underwear. And getting the escort's look also comes accompanied with a strange effect, one where it looks for all the world like your face has been scratched out of a photograph with a scalpel. Get the look.