I’m Living My Best Life

I Blame Society (2020) Dir. Gillian Wallace Horvat

Struggling filmmaker Gillian decides to make a documentary about how she would commit the perfect murder. 

“I feel like I’m close, but maybe that’s what all delusional people say.” - Gillian

What kind of person does it take to be a filmmaker? Are the personality traits required to be a success in Hollywood the same that you’d need to be a sociopathic killer? 

This film is such a gem. A found footage mockumentary in which writer/director Gillian Wallace Horvat gets to poke fun at the film industry, overused social media aphorisms, and the ways in which capitalism has turned feminism into a commodity. But Horvat never lets the caustic satire get in the way of a fascinating character study of a deeply disturbed killer with a camera.

While it’s maybe a stretch to say that you root for Gillian, there are moments where the film encourages you to delight in the kills with her. A particular highlight, for me, is the Health Insurance Bro who lectures his date on why free universal healthcare is an impossibility. I’ve never wanted to cheer more at a film than when Gillian slides into frame and bluntly states: “he has to die.”

Gillian’s film proposals are consistently rejected thanks to having an “unlikeable female lead” while she’s also being encouraged to take a more administrative position on projects by men that feature “strong female characters.” The meaning of a “strong/likeable female lead” becomes something of a running theme throughout the film. With Gillian admitting she’s not sure what a likeable female lead even is, before asking: “one who takes her top off?”

“I hope this film kills the term “strong female lead”. To me, it’s just another aspirational, unrealistic category that authentic, complicated women are being forced into. Only a guy could have come up with it.” - Gillian Wallace Horvat

The concept of a female serial killer being able to plot and execute perfect murders also reminds me of a Jena Friedman set about the popularity of true crime with women:

“Women don’t watch true crime. Technically, we study it. And true crime is kind of feminist: it’s the only time the entertainment industry will take a chance of an unknown female lead.” - Jena Friedman

The film works well as a bit of a fullstop on the #GirlBoss era that arguably started with the 2014 book (see below for more on this). It playfully twists the co-opted nature of the Lean In “women can be just as exploitative and neoliberal as the worst men in the world” philosophy and takes it to the darkest conclusion: mass murder. It’s American Psycho for the 2020s. I feel this critique is at its most pointed when Gillian begins to target unhoused people for her “project”.

The awful producer duo at the General Meeting From Hell are the perfect representation for where Hollywood (and other industries) ultimately landed in the wake of #metoo and #timesup. With the words of allyship deployed in the service of public relations, but with little to no genuine structural change on the horizon.

“They pivoted to a more public facing and performative position where it was about saying the right thing and doing the right tweet and posting the right instagram infographic, and condemning the right people rather than doing anything, rather than making changes inside of their house, rather than making changes on their film slates.” - Gillian Wallace Horvat

It’s an understandably angry film, but I don’t want to give the impression that it’s not also a whole load of fun. I’m worried about spoiling some of it here but I can’t not share this line when Gillian admonishes her boyfriend for not believing in her crime spree:

“I believe you can do your elevated sci-fi David Lynch graphic novel! I believe in you. Why can’t you believe in me?!” - Gillian

Where can I watch it in the UK?

You can rent it for £0.99 on YouTube/Google/Amazon/Apple or buy it for £2.99.

Pairs well with

If you’re feeling in the mood for some more horror mockumentaries, I think Lake Mungo and The Bay are probably two of the strongest (and scariest). 

But my preferred double bill would be to match I Blame Society with The Columnist (2019, dir. Ivo Van Aart, available to rent for £2.49 on YouTube/Google/Amazon/Apple).

It’s a Dutch black comedy about a columnist (played by the excellent Katja Herbers from Evil) who faces constant online abuse and threats from social media trolls, before taking matters into her own hands. As with I Blame Society, there’s a certain joy to be taken in watching online trolls suffer bloody deaths, but there’s also an undercurrent of critique about the middle class commentariat too. No-one escapes criticism here, and while I’m not completely behind the kind of smug, Both Sides-ism that the film occasionally lurches towards, I think the satire generally works.

Further Reading

• Alice Capelle (an excellent channel generally) on the historical roots of the Girlboss.
• John The Duncan on Making a Girlboss: Patriarchy, Social Reproduction and Neoliberal Subjectivity. I am fun at parties.
• And a slightly more horror specific one: Shanspeare’s video on the Girlboss-ification of the Horror Genre.
• If you want more of Jena Friedman’s excellent routine about women and true crime, this six minute clip is great.

Other Recommendations

• If you’ve got some Halloween parties planned and you’d like to stick something on in the background, or you’re just keen to watch some vintage horror movies, RetroStrange have got your back. It’s a community-supported, 24/7 streaming TV channel using public domain media. Throughout October, they’re playing nothing but horror. You can watch along ad-free, tracker-free, and surveillance-free.
• RetroStrange Radio may also be of interest, with 24/7 vintage sci-fi radio plays.
• If you’re someone who enjoys a horror film but want a bit of reassurance about what it is you’re going into, Slate have a Scaredy Scale where they rank new horror films according to Suspense, Gore and Spookiness.