Welcome back guys, today I’m talking about some of the controversy surrounding Euphoria
season 2.
The first few episodes are out now and oh boy, do I have some thoughts.
This season started off with a bang, it wasted no time getting right into the meat of what
makes Euphoria, Euphoria.
In just the first episode alone there are seven different sets of breasts, 2 vaginas,
and 3 penises.
There’s also two separate incidents of violence that I know had many viewers flinching in
their seats.
Some critics online have been especially critical of this saying that it “relies on sex and
violence to shock the viewer, suggesting a cricis of confidence”.
It’s true, this show “goes there” repeatedly.
It honestly feels like Euphoria is emotionally slamming the gas pedal the entire time.
It’s in your face and it doesn’t care.
But the question you have to ask, and the question I hope to answer in this video is:
Is all this justified?
Is Euphoria too much?
Is this some great master work or is it just self indulgent sexploitation?
To answer this question, I think we need to take a look at something that could be seemingly
unrelated to the content of the piece itself, we need to look at the cinematography.
In an interview, the creator of Euphoria Sam Levinson stated that he wanted to shoot on
a soundstage as much as possible, he wanted to “design the light and space from scratch
so that they could design everything around the camera.”
And when you watch Euphoria, this definitely comes across.
The camera is one of the main characters in the show.
Every move is specifically thought out, and the lighting cues are so great at portraying
how the characters feel.
Nothing about this approach is naturalistic, it's all hyperreal.
In a way, when you are a teenager, everything in your life feels hyperreal.
Take a look at these couple of shots for example.
They are all push-ins where the lighting illuminates some of our key players in the show.
It’s obvious who the focal points of these shots are.
Each character is pulled out from the rest in the frame.
Each of them having some emotional moment, like they are the center of the universe in
this one instance.
These moments in succession lead up to the reunification of Rue and Jules.
They both reach each other after spending the whole night “will-they, won’t they”
- ing.
And in this moment, they both look directly into the camera, and are both lit by ring
lights as evident by the catch light in their eyes.
Nothing about this is real, nothing about this is naturalistic, but it works.
Their senses are heightened, their emotions are heightened, and the cinematography reflects
this.
Now the reason I bring all this up to answer the question, is all the aforementioned sex
and violence justified, is because I think by the cinematography alone, it’s hard to
argue that the show lacks confidence.
The visual style is so distinct.
It feels like a show that knows what it’s doing.
And whether as a viewer you enjoy the in-your-face-ness of it is up to you.
But the filmmakers clearly know what they are doing.
So why then, why is the show so in-your-face, what could the filmmakers have been intending
by making it so… much?
Let's take a look at the nudity.
Not like literally, obviously all this is getting blurred, I’ll be shocked if Youtube
hasn’t already age gated this video, but let's look at some of the the ideas behind
all this nudity.
America has a really weird relationship with nudity to be frank.
Unlike a lot of European countries, in the states, topless women, regardless of context,
are sexualized.
Got boobs in your movie?
R rating.
No one under 17 should see a boob.
Ironically, everyone in Euphoria is 17 pretty much.
Probably just a coincidence, but let’s continue.
Nudity of any kind makes a lot of American audiences uncomfortable, but you know what
doesn’t make them uncomfortable?
Violence.
There are multiple decapitations and loss of limbs in the Star Wars films, supposed
kid movies.
Yet that same franchise has also been criticized at times for being inappropriate for kids
due specifically to its sexuality.
American cinema has been telling stories of drug lords who break people's knee caps for
decades.
This is nothing new, and isn’t exactly shocking to audiences.
I think that’s the key right there though, the Euphoria filmmakers know this.
And I think they are pushing back against it.
The world of Euphoria is not one for the light hearted.
The things these kids experience are brutal and should be interpreted that way.
Unfortunately I think if the kids just did drugs and hooked up in the bathroom off screen,
some of that brutality would be lost.
In my opinion, Euphoria is a cautionary tale.
Not satire exactly, but nothing about the storytelling suggests that what it’s characters
are doing is good.
If anything it’s tragic.
These characters struggle, they suffer, and one of the ways the filmmakers keep the audience
on edge is by making them uncomfortable through nudity.
There are other films and shows that have used nudity to enhance the storytelling.
A lot of the time it’s used in a way to enhance sex scenes or even garner interest
in the show.
Game of Throne’s first season famously showed many of it’s main characters nude and had
them engage in sex scenes.
That had its own amount of controversy, but most of the nudity, at least early on, was
topless female nudity.
Euphoria has no shame in showing you a penis that takes up way more of the frame than many
audiences would probably prefer.
But these nude scenes are never really used in a context where you are supposed to feel
comfortable.
The characters in these scenes are in uncomfortable situations.
When you compare that to this imagined sex scene from episode two of euphoria, this scene
is shot in a different way.
The nudity isn’t exactly the focal point.
It’s supplemental and it’s lit and shot in a way that feels a bit more comfortable.
This is supposed to be a good feeling, and the way it is portrayed on screen supports
that.
This same idea can be applied to the violence that is portrayed in Euphoria.
Euphoria never shows violence in a way that feels particularly good.
It’s not like a gangster mowing down bad guys with a machine gun.
It’s intimate, bloody, painful.
The violence in Euphoria feels just as surreal as everything else, but it’s obvious that
the filmmakers want you to feel uncomfortable by it.
To me, it almost feels like a commentary on American culture in a way.
Euphoria says, hey, I know you like violence, I know you like naked people, I’m going
to give you what you want.
But it twists it.
I can guarantee you, if Euphoria was just a show about kids doing drugs alone in their
homes, no one would care.
In the same way that Game of Thrones used Sex scenes to deliver exposition, Euphoria
shows you a car wreck that you can’t look away from.
It uses the sex and violence to deliver a hyperreal and sometimes uncomfortable experience
to viewers so that they can get a real sense of what these characters are going through.
It feels like Euphoria grabs you by the shoulders and says hey, this life isn’t good, it should
be uncomfortable, it should make you feel bad, and it uses the other aspects of the
human reptile brain, sex and violence, to get it’s point across.
The lines between good sex and good violence are blurred.
Humans crave these things to some extent.
Pornography is insanely popular, and some of the great American pastimes are watching
grown men try to kill each other over a ball.
As humans we don’t know how to feel about these things, because we know that they have
negative sides.
We love to dip our toes in and experience the thrills they can provide, but we are also
acutely aware of the risks and destruction they can cause.
That’s kind of the whole point of entertainment.
We are fascinated by things we might be too afraid to explore.
The majority of people aren’t gonna become drug addicts and find themselves stripping
down for a drug dealer who’s pointing a gun at them.
It might be fascinating to watch, but no one wants to experience that.
So if you ask me, is this nudity too much, is all the violence way too in your face?
Does Euphoria go too far?
I think the real answer is that it depends.
I don’t think Euphoria uses the violence and sex in a way that is trying to appeal
to your base instinct about those things.
It doesn’t show violence in a way that glorifies it, and the nudity and sex it shows is not
meant to be sexually gratifying.
It’s using these things to make a point about the lives these characters live.
This won’t be for everyone.
Some people don’t want to be challenged like this, and inevitably some people will
only watch Euphoria to try and get something more out of the sex scenes, but let’s be
honest, there’s plenty of content online that can fulfill those curiosites if that’s
what you are going for.
I have a lot of respect for what the filmmakers have done with this show and I’m excited
to see where it’s going.
It’s definitely not for the faint of heart, and it’s definitely not a feel good show,
but I hope it at least gets taken seriously by critics and audiences going forward.
It’s a lot, but it’s not gratuitous.
I can assure you, most audiences aren’t going to come away from that show wanting
to be involved with anything that goes on with it.
But, that’s just my take, what do you guys think?
Do you think the show is too much?
Do you think it’s way too in your face?
I’d love to know your thoughts in the comments down below.
Thanks again for watching guys, and as always, I’ll see you in the next one.
Peace!