Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Tuesday 8 augusT 2017
‘Ingrid Goes West’ satirizes the perils of social media envy

By LINDSEY BAHR She and Olsen ap-
AP Film Writer proached their characters
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Have without judgment. Both, in
you ever been jealous of essence, just want to be
someone on Instagram? Or liked and fit in, although In-
gone down a spiral of late grid takes some dark, pos-
night scrolling that starts sibly borderline turns in her
out as voyeurism and ends expression of that.
in despair? That’s the sen- The filmmakers didn’t want
sation captured in “Ingrid to assign a mental illness to
Goes West,” a new indie Ingrid, however.
film out Friday that skewers “We wanted the audience
both sides of the social me- to see parts of themselves
dia equation with uncom- in (Ingrid),” Spicer says.
fortable acumen. “We didn’t want them to
It’s the latest satirical pop write her off.”
The actresses have an un-
This image released by Neon shows Aubrey Plaza in a scene derstandably different re-
from, “Ingrid Goes West.” Plaza plays a woman who becomes lationship with social me-
obsessed with a woman on Instagram, played by Elizabeth Ol- dia as celebrities.
sen. She goes so far as to start dressing and acting like her and “It’s really confusing some-
eventually even befriends her social media idol. times. It can be a really
great tool as an actor and
culture effort to delve whose account is full of her a public figure,” Plaza says.
into the painful realities of Moon Juice smoothies and “But then the flip side is that
the way social media im- Erdem dresses and Clare that can sometimes be re-
pacts our lives. It’s been V clutches and succulents ally invasive and it’s hard
expressed as a hyper- and California sunsets and to navigate because it’s
exaggerated dystopia in trips to Joshua Tree. too much access and too
the “Nosedive” episode of She’s never getting the much awareness. It’s hard
“Black Mirror,” which imag- oil changed on her un- to find a balance.”
ines a society where class washed car, or paying bills, In fact, Olsen, once a so-
and opportunity is based or cleaning the toilet. cial media detractor, only
on social media popularity Maybe she’s a friend, or a joined because of the film.
and where strangers and friend of a friend, or maybe Now she has 668,000 Insta-
friends alike can impact you follow her even though gram followers.
your rating based on any you don’t actually know “Honestly I have less of a
interaction. her, but it’s not creepy be- judgment against it be-
“Portlandia” star Carrie cause she has hundreds of cause of this movie,” Olsen
Brownstein also created thousands of followers. She says. “I think I’m starting to
a horror landscape in the is an Influencer. Not quite a figure out that there is a
Kenzo promotional short celebrity, way to poke fun at it but
“The Realest Real,” where but not quite normal, her also use it to your benefit.”
select fans actually get to life is her brand and you “Ingrid” and “Nosedive”
be with the famous people are her envious admirer, are scratching at the sur-
they interact with online. devoted subject and cus- face of something that the
Then there is “Ingrid Goes tomer. social sciences are trying
West,” which is just close When director and co-writ- to explain through explor-
enough to reality to make er Matt Spicer envisioned ing how lives are actually
you squirm. On the one the idea for “Ingrid Goes affected by social media.
end, there’s Ingrid, played West,” the “Black Mirror” One study from the Cen-
by Aubrey Plaza, who we episode had not come ter for Research on Media,
meet in a rage spiral ob- out and he saw a void in Technology and Health at
serving a wedding she media that examined the the University of Pittsburgh
wasn’t invited to. She’s a “love/hate” relationship found that heavy use of
loner with obsessive ten- he and his co-writer David platforms like Facebook
dencies who upends her Branson Smith had with so- and Instagram among
life, moves to Los Angeles cial media. Both were in adults ages 19 to 32 is as-
and reinvents herself into relationships with women sociated with feelings of
the image of a stranger who had significant follow- social isolation.
she’s become enchanted ings. They knew the searing Another from the Johns
by on Instagram: Taylor jealousy that can boil over Hopkins Bloomberg School
Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen). looking in on the filtered of Public Health found that
You know a Taylor Sloane, lives of others. overall, “The use of Face-
even if you don’t think you “It really captured how book was negatively asso-
do. She’s the woman who people interact right now ciated with well-being.”
posts a perfect Instagram and the problems with Karen North, a psycholo-
photo of the perfect vin- that,” says Plaza, who also gist and director of the Uni-
tage copy of Joan Didion’s produced. “And I really versity of Southern Califor-
“The White Album” with the liked the story of a girl who nia’s Digital Social Media
perfect quote and a jumble really wants another girl to Program cautions against
of hashtags like #blessed be her friend and to like headlines that project con-
and #inspiration. The one her.” clusions on correlation.q