Do Revenge: Fashion, Tropes, and Fondness of Nostalgia ★★★★☆

If you haven't seen Do Revenge yet, this is actually one of the milliards of Netflix movies that's worth your time. Riverdale breakout star Camila Mendes and "nepotism sucks...except for her" Maya Hawke devour their performances. The needle drops build upon what's already there rather than adding superfluous style over substance, and the costumes have already generated countless fashion analyses and "shop the look" articles.

This Twitter thread by @voguepearls has been one of my favorites so far analyzing the fashion that features in the film. As much as I'm aware that in any production costumes play a significant role in telling a story and manipulating the audience's perceptions, I feel that recognition for costumes in movies often fits into one of two categories: (1) period dramas with their emphasis on historical accuracy and replication (or lack thereof...Gilded Glamour Met Gala theme I'm looking at you) or (2) science-fiction or fantasy works that seek to stun with the logistics of molds and special effects makeup.

These two miss something incredibly important: the present. Both point a spyglass to past and future, but I think there is something worth exploring particularly in coming-of-age media. Whether we like it or not, it's these kinds of works--the comfort sitcom or the seemingly long-lost romcom genre--that might be the historical artifacts we look to in years' time, as contemporary/current works like Do Revenge take inspiration from past works (which seems unavoidable in any case). Exhibit A? Clueless. There's a discussion here about inspiration versus derivation, but I'll leave that to the people who actually know what they're talking about.

And while I can go on and on about the cute looks and fangirl because in one scene Mendes wore the same pair of pants I own, I'd rather point out that it's not just the costumes but the way the costumes exist and interact as part of the larger modern narrative. With the exception of, well, this: "...We didn’t really need any more costumes, but we couldn’t let this one go, so I wrote in a story point about why Eleanor would have done a costume change, just so we could use this incredible striped number." Sometimes, the point is just because it looks cute. And honestly, as we ascend through the decades reflecting on Timothée Chalamet's monumental quote about how it's "tough to be alive now", along with the resurgence of [enter any word here]-core/aesthetic, the trend from Aestheticism to Decadence in the late 19th century does not seem so far off. In other words, the world is on fire but at least we can look cute? That reads problematic, but hopefully, you know what I mean. Speaking of problematic...

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If you're not a fan of spoilers or anything suggesting the sort, you might want to tap out in a few -- I won't divulge any major plot information, but I'll be covering tropes. Chances are, you'd have guessed these were in the film but I figured I'd put a disclaimer here just in case.

Anyway, some of my favorite parts of this movie are actually from the earlier scenes when Drea (Mendes) and Eleanor (Hawke) become acquainted. In particular, one scene in a bathroom comes to mind (...and for my Stranger Things fans, yes, this is another iconic scene where Hawke happens to be in a bathroom). This moment is a pivotal one, one that is featured in a phenomenal number of movies: the makeover. Technically this is two moments, one is deciding to do the makeover and the other is the makeover montage, but you get the point.

When this is decided, there's a meta exchange:

- Oh, please don't say a makeover.

- …a makeover! Yay!

- It feels so problematic.

- It is, but it's fun!

This one scene sets the tone for the entire narrative. The makeover is a common trope almost entirely irrelevant to the genre, and here, one of the main characters calls it problematic. It isn't that no character in history has dreaded a makeover before or protested against it, but for it to be explicitly acknowledged and then have fun with it in a way that gets more unpacked as Eleanor's character reveals her layers is very much in line with the story. The writers' command of social-justice-language-touting performance activists is a recurrent theme, and they also implicitly comment on cancel culture. For instance, Drea's ex and primary antagonist Max founded a social justice club following her "fall from grace" due to him leaking an intimate video of her. The name of the club? The CIS Hetero Men Championing Female Identifying Students League. The irony is beyond.

In essence, what's unique about this "chick flick" (which...we need to unpack that at some point, too) is that though it does feature common tropes, it adds a spin to them and maintains its quippy tone. Is there a character that faces a turning point, is on the brink of madness, and also stares at themselves in a mirror? Yes. Are there montages? Yes. Is there a car accident? Yes. All are common tropes and the way they were utilized in the movie isn't necessarily revolutionary, but it pokes fun at them in a way that gives a wink to the audience and still manages to use them to propel the story in a (somewhat) relevant way.

There are also plenty of surprises, and Sophie Turner's portrayal of Erica is probably in my top three favorite elements of this movie.

All in all, this is the kind of movie I've been waiting for since the Ladybird and Booksmart renaissance -- something relatively similar, but a bit more absurd and comical. I say I'd give it a fair four out of five.

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And finally, as director and co-writer Jennifer Kaytin Robinson's put it: "and now...a revenge mood board." Well, kind of...here are a couple of Landing boards I spotted in the feed that reminded me of the movie in one way or another 💫

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This post feels a bit all over the place, but I felt like I needed to spend just a little bit more time with this movie. I feel that for a while now, I can't bring myself to engage with anything super serious, so then I watch whatever is comforting or whatever I don't have to think too hard about, and then I forget I ever even saw it. Thank goodness for Letterboxd!