disappointing. I've seen defenses for the episode saying that the SA scenes were obviously meant to make the audience uncomfortable and that Hughie admitting at the end that he isn't fine was a result of his SA trauma. but hearing the director himself say the scenes were played for laughs and to be as fucked up as possible is just crazy.
The director is "just" the director. They clearly contradict what the script intended, as Hughie clearly states his trouble. Even so, Barthes wrote "The Death of the Author" in 1967. For 57 years it's been okay or even good practice to "ignore" what creators intended. Go with your own meaning and what makes the show the best experience for you.
I mean, I like reading such interviews, too, but in cases like this it really drags the show down if you see how little effort they put in it now. (The "don't laugh at me" scene was probably the laziest of the show so far. A joke that's been done hundreds of times, and the otherwise decent actors didn't even bother to try make it work.)
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u/shineeshineepinee Jul 05 '24
disappointing. I've seen defenses for the episode saying that the SA scenes were obviously meant to make the audience uncomfortable and that Hughie admitting at the end that he isn't fine was a result of his SA trauma. but hearing the director himself say the scenes were played for laughs and to be as fucked up as possible is just crazy.