This England and Hot Take: The Depp/Heard Trial prioritise capitalising on the trauma of others over good storytelling

 

When I went to watch an early screening of The Woman King, one of the trailers they showed before the movie was for Sky Atlantic’s new six-part series This England which satirises the actions of the British government during the pandemic.


Poster for This England.
Credit: Gadgetonus

Firstly, the trailer has confirmed one of my long-held beliefs – when they say that the previews have been selected based on the movie you are watching, that is a complete lie.

Secondly, I question the industry’s desire to rush to produce media about recent current affairs.

The government flouting their own Covid-19 guidelines in incidents which included Dominic Cummings driving to Durham while experiencing Covid symptoms and the revelation that the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson, attended multiple large gatherings, one of which was to celebrate own birthday, are recent events from within the last two years.

This means that these incidents are still fresh in the minds of the British public, which leads me to question why they need to or would want to see the government flout their own rules in their faces again.

It’s unlikely viewers will learn anything new from the satirised programme as the long-term effects of the government’s missteps and the Covid-19 pandemic as a whole are still developing, causing me to have more questions about why the show exists.

Liz Truss’ recent appointment to Prime Minister is a direct consequence of the Partygate scandal but she is only a one turbulent month into her role and is already losing her backbenchers as her and Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini budget shook the economy.

The Johnny Depp and Amber Heard defamation trial is another high-profile event that has quickly been dramatised in Tubi film Hot Take: The Depp/Heard Trial. The movie was released on the American streaming platform only four months after the trial concluded.

The motives behind Tubi’s movie are more obvious as the defamation trial which centred two popular American actors was watched and scrutinised by millions globally.

Still the long-term impact of this trial on either Depp or Heard’s acting careers as well as how it will affect the larger conversation about abuse faced by both men and women in romantic relationships is unknown.

To be clear, I have not watched the either programme and I’m not critiquing them as pieces of television. I am questioning the concept, the need to quickly fictionalise real life events and who benefits from them being made, besides these companies pockets.

Admittedly, the depiction of a celebrity trial is quite different from highlighting the impact of a misbehaving government but it doesn’t mean that either event should be fictionalised rapidly without being cognisant of the impact of what they depict.

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