Morning!
Anyone else heard/binged this seven-parter from Jon Ronson yet?
What did you think?
I have read all of his work and listened to The Butterfly Effect last year. This one did not sit so well with me even though I am complicit in having binged it all.
On the one hand they clearly have researched and the grim reality of how choke/rape type porn is produced has been highlighted. On the other hand, in a bid to create something like Serial - despite the caveat it was not such a show - means that the privacy of her husband has been completely breached and his character assassinated.
SPOILERS
- Many simply won't care about the feelings of a porn producer who has chosen vulnerable younger women as life partners especially if said man shows controlling behaviour and is emotionally distant.
- In looking to blame another woman for his wife's suicide/talking of women's empowerment when he allegedly oversaw who his own wife performed with, Ronson claims that this means he can investigate a grieving widower.
Whilst I think the brutality of the performer Markus Dupree needed to be exposed, I did think that the initial reasons given for Mercedes' suicide (the tweet furore) were very quickly dismissed, her father was not personally interviewed regarding the treatment of his daughter (I assume he refused or that Mercedes' wish for him not to be involved was respected) and that the husband was completely thrown under the bus in spite of the fact that he was grieving so that a Serial vibe/juicy story could be produced. Please don't misunderstand me - I don't have sympathy with men who produce porn but I do think the way the podcast was written, edited and put together was highly manipulative to cast him in the worst light possible.
I can only think that Jon fell in love with his story, did not want research to go to waste, saw the potential of creating a Serial type podcast and let that all affect the overall product. I do believe that toxic masculinity should be discussed and that coercive emotional abuse or controlling behaviour is part of that....but an awful lot was inferred/insinuated to drive the narrative/extend the narrative.