The Power of Perception

I recently watched the Lisa Frank documentary on Amazon Prime and it was very interesting and not at all what I expected. Many of us know Lisa Frank - the folders, pencils, and notebooks covered in bright pinks and purple, cute animals, and fun animated characters. It was glittery and sparkly and all of the things young girls and teenagers liked. The real Lisa Frank seemed to be the opposite.

The documentary covered the darker side of the sparkles. Sweat shop-style working environments, mistreatment of employees, even stealing funds from up-and-coming companies - this documentary showed that in reality, things are often not what they seem. What stood out to me the most was the failed business deal between Lisa Frank and Glamour Dolls Make-Up. In 2020, Glamour Dolls reached out to Lisa Frank for a partnership on a new make-up line. The bright colors and glittery designs that Frank was known for would be perfect in an eyeshadow palette or for a lipstick shade. Through donations, word-of-mouth marketing, and an online Kickstarter campaign, the anticipation for the collab grew and audiences couldn't wait. Unfortunately, the line never came to fruition. Glamour Dolls felt rail-roaded by Frank and her company and believed them to be the cause of the collab’s failure. Lisa Frank, however, made it publicly known that the fault was with Glamour Doll's lack of planning and business inexperience.

Guess which story the public heard first?

Lisa Frank’s popularity and subsequent social power was a huge factor in allowing this story to grow legs quickly, causing her togarner sympathy and, more importantly, belief. Audiences quickly turned on Glamour Dolls, blaming them for the failure and demanding their money back. The company and its founders have still not recovered professionally or financially (as of the time of the documentary). 

As I watched this story play out on the documentary, it made me consider how this happened. None of us know Lisa Frank or even the Glamour Doll’s founders as people. We don’t know whether any of them are liars, fraudsters, mean, nice, kind, rude, etc. We only know the carefully crafted products that they market and sell to the public. We only know them as business entities.  Why then, was the public so eager to jump on the Lisa Frank bandwagon, believing any story she told without research, context, or background? I believe a large portion of this stems from the societal uplifting of power for power’s sake. We live in a "cowboy nation" - the strongest, fastest, most dangerous person is celebrated. One can also add the most attractive and the wealthiest to that list. Kindness, honesty, and consideration are not attributes widely considered important when deeming someone “powerful”. The result is what we see with the Lisa Frank case - the person with the most money, the widest reach, the most fans, the most power, was who was automatically believed without question. 

This same dynamic is seen off-screen as well. Regardless of how one feels about the details and verdicts, the public scrutiny Amber Heard faced versus the public sympathy Johnny Depp received was undeniable, and why? Why did so many people rush to vehemently defend a person they didn’t know, especially to the detriment of another? Would the story have gotten a different response if Amber Heard was the older, more famous, more wealthy actress and Johnny Depp was the much younger newcomer making the same accusations?

There is also the added layer of the culture of misogyny that plagues our society, both external and internalized. These specific aspects are present in the on-going legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. Seeing the public so quickly pick either side begs the question of “why?”. Are people automatically believing Blake Lively because she is the bigger name and carries more power within the Hollywood system? Or are they automatically belieivng Justin Baldoni due to the attacks on Lively’s character - painting her as a mean and rude woman - and his own self-characterization as a less famous creative trying to navigate a powerful bully and her husband? It’s something for all of us to consider when we jump on anyone’s bandwagon, whether it’s about make-up, harassment, or assault: why do so many people automatically believe the more powerful person? 

I recently watched the new film, Companion. Led by a formidable Sophie Thatcher and a slimy Jack Quaid (he’s not our little Hughie anymore), this sci-fi/slasher/horror-comedy almost perfectly sums up the influence of power in both entertainment and in society itself. 

The rest of this article includes Companion spoilers, but it’s a good article so keep reading:

In a near future society, humanoid robots serve as “Companions” to biological humans. They walk, talk, and look (almost) normal, have memories, can cry and feel pain, and can even have sex. But it’s all automated! Their eye color and vocal pitch is determined and changed by their “owner”. Their memories are false and implanted. Their sole purpose is to serve their owner’s any need.

We’ve seen that dynamic many, many times throughout history.

Josh, the owner, and his friend/side chick/real girlfriend Kat decide to override Iris’s (the robot’s) system and make her violent, with the intent of using her to commit a murder and then steal the victim’s millions of dollars. It’s a perfect plan! This chunk of metal and plastic’s only purpose is to serve anyway, right? And who would ever believe a robot over a real human? “Robot” and “real human” can be exchanged with numerous different nouns and adjectives and they would be correct.

Mirroring our real society, this movie shows that certain groups are valued more than others. Iris and her robotic counterparts were not allowed the same voice, reach, and platform that biological humans were. They could be turned off, changed, and “rebooted” at will. If they were even allowed to speak out, they could be dismissed as broken or glitched. This is the same behavior used to dismiss women as hysterical or people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community as paranoid. People with less money are dismissed as solely looking for a payday, people considered less popular or less conventionally attractive are just jealous. 

In the movie, Iris’s saving grace is when she accesses Josh’s phone, and therefore her control system, and turns her intelligence up from 40% to 100%. Another societal reflection - it’s easier to control, manipulate, and gaslight a group when when they are unable to have a full awareness of the situation. Once her perspective changes and she is able to see the full picture, the dynamic changes and suddenly she is the one with the power! There is an important lesson to be learned from this. Certain groups and people are able to maintain power when their stories aren’t fact-checked, called out, or addressed. When the general public blindly goes along with whatever someone says or does simply because of the power they possess, you end up with a society ran by the wealthy, the violent, and the bullies with everyone else oppressed under their thumb. But this can be changed! If the public commits to treating all people with an open and intelligent mind and fairness, placing justice at the forefront no matter the status of who is involved, it is us who become powerful! Iris describes the moment that the cloudy and dark veil that often keeps us oppressed and unaware was lifted from her eyes: the day she first met Josh… and the day that she killed him. Consider what… and to who… needs to happen for that veil to be lifted in your own life! 

Companion is out in theaters now!

For these unwarranted opinions and more, subscribe to TV and Socie-TEA and follow me on Twitter @_JESSrelax