The Idol (2023)

The sex is heterosexual. Depp is an attractive woman that is portrayed as an attractive woman. It opens with a discussion on a nudity rider that is going against the lead character's will coming from an effeminate man that looks Woke AF and a selfie with a, well, a shot. Furthermore not all the good guys are people of color, not all the bad guys are straight white men and it does a really good job of making the industry look as horrible and scummy as it is. The fact is, that all of that has been so censored out today that a woman playing an attractive woman as an attractive woman seems... shocking. But if Depp played an ugly lesbian this entire thing would have been "empowering." At the end of the day it's exactly the sort of thing that film needs. We need a film, a TV show, that breaks down the self-imposed political censorship. The Idol does just that and I look at it as a positive step in the right direction, we need more media to force it's way through that crap so we can get back to making media that is actually good again. This isn't exactly Chinatown, but it is a step away from making pure political propaganda and a step towards making films to entertain again. And the more we have crap that pushes back against it, the closer we get to pop culture for the sake of entertainment again. Let's face reality... It criticizes the music industry, so people are going to hate it. Depp is an attractive woman who gets naked, so people are going to hate it. The Weekend is a man that has heterosexual sex with her, so people are going to hate it. It calls out Hollywood, so people are going to hate it. People compare it to Showgirls, and that's not accurate, it has a lot more depth than Showgirls, it is satirical of a lot more than Showgirls ever was. It points more fingers. If Depp played a lesbian, and if it supported and said bright and happy things about the Music and Film industries, people would praise it. Because it doesn't, because it's political and people are obligated to hate on it. The cold reality is, in 2023, we need to bring edgy back. We need to offend again.