“Just be yourself” is a line offered up as advice throughout all stages of a person’s life, especially when they’re growing up. The mantra is usually proposed when someone is nervous about how they will be perceived by others — worried that they aren’t making the right moves to be accepted — and often employed during those awkward teenage years when it feels as if “being yourself” will never be the right answer. This month’s VOD and web series picks all explore the struggle to fit in, and what it means to grapple with the parts of yourself that make you different, but also define who you are.
In web series “Tragicomic,” adolescent Hannah must reckon with not only the awkwardness of growing up, but also the personal demons that make her feel so separate from everyone else. Short film “America 1979” sheds light on a young girl’s experience coming from an immigrant family, which is influenced by a very particular moment in time. And “Presentation,” another short, depicts the struggle of being isolated in your own unique anxieties at the worst time imaginable: high school.
Here are Women and Hollywood’s web series and VOD picks for the month of November.
Web Series
Based on William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” the web series “Tragicomic” is a very modern retelling of the Danish Prince’s tale. The story follows Hannah (Nova Moala-Knox), a teenage girl who expresses herself most vividly through the medium of comics, and we often see her in art class or hunched over her desk at home, sketching out fantastical tales. Just like the main character in her comic, who is on a quest, Hannah too is on a mission to find out what happened to her father, who left Hannah and her mother a few months prior.
If this weren’t enough, Hannah is also dealing with the growing distance between her and her best friend, Isla (Liv Scott), navigating her growing romantic feelings, and to top it all off, her art teacher and her mom have started dating. As Hannah tries to contend with all these changes, the symptoms of her bipolar disorder begin to grow and she becomes further isolated from the people who care for her. As she struggles with her mental illness, the lines between her fantasy comic world and her reality become increasingly blurry.
Moala-Knox shines as Hannah, and her portrayal of teen angst is so palpable that it will have you laughing within seconds, immediately transported back to your high school self. Over the course of 10 incredibly binge-able episodes, we get a full picture of Hannah; her triumphs as well as her struggles, and how misunderstood and left out she feels as she wrestles with being bipolar. What makes “Tragicomic” doubly unique is that it tells its story via two different visual mediums. In addition to a web series, the story is also told through an accompanying web comic, so viewers can fully realize Hannah’s imagined world. Drawn mostly by co-director Sally Bollinger, the art is intricate and adds a rich layer of storytelling to the show, allowing us an even more intimate peek into Hannah’s world and how she views herself.
Despite her trials and the resulting actions, Hannah’s character is handled with a deliberate care and respect, specifically in the portrayal of her mental illness. The creators themselves wanted to make sure they represented Hannah’s bipolar disorder in an authentic way. In an interview, Bollinger discussed the process, saying, “There were things we’d have liked to do for cinematic effect but the people we consulted made it clear that it would just perpetuate misconceptions about mental illness. So then we had to find other ways of telling our story.” The result is a nuanced portrait of a teenager coming to terms with her demons, ending in an incredibly moving animated sequence that will leave you wholly satisfied.
Watch all 10 episodes of “Tragicomic” on YouTube.
VOD
“America 1979” (Short) – Written and Directed by Lila Yomtoob
Set in suburban America, Lila Yomtoob’s short film follows nine-year-old Regina (Solya Spiegel). Her activities are typical of kids her age: she attends elementary school, chats with her friends, and gets in the occasional fight with her older brother. Regina is also the daughter of Iranian immigrants, something that would set her apart from her majority white class in normal circumstances — but this particular difference is underscored by the political climate of the time. The year is 1979 and the Iranian Hostage Crisis has people calling for the immediate deportation of Iranians in America. Regina herself might not be old enough to fully grasp the full impact of what is going on, but the effects spill over into her life nonetheless. While her main preoccupation is being able to purchase books at her school’s upcoming book fair, other students target her, leaving a note in her desk with a crude, offensive drawing and bold letters reading, “Hey Iran.”
Writer-director Yomtoob’s own experiences growing up during this tumultuous time inspired the story. “Many Iranians came to this country to pursue the American dream, and before the crisis, were part of the melting pot. The Hostage Crisis hit, and overnight discrimination ran rampant. As a whole, people wanted to be accepted and wanted to move on with life, so negatives were buried,” she said in an interview with AXS. She continued, “When I realized that the crisis had affected me even as a young child, I wanted to dig deeper. I started talking to people, and I couldn’t believe the stories I heard. I wasn’t the only one that had to deal with this! So I was convinced that this was an important story to tell, not only for Iranian Americans, but for all immigrant groups that struggle with discrimination and assimilation.”
Yomtoob expertly sets a relatively mundane family argument against the backdrop of this contentious time in history, allowing us to see the events from both Regina’s more naive perspective, and that of her parents, who are worried about their livelihood and the safety of their family. And although Regina and her brother have many of the same coming-of-age experiences as their peers, they are still seen as outsiders. As Yomtoob mentions, the United States is often espoused as a “melting pot” of culture, and yet it seems as though no amount of assimilation will ever be enough for true acceptance. This point feels especially salient in our climate today, despite the nearly 40 years that have passed since the Hostage Crisis.
You can watch “America 1979” on the film’s website.
“Presentation” (Short) – Written and Directed by Danielle Kampf
Class presentations can be nerve-wracking enough, but for Holly (Emily Rey) they induce an entirely new dimension of fear. When Holly is called on to present in her science class, she can barely get through the material she has prepared before she bolts out the door. This lands her a trip to the school’s guidance counselor, Ms. Taylor (Vanessa Britting), who is more likely to read off a prepared script than to actually counsel anyone. Holly takes out her frustrations on her family, who just don’t seem to understand her, directing her feelings at her younger sister Lizzie (Lily Brooks O’Briant), who incidentally has no problem being center stage, and will literally be performing a solo in her upcoming dance recital. As Holly prepares for her make-up presentation, she seeks an effective way to cope with her distress.
“Presentation” acutely captures the nature of anxiety. From the moment Holly is called on in class, you can feel the expectant stares of her peers as all eyes turn to her. As she stands in front of the room the camera slowly pushes in on her, building the intensity and feeling of their gaze. And Holly has difficulty fully articulating the depth of her emotions, as it seems no one else she knows is facing the same problem. Writer-director Danielle Kampf wanted to highlight the issue of adolescent mental illness, particularly how our lack of conversation on the topic leads struggling teens to feel alone.
In an interview Kampf said, “Growing up I learned very little to almost nothing about mental illness in school and when I started experiencing feelings of anxiety in middle school, I was unsure of what they were and turned to Google for answers, which can be cold and isolating. I thought I was literally the only person my age who had these feelings and that there was something wrong with me when in reality, I’m sure many of my peers were feeling the same way.” She concluded, “I hope that when people see this film they feel less alone and they consider discussing mental health more openly, especially with minors.”
See “Presentation” in its entirety on Vimeo.
