I'm trying to stay off social media while watching television. I can't sit still so I make little collage mindmaps to occupy my thoughts and keep me off the digital streets muttering commentary.
I watched a limited series on Netflix called The Dead Girls. It's an adaptation of a fiction novel by Jorge Ibargüengoitia Antillón (January 22, 1928 – November 27, 1983) adapting details of the notorious real life Las Poquianchis case.
The book is called Las Muertas (1977).
While "All the characters are imaginary," as the author notes before the novel even begins, "Some of the events described herein are real."
The novel has been criticised for focusing on the media coverage of the sensational aspects of the 14-year-old criminal operation, and not enough on the victims of the crimes.
His book is constructed of pastiches of various kinds of journalistic media – from witness accounts to re-tellings, to official documents. At the end of the novel he presents a famous photo of Las Poquianchis and some of the other women at Rancho el Ángel, but mirrors the picture and erases all their faces.
Its complicated perspective attempts to satirise Mexican religious, political, and civil society that enable human trafficking, sexual exploitation, and form the theatre and audience to a predictable spectacle of violence.
The novel and series interrogate the portrayal of complicit behaviour, the construction of power relations, and survival strategies in extremely violent situations.
Luis Estrada's fingerprints are all over the liner notes of this production. He is a writer, director, and producer on four episodes of the six-episode miniseries. The first and last two episodes are deeply informed by his satirical work directed against the themes of the book: corrupt powerful authorities. This leaves space for the same criticism Las Muertas (1977) received upon its release. Reproducing oppression and exploiting the stories of the victims of human trafficking, forced enslavement, and rape to make a point about the corruption of power... Irony and observational wit can be quickly read as mockery or disregard for the vulnerable.
Is the masculine auteur's depiction of violent misogynistic abuse, using the tools of irony to illuminate its exploitation reproducing aesthetic oppression? Does The Dead Girls respect the humanity of the 90 known victims, 71 of them marginalised adolescents and women?
Prolonged scenes of sexual violence, and exploitation are noticeably, thankfully absent. The majority of sex scenes are depicted between consensual partners and do not fetishise or romanticise transactional and coercive sex. There are sex work scenes where the performers are acknowledged for their talents, beauty, and artistic skill. There are also clear indications that the story knows sex work is often and overwhelmingly exploitative to workers who are prevented from benefitting from their labour.
The performers of The Dead Girls are given the opportunity to explore the interiority of the people implicated in the Las Poquianchis case.
The episodes are not structured chronologically, instead flashing between interview sequences from prison, imitating the style of a documentary or reality TV confessional, and dramatic scenes from the past. The unreliable narrators of the scenes, colour the narrative to make their motives more clear.
The latter half of the season, episodes like "Blanca's Teeth" focus on the women's working conditions, their skills, talents, and how they use their social capital to survive. The portrayal could probe deeper than the simplistic insights: sex workers have inner lives, captives and exploited people find different ways to survive are framed with a salacious attitude. The show has a dispassionate affect when it comes to sentiment and presents every person as capable of corruption.
This posture is a difficult one, as the narrative demands the viewer think beyond simplistic portrayals of victims and offendors. The process of criminalising and punishing certain forms of violence over others is one of the most well illustrated themes. From the morality laws to the tiered austerity of prison, the points are drawn in bold strokes.
Good show. Lots to look at and think about.
areudirty
stormborns
kaledo-art
turnnoffyourmind
dededos
