Netflix's New Coming-Of-Age Top Series Is Even More Controversial Than Euphoria
Don't follow her example.
Brothers Mark and Jay Duplass are renowned masters of independent film. The Sundance stars launched their careers years ago with mumblecore hits like The Puffy Chair and Baghead. In 1996, the brothers founded Duplass Brothers Productions, which is now run by Mel Eslyn.
Penelope Is Inspired by Teen TV Shows Like Euphoria
And recently Netflix released Penelope – a series from Mark Duplass and Mel Eslyn. The idea to create a series about a little girl's travels in the wild forest came to the director during the pandemic, when he developed an addiction to technology, especially his cell phone.
Another impetus for Penelope was Mark's acquaintance with modern teen series like Euphoria, which he felt did not give a complete picture of the world. After coming up with the character of Penelope and the outline of the story, Mark approached Eslyn and asked her to co-write, as the character needed a female voice.
What Is Penelope About?
Penelope is sixteen years old and feels like she is on the cusp of something important: graduation, choosing a college, growing up. But the prospect of spending her entire life away from the wild frightens Penelope.
She is convinced that she must understand herself and her desires before society's laws of life make her forget her heart's desires forever. Deciding not to put off her plans for long, the girl packs a bag and sets off in search of happiness in the wild.
Penelope Fulfills a Dream that Many People Have
Most of us, at one time or another, think about a simple life in a fisherman's cottage or at least a weekend in a country house without Internet.
And such stories often become scripts: Jean-Marc Vallée sent Reese Witherspoon to conquer the mountains in the movie Wild, Sean Penn adapted the biography of traveler Christopher McCandless for the movie Into the Wild.
Penelope's Actions Are Careless At Best
There is nothing strange about Penelope's desire to exchange the urban space for the silence of the forest – the problem is that she does it at the age of 16, leaving behind an unfinished school and loving relatives who are forced to guess and assume the worst.
Penelope uses her mother's bank card to buy supplies for the hike, records a voice message to her parents that supposedly explains everything, jumps on the first freight train she comes across, and leaves home.
That same evening, Penelope meets a young musician who offers to let her spend the night in his trailer. And then she goes deep into the forest, where she talks to trees, befriends a bear cub, and eats the gifts of nature. Sorry, but in the real world, Penelope would not survive a day.
She would not live to see the first frost, or to encounter a wolf, or to meet three young religious men who, like Penelope, have decided to take a break from city life and go on a long hike. All the obstacles she meets are all resolved with minimal effort, as if the action were taking place in a dream.
Penelope Should Not Be a Guide to Action
We can assume that the naivety of the narrative is due to the fact that this is a children's movie about finding oneself. Well, in that case, the project risks attracting the attention of concerned parents – and it would be hard to blame them for criticizing it, because the world painted by Duplass and Eslyn is not at all what other potential travelers might actually find.
To live in the woods, it is not enough to buy a few random books on wildlife and learn how to pitch a tent – the aforementioned McCandless supposedly died from poisoning by wild plants, and he was better prepared than Penelope.
Mark Duplass' desire to bring a positive dynamic to the world and tell a tender story about love for nature is commendable, but unfortunately we cannot afford such a level of naivety to ourselves.
Real life in the forest is full of deadly dangers, and the fairy tale version of Penelope's travels may easily inspire some of the young viewers to make a dangerous decision.