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Daily Mail
10-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Controversial new rom-com on Netflix sparks OUTRAGE and boycotts for glorifying disturbing relationship
A new Netflix rom-com is drawing backlash over its portrayal of an uneven and, some say, problematic romance. My Oxford Year, which premiered on the streaming service August 1, has received mixed reviews from critics and audiences. Starring Sofia Carson and Queen Charlotte breakout Corey Mylchreest, the film is based on Julia Whelan's novel of the same name. According to IMDb, the story follows 'Anna, an ambitious young American woman, [who] sets out for Oxford University to fulfill a childhood dream, [and] has her life completely on track — until she meets a charming and clever local who profoundly alters both of their lives.' That 'clever local,' however, turns out to be Anna's college lecturer — and that plot point has ignited fierce debate. Kaelyn Grace Apple, a PhD candidate currently studying at Oxford, posted a video titled 'Stop Romanticizing Student/Professor Relationships' in which she explained why she refuses to watch the film. 'I am boycotting My Oxford Year, and as somebody who in 2019 experienced sexual harassment at the hands of a lecturer who was meant to to be my educator, I will say that seeing a student-professor relationship being promoted on the big screen as a romance is something that I do not support and don't think that you should be supporting either,' she said. She explained that when the novel was published in 2017, professors could still have romantic relationships with their students, but her activism and that of others resulted in that policy being changed. 'In the book, in order to justify the relationship between himself and a student, Jamie, the male character and lecturer, says that, no, students are not off limits. Reading from the novel - 'Unlike some, Britain is not a nation of Puritans when it comes to matters of carnality between two consenting adults.' 'Let's talk about consent, shall we?' she asked. 'The idea of consent is all good and dandy until you're in a position in which the student in this relationship decides that they no longer consent to this relationship,' she explained. 'The person that they've had a relationship with, their lecturer, their professor, the person responsible for their grades and education, has control over their reputation, their destiny, their treatment in the classroom, as well as their determinative grades at the end of their term.' Sharing her own experience Apple claimed, 'I filed a sexual harassment claim against my professor, along with three professors that stood in support of me, and two students that also joined the complaint.' 'My circumstance was upheld and when I see books, movies, TV shows that romanticize these types of relationships, I feel deeply concerned for the potential exploitation of students.' She concluded by adding, 'So I am boycotting My Oxford Year. I will not be watching this film, and I would consider whether or not it's worth you watching it as well.' In the film Carson's character Anna has a Goldman Sachs job lined up and wants to study poetry for a year. After a meet-cute, in which she is splashed by Jamie's car on the way to class, the pair quickly discover she will be Jamie's student. Both appear to be similar in age, although in actuality Carson is 32 and Mylchreest is 27, which may explain why the teacher/student relationship has not been a focus in interviews promoting the film. Instead, the plot twist is that Jamie is suffering from cancer and the two must decide how to navigate their relationship knowing it will not have a happily ever after ending. Star and exec producer Carson explained her involvement in the film. 'I've always been drawn to love stories, especially the timeless classics like The Way We Were and Love Story and it felt like this generation, we hadn't had one quite yet, 'she said on CBS Mornings. 'Anna and Jamie's love is so beautiful and so sweeping and also felt like a classic and it's always an honor to be part of something like that.' The film has done relatively well on Netflix and was the third most popular film on the streamer on Sunday. Several other women did not see it that way and shared their own experiences on Apple's Instagram page. 'As a fellow PhD student who has recently been obligated to report on a situation of an abuse of power, it totally turned my stomach against this film.' one woman wrote. 'From the student's side as well not only does this make them more vulnerable,' she continued, 'but also can encourage them to not look at or treat their lecturers/professors etc. as the professionals they are. It's a lose lose situation.' 'I saw this film advertised and did a double take, then read more about it and thought it's highly inappropriate to say the least!!!' wrote another. 'I know about the transforming silence campaign and I applaud you and everyone involved in it and will support the boycott of the film.✊'
Yahoo
08-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jacob Elordi & Margot Robbie's new film described as 'hyper-sexualized'
An early test screening for her adaptation of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights — starring Margot Robbie (Barbie) and Jacob Elordi (Euphoria) — has reportedly received mixed reviews, and even a significant amount of negative reactions. Sign up for the to keep up with what's new in LGBTQ+ culture and entertainment — delivered three times a week straight (well…) to your inbox! Director Emerald Fennell hooked her audiences with her first two films: Promising Young Woman and Saltburn. While the former may have received an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, the latter pushed the envelope even further, to the point that her audience now expects it. A blog titled World of Reel reported that it spoke with some of the attendees after the screening. One person at the screening said the movie was "aggressively provocative and tonally abrasive," and that "leans hard into Fennell's now-familiar brand of stylized depravity." According to this attendee, the movie was a "deliberately unromantic take on Brontë's novel, stripped of emotional nuance and full of salacious detours that serve shock value." Fennell's "stylized depravity" comes in the form of multiple scenes that seemed to be included for shock factor. "The film opens with a public hanging that quickly descends into grotesque absurdity, as the condemned man ejaculates mid-execution, sending the onlooking crowd into a kind of orgiastic frenzy," the blog writes. " A nun even fondles the corpse's visible erection." But it doesn't stop there, according to the publication, there was a BDSM-tinged encounter with a woman tied up in horse reins, several masturbation scenes, suggestive scenes including egg yolks, bread kneading, and a slug. Attendees also told World of Reel that the unbalanced movie couldn't even be saved by either Robbie nor Elordi. The two actors had great chemistry, the writer explains, but "the characters they portray are so cold and unlikable that even strong acting can't create a point of connection. And I ask in return: isn't that precisely what Brontë intended?" It seems to be one of Fennell's most caustic films yet, and by the sound of the screen test attendees' accounts, the blog writes, "it sounds like the most unusual Wuthering Heights to date, and that might not be a bad thing." This article originally appeared on Out: Jacob Elordi & Margot Robbie's new film described as 'hyper-sexualized' Solve the daily Crossword
