Now if you are confused by that clip, Sloan, played by Olivia Munn, has just learned that intimate pictures that she took with her boyfriend have now found their way to the internet after she broke up with him.
What many viewers may not have known is that in this case art reflected life. Olivia Munn's life.
Last year intimate pictures of Munn were also distributed all over the internet. Only in her case they were not from a disgruntled ex-boyfriend, but the result of her phone being hacked, along with Christian Hendricks, Scarlett Johansson and others.
The pictures were scrawled with very explicit notes to her boyfriend and were very intimate, and undoubtedly she was horribly embarrassed to have them showing up in teenage inbox's all over the world. (Munn was a host of the video game program G4 and the subject of numerous teenage masturbatory fantasies.)
When the pictures came out she, just like her Newsroom character, also tried to play them off as fake at first. But that only made the internet detectives snoop harder, and eventually there was no question.
Now Munn only addressed the photos once that I know of, but after awhile people stopped asking her about it and she went on with her life.
Which brings me to the brilliance of Aaron Sorkin and the incredible courage of Olivia Munn.
Last night Munn's character Sloan went through all of the emotions, anger, frustration, shame, that she MUST have felt when those pictures of her came out last year. She got the chance to let the viewers see up close how painful it must be to have your privacy so callously invaded, and to have your personal sex life shared, judged, and mocked by people who have no right to even know about it.
Munn MUST have known that by revisiting the issue viewers would flock to the internet to once again find her pictures and gawk at them all over again. But she did it anyway.
But at least this time it was HER choice. SHE was in charge.
And what's more, in the show her character got to exact revenge on the person who victimized her. Something that she was never able to do in the real world.
I have long been a fan of Olivia Munn who I think is not only beautiful, but extremely talented. But now I more than admire her, I am in awe of her.
Now that you have read this, play that clip up top again, and you will be in awe as well.
Damn this show is good.
I wish I could like this show, but I'm finding all the characters to be completely annoying. The dialogue is just too glib.
ReplyDeleteNo knock on the actors themselves, but on the writing. Aaron Sorkin is kind of a hack.
Yeah, a real hack. Amazing for such a 'hack' that he's been involved in so many massively successful shows and movies. Sounds to me like you just don't appreciate his brilliance and so you have to resort to name calling. Sad.
DeleteAaron Benjamin Sorkin (born June 9, 1961) is an Academy and Emmy-award winning American screenwriter, producer, and playwright, whose works include A Few Good Men, The American President, The West Wing, Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Charlie Wilson's War, The Social Network, Moneyball and The Newsroom.
Awesome, calpolymom, Awesome!!! You need a reality check as life is full of real live characters that are a bunch of annoying, glib hacks.
DeleteThank you, Anonymous 1:51 pm.
DeleteI agree, Sorkin is very talented.
I enjoyed A Few Good Men, The American President, The West Wing, Sports Night, Charlie Wilson's War, and The Newsroom.
I didn't care for Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Maybe so soon after West Wing, the issues around a late night talk show were, in comparison to the fate of the country, well, eh (IMO only!). The writing and acting were excellent.
I have not seen either The Social Network, or Moneyball, so can't comment.
I really wanted to like this series (in spite of Jeff "Flap" Daniels but they turned it into a love story and I lost all interest. However, I do still agree it had the best 47 seconds (whatever) of television.
DeleteMadam President: Iowa Town Hall
ReplyDeleteOn August 9th, Sen. Claire McCaskill, Staci Appel and Jessica Vanden Berg joined our president Stephanie Schriock to discuss what it will take to see a Madam President in 2016. #MPOTUS has sparked a nationwide conversation -- see what others have to say.
http://storify.com/emilyslist/madam-president-iowa-town-hall
Damn! That smarmy little snake at the RNC is REALLY peeing in his pants over Hillary being so popular and so he's pre-emptively attacking like the snake he is. Boy will THIS backfire, just watch.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/12/rnc-hillary-clinton-documentary_n_3745187.html
After posing for Playboy, I find it a bit hard to fathom her having humungous shame feelings, over some other photos being seen.
ReplyDelete(But what do I know? No one's ever asked me to pose for any men's magazine)
Olivia's Playboy pictures were very tame, and did not show anything.
DeleteThe ones from her phone were much more explicit and contained personal messages to her boyfriend. I think her embarrassment and anger were justified.
There is a big difference between posing for a magazine for specific pictures and with a professional written commentary aimed at purchasers and subscribers on the one hand, and on the other hand having your very private written and verbal communications with a loved one splattered around the world for every Tom, Dick, and Harry with an internet connection to gawk at and comment on.
DeleteI think we can say Anthony Weiner is officially done. Three quarters of New York City voters now have an unfavorable impression of him. I’m pretty much used to no scandal information ever tanking candidates quite as much as commentators imagining. But this seems like the exception. I think there was a real chance he would have been elected Mayor pre-rescandal. But take two killed him. Politically.
ReplyDeletehttp://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/poll-80-percent-of-new-york-voters-have
I worry a lot about how because of camera/phones photos can be taken and then disseminated worldwide without a person's knowledge. We've dvr'd last night's "Newsroom" and will watch it later this week. Another variant on this theme is the French movie "Superhero" about a hapless man who is photographed just commuting to work. The photo gets posted all over the place on the internet and he becomes a "celebrity" totally against his will. It becomes a nightmare for him. I feel for Olivian Munn. It takes guts to handle the situation as well as she obviously has.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
And such a steal-able device is an appropriate library for your home-made porn because?
ReplyDeleteAnd sending your home-made porn across insecure networks is smart because?
It must be horrible to be so vain that you can't even recognize your own stupidity.
Classic blame-the-victim mentality.
DeleteNo talent. Sometimes attractive but the bad acting gets in the way. The punching scene in the episode was absurd, and if Sorkin and Munn agreed to use Munn's real, recent, and traumatic life experience for TV emotions, shame on them. You really ought to heal before you go there, and then you do it like an actor, not an amateur.
ReplyDeleteLoved that back at you kick in the groin and punch to the mouth that was almost a good as when Richie Aprile hit Janice Soprano in the face because he didn't like the way she scrambled his eggs or something. Janice shot him point blank. POP!!!
DeleteWill, the death of a parent that was abusive. Maggie, holding a child that took a shot that would have killed her. Hopefully, we will not have to live through this kind of stuff. But we learn much through fiction...and what is happening on Newsroom is based on raw events like we watch on the evening news.
Sometimes we have to rip the scab off the wound and let the puss out before we can heal.
RJ in Brownbackistan
Kudos to the whole cast and all involved in last night's episode. Jeff Daniel's portrayal of Will going through his personal agony while doing the news was a great one.
ReplyDeleteBTW, Sloan's moves were classic self defense; a kick to the nuts and a right punch. She could have shoved his nose into his brain, but she was not in fear for her life. That asshole got exactly what he deserved.
I totally appreciate your post, by have to say that I can't reconcile it with the chronic slut shaming of SP and her daughters. I think SP's political ineptitude, the danger she represents to America, and her blatant scamming/grifting, etc are all fair game, but her sexual activity and choices are her own and should not be commented on. I am especially troubled when people talk about Glen Rice, Bristol and her sexual partners, and even speculation about Willow's sex life. Women have sex - get over it and focus on the real scariness about Sarah!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it's their "Christian" hypocrisy that they're criticized for. Don't forget, Bristol spent years telling other girls not to have sex while she was getting her rocks off and lying about it.
DeleteSarah uses sex to sell her brand. Bristol used the result of having sex to sell her brand. Willow doesn't seem to have a product to market at this time. But both Willow and Piper have been put out there babed and boobed up in recent photos by Sarah promoting her Girls' girls. What is really scary about Sarah is she values being slutty and has no shame about anything she does.
DeleteRJ in Brownbackistan
I must say, I am not a fan of using violence to solve any problem, but in this particular case, I think the act was justified.
ReplyDeleteI think if she had any doubts about her actions, that smug look on his face as he excused himself to have a private chat was all that was needed to push any lingering hesitation away.
Too bad all she got was a picture of his face. Would have been nice to have a picture of his black and blue nuts a few hours later.
She is a remarkable beauty and a natural actress. Glad she weathered the storm of personal humiliation and agreed to let Aaron take the show there. Redemption.
ReplyDelete