Anatomy of a Fall, and of the Word “Snubbed”
Oscar nominations, Anatomy of a Fall, trials as performances, and the best TV series not on TV
Headline: Greta Gerwig Snubbed
I had a hypothesis earlier today that “snubbed” is only in our contemporary lexicon because of awards shows and the rise of the reaction piece in online media—“snubs and surprises” is just too perfect a phrase for that purpose.
It sure looks like that’s the case. According to Google’s nice little chart of word usage over time and no other research, the general usage of “snub” has risen almost in lockstep with the internet, while its usage in fiction has actually decreased since the 1960s.
Anyway, Oscar nominations dropped on Tuesday, as did the annual furor over who got snubbed. This year it appears to be Margot Robbie’s performance in and Greta Gerwig direction of Barbie. I don’t have particularly strong thoughts on that specific issue because a few years ago I decided to change how I view award shows.
To me, award shows are undoubtedly important culturally, but are far more useful as an individual consumer of art when viewed not as a competition, but as the starting point for an archive. This past year was a great one for cinema, and 90-95% of this particular nomination list is a great reflection of why. The 5-10% that’s not? It’ll work itself out as our cultural memory shifts and settles. (At least this year, can’t promise the same every year.)
As a teaser, I’ve got more to say on the Oscars—specifically the Best International Feature category—in an upcoming article for WPR. Be on the lookout.
Anatomy of a Fall
Speaking of international feature films, Anatomy of a Fall is a French movie.
More specifically, it is a French movie that I recently watched. I actually meant to see it back when it was in theaters in the fall, but I have this horrible habit of feeling like watching a foreign-language film will require mental labor, even though the logical part of my brain knows that reading subtitles is mostly subconscious.
The good news for me (and for you) is that Anatomy of a Fall actually includes quite a bit of English. That’s because the central character, Sandra, is a novelist from Germany living in France with her husband, Samuel, and partially blind son. She speaks mostly English, including with her family, because she isn’t as fluent in French.
The film essentially begins with Sandra’s husband being found dead by their son, having fallen from their chalet. With no information available as to how he fell, Sandra is quickly accused of pushing him, while she insists that a more likely explanation is that he jumped. From there, Anatomy of a Fall quickly becomes a courtroom drama, as Sandra stands trial in a French court.
What makes Anatomy of a Fall work so well, though, is that it utilizes the courtroom drama structure to speak to much bigger themes. It’s not only Samuel’s death that is dissected in court, but also their marriage, their parenting, their work as writers, their characteristics and everyday routines. Anatomy of a fall becomes anatomy of everything about a person.
One of the underlying themes that stuck out more to me was how theatrical the trial is. The defense and the prosecutor alike do not simply present facts, they weave the facts into a narrative. They put on a show in order to convince the jury of their argument.
That courtrooms are like theatre isn’t a new observation, to be clear, but the effect stands out more watching Anatomy of a Fall as an American viewer because French criminal trials are conducted noticeably differently from American ones. Even the literal courtroom that Sandra’s trial takes place in—a U-shape with the jury and judge all surrounding the witness—creates a different viewing experience than of the typical American courtroom.
Noticeably different as it is, though, the French criminal justice process is still clearly based on the same traditions and ideas that the entire Western world’s is—a process now globalized because of colonialism and imperialism. That process, purposefully or not, rests on performance and storytelling as a significant part of judicial decision-making. Anatomy of a Fall subtly begs the question: Is that fair? If it isn’t, is there even any other option?
The Best TV Series Not On TV
In late fall, a nice little sketch popped up on TikTok For You Page, featuring a quirky woman in love to the point of obsession with her roommate, and delusional about him loving her back. It was funny in an offbeat kind of way. I laughed, I scrolled on.
Then, a few days later, I got another video on my For You Page featuring the same two characters. Then another. The another. Veronika and Kyle quickly became a staple of my TikTok experience. The videos started expanding on their story, too—Kyle may or may not have a girlfriend; the cameraman is a supporting character; Veronika wants to make Kyle jealous; Kyle might move out.
The two creators had essentially harnessed the power of the TikTok algorithm—which has an uncanny ability to show users “sequels” to videos they’ve already seen and engaged with—to create what became, over multiple months, an entire roommates-to-enemies-to-lovers arc via 1-3 minute sketch comedy videos.
Things took a weird but intriguing turn sometime around the start of 2024. Veronika and Kyle weren’t quite acting like themselves, and the previously romance focused plot began to bring in other conflicts, potentially even some supernatural elements.
The hivemind comments sections on their videos have dubbed this “Season 2,” and while the turn at first got mixed reviews, audiences—and, now, critics (me)—have come around. Season 3 is likely to start soon. I recommend catching up before then.
That’s all for this edition of Cansler Culture.
The next one will probably be, at least partly, about the upcoming miniseries Feud: Capote vs The Swans. I’ve been on a Truman Capote kick lately ever since someone told me I sorta look like him (and am similarly a once-in-a-generation writer, obviously). Anyway, if you’ve got Capote thoughts, send them my way.
Keeping with the theme of trials-as-performance, I’ll send you out with this absolute banger: