If there’s one thing us humans do well, it’s exploit. Animals, our planet, other humans - there’s no end to what we will abuse and wring dry. For most, the abuse eventually ends as one’s life does, as there’s no way to possibly continue. For Amy Winehouse, however, a life that ended because of such exploitation was not enough. We watched her demise over and over while she was alive; in her songs, on stage, in interviews. Now, her grave has been disturbed and her ghost awoken so we can watch her vicious and profoundly tragic demise play out yet again, this time to forever be burned onto film. “I died a hundred times”, she aptly sings in Back to Black, which just so happens to be the title of her new biopic.
Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson and set to be released in April, the film has already stirred up quite a significant amount of criticism, and rightfully so. “A mere 13 years after her death, the possibility of seeing some of Winehouse's more tragic moments dredged up again onscreen – including performances where she was intoxicated or booed offstage – is a distasteful prospect to some.”, writes Miriam Balanescu for the BBC. Despite the media portraying her as such, Amy Winehouse was not a lost cause who died because her only care in life was drinking and doing drugs. She died because she was surrounded by “selfish, careless, capitalists" who feigned compassion when it was convenient, only in efforts to feed their greed, make money, or climb the social ranks using Winehouse as a ladder. She died because she lived in a culture built on misogyny, individualism, and above all else - greed (1). And now, even 13 years after her death, those same things threaten her memory.
With billions of plays on Spotify alone, Winehouse’s music is more than successful and has a vast enough audience. She will also in no way benefit from more plays or the wider audience that the film would likely garner. The only possible benefit would be more people knowing about what happened to her, but most already do. Much of Winehouse’s struggle played out in the limelight, and footage of her drunk and high on stage has been recorded, spread, and watched by millions. It’s scarring enough to witnesses someone’s demise like that, what would be the purpose of recreating it in 4k? It’s certainly not to tell her story - Asif Kapadia’s documentary, Amy, already did that. It’s yet another excuse to sensationalise her story and hand fat pay checks to greedy people yet again profiting off of her pain. That’s not to say all biopics are in bad taste, but as Roisin O'Connor writes in The Independent, "Given the vulture-like efficiency with which her life was picked over, it's near-impossible to think of a sincere reason to make a movie about Winehouse – at least not one that isn't motivated by greed."
Amy Winehouse was so much more than a character in a sad story, condensed into a 2 hour film. Beneath the deafening and looming shadow cast by the cruel and callous people she was surrounded by, she was a deeply intelligent and talented once-in-a-lifetime kind of soul. She deserves to have her memory preserved in her own words, her voice, and her songs. All anyone needs to know already exists in her albums. "More recently, it had begun to feel as if [Winehouse] was finally being remembered not as a purely tragic figure but as a generational talent who released two cherished records – and someone who wasn't purely self-destructive, but a victim of systematic abuse and mental illness," describes Shaad D'Souza in The Guardian. "Back to Black threatens not to honour that legacy, but to revive all the demeaning noise that obscured it in the first place."
1 Murphy, Meghan. “Patriarchy, Male Entitlement, & Capitalist Greed Killed Amy Winehouse, Not Boozing.” Feminist Current, 20 Aug. 2015, www.feministcurrent.com/2015/07/22/patriarchy-male-entitlement-capitalist-greed-killed-amy-winehouse-not-boozing/.
2 Murphy, Meghan. “Patriarchy, Male Entitlement, & Capitalist Greed Killed Amy Winehouse, Not Boozing.” Feminist Current, 20 Aug. 2015, www.feministcurrent.com/2015/07/22/patriarchy-male-entitlement-capitalist-greed-killed-amy-winehouse-not-boozing/.
3 O’Connor, Roisin. “Greed or Guilt: Why Can’t We Leave Amy Winehouse Alone?” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 28 Jan. 2023, www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/amy-winehouse-back-to-black-marisa-abela-b2270670.html.
4 D’Souza, Shaad. “Back to Black: First Trailer for Amy Winehouse Biopic from Sam Taylor-Johnson Released.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 11 Jan. 2024, www.theguardian.com/film/2024/jan/11/back-to-black-first-trailer-for-amy-winehouse-biopic-from-sam-taylor-johnson-released.
Comments