The Deep Dive with Sea

In “Please Please Please,” Sabrina Carpenter exudes old Hollywood glamour with her bold lipstick, bouncing blonde hair, and lingerie-as-clothing aesthetic. It’s an alluring visual that immediately captivates us, especially as she exits the holding cell, applying lipstick with a flick of confidence. Yet, what’s concerning is her immediate fixation on Barry Keoghan’s “bad boy” character, rather than acknowledging the legal consequences she faces. Beneath this gloss and beauty, Sabrina’s character becomes progressively aware that something is off, yet she clings to the hope of a different outcome. The red lingerie she wears becomes a striking metaphor for the red flags she chooses to overlook. As the violence and criminality unfold around her, the message is clear: just look away from the danger, and everything will seem fine. What resonates with me beyond the video is the troubling narrative of women assuming caretaker roles in toxic relationships. Throughout, Sabrina tends to her partn...

While watching Puberty Blues (1981), I was struck by a recurring theme that resonates deeply with my own childhood experiences as a teenager in Australia. In one scene, Debbie (our teenage protagonist) is picked up by two guys in their car to go to the movies, but her mother, Mrs. Vickers, warns her not to sit in the aisle, fearing she might get " jabbed by a pusher with heaven knows what ." This moment brought back vivid memories of my own mother’s similar warnings. When my sister walked near Kings Cross in Sydney in the late 1990s, Mum cautioned her about drug dealers who might jab her with heroin and turn her into a prostitute. In the early 2000s, while hanging out with friends along a suburban bike track in Melbourne, I received similar warnings about strange men who could stab me with a knife. I hear both Debbie’s and my own mother’s voices echoing, " What? I read it in the paper ," to affirm their concerns. Screenshot from Puberty Blues (1981) As teenagers, t...