May newsletter

Welcome to your nightmare

May 05, 2025

Emily gets a handle

May 5th, 2025

HELLO

Hey, welcome, it’s nice to be here with you. This is a newsletter where I explore themes of permission and attention through my experience in the world and the romantic comedy genre.

In April I read a romantic sci-fi book called Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao. It was a fast paced escapade exploring patriarchy, power and pain. This book reminded me of Challengers. Morally gray characters who are super strong and good at what they do and are kind of messy dating-ish each other.

Challengers ends when the three main characters experience a brief moment of satisfaction and wholeness, perhaps that they had been seeking their whole lives. As an audience, we understand that this emotion doesn’t last and that they all go back to their toxic ways after this moment. Their co-dependent world doesn’t have space for long term stability or satisfaction.

At the end of Iron Widow, the three main characters connect and dominate the final battle, gaining power over their society. Mere moments afterwards, this satisfaction is ripped away when Zetian, the main character, discovers that the government was lying about who they were fighting and why, throwing their victory into a very confusing light.

Both stories end with the heroine’s face expressing an intense emotion. Zetian (Iron Widow) wails and drags her nails over her face in despair. Tashi (Challengers) screams “Come on!” and expresses a mix of wild excitement and desperation.

Both of these women have iconic screaming lines that honestly have some tonal similarities. Tashi says “Come on!” and Zetian says “Welcome to your nightmare!”

Both Tashi and Zetian women who are cast aside and left for dead by society at large. They fight and claw their way into power in order to make a space big enough for themselves to breathe in such a claustrophobic society. When they scream those words, it gives me the feeling of forceful anger. I hear them say: I am going to be here and be big and you’re going to have to get out of my way or do what I want you to. I hear: This world is not what I want it to be and things are going to get messy for you if you don’t make room for my unapologetic self.

I want to hear Lady Gaga say both of those lines in this outfit from her Coachella set.