With a cherry-picked star cast featuring alumni from Euphoria, Riverdale, 13 Reasons Why, Stranger Things & the likes, Do Revenge seems to have found a rather cozy corner in Netflix’s Top 10 list. Given this promising premise which equated to consumable fodder for Gen Z, the movie’s imminent success was predictable, to say the least.
But it’s not just the star-studded cast making rounds on social media. The culture & fashion watchdog side of Twitter is hyperventilating, courtesy the countless references & style nods to 90s & early 2000s classics like Cruel Intentions, Means Girls, Clueless & many more. To sum it up, I was emulating ‘that Leonardo DiCaprio meme’ during 97 percent of Do Revenge’s screen time.
Mean Girl Trifecta
Preppy uniforms, pastel palettes, living in oblivion, walking in trios, yada yada. Ring a bell? More like the Big Ben blasting right next to your eardrums? The blatant referencing reinforces the girly, teenage angst from Mean Girls & successfully emulates the latter but with its own new-age interpretation.
No Cruelty Intended?
Austin Abrams, who plays Max has been compared to Sebastian’s character (essayed by Ryan Phillippe) from Cruel Intentions. His mannerisms & the gruesome manic pixie dream boy charade is a trailer for his privileged upbringing. Max is so good at being excruciatingly bad, you’re pining for his downfall from the word go. He also starts a club by the name ‘Cis Hetero Men Championing Female Identifying Students League.’ Do what you will with that piece of information.
I think we can all appreciate how Do Revenge successfully manages to roast the performative wokeness of a few of its characters, making the movie rank high on the irony pedestal (in a good way). And ICYMI, Sarah Michelle Gellar who essayed the role of Kathryn in the 90s flick also makes a cameo as the school principal.
Dropping Clue ‘less?
Fun Fact: Digging a little on the lexical front, the school’s Horowitz Hall is undoubtedly a straight-forward homage to Clueless’s Cher Horowitz’s last name.
Feather boas, preppy skirt sets & body cons which look straight out of a Versace atelier- that’s the conniving (but with reason), Drea for you. There’s also a shot in the movie, where Drea holds a pink fluffy pen & you just sit back & unpack this one of the many Easter eggs. This semblance of a world, doused in drippy Y2K aesthetics does pose a genuine question about her ability to afford such pieces, since she comes from a humble background. Maybe she thrifts at cool stores, who knows?
10 Things I Don’t Hate About Russ
Parallels are being drawn between Russ essayed by Rishi Shah & Heath Ledger’s motor-bike riding, leather jacket devotee Patrick Verona. Although a notch mellower, Russ is anything but a prick to our lead Drea. Oh, and there’s also a fun paintball scene that makes up for the lack of our beloved enemies-to-lovers friction. Us audiences are a predictable lot, you know.
Swifties Assemble
Alongside the countless references to their cinematic predecessors, one that caught our eye is Eleanor aka Maya Hawke’s character & how we’re convinced she’s a Reputation disciple. She even quotes, “The old Eleanor can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Because she’s dead” from Taylor Swift’s song Look What You Made Me Do. No wonder revenge was on the menu since the dawn of time.
Image Credits: Netflix
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