Fans Say the #1 New Series on Netflix is “Devastating” and “Terrifying to watch”
Mary Beth McAndrews
|
We live in a society (yes, joke intended) that more often than not tends to push issues of men being sexually assaulted and stalked to the side, a strange patriarchal belief that men can’t be victimized, especially by women. While some films like Basic Instinct and Cruel Intentions look at such a subject through a sensational lens, Richard Gadd takes a much more grounded approach in his new Netflix series Baby Reindeer. The series is based on his one-man show of the same name, which is then based on his own personal experiences with being stalked and assaulted by a woman.
In the series, “Struggling comedian and barman Donny meets a lonely woman claiming to be a lawyer. He offers her a cup of tea on the house, and she’s instantly obsessed.”
The Netflix series is fictional, but Gadd does star and plays himself, which further grounds the series as more than something to giggle at. So often sexual assault by women is played for jokes. But here, Gadd and episode directors Weronika Tofilska and Josephine Bornebusch want to show it for what it is: terrifying and life-shattering. Baby Reindeer is a takedown of toxic masculinity and the harms perpetuated by patriarchy through a cinematic lens. Gadd’s experience opened him up not just to his stalker, but to understanding his own traumas that go back to his childhood.
Baby Reindeer started as a one-man show written by and starring Gadd, which premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The show has a similar premise to the Netflix series, with Gadd playing a bartender named Donny who is stalked by a woman named Martha. But again, it’s all based on Gadd’s own experience with a woman who, according to Forbes, “over four and a half years…sent him 41,071 emails, 350 hours’ worth of voicemails, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages, 106 pages of letters, and a variety of weird gifts, including a reindeer toy, sleeping pills, a woolly hat and boxer shorts.”
In a 2019 interview with The Guardian, Gadd recounts that when he tried to go to the police, he was “told off for harassing the police about being harassed”. Even men can’t get support from the supposed systems in place meant to protect us from harm. But now, hopefully, having Baby Reindeer out on Netflix is a kind of catharsis for Gadd, especially as others may feel more able to share their own experiences.
It’s by no means an easy watch, especially for survivors of sexual violence. But, it’s an incredible step in the right direction for representing stories of trauma in grounded, realistic ways that are taken seriously. And viewer reactions on Twitter only prove that point.
Check out just a few perspectives on the new Netflix series below:
Baby Reindeer is streaming now on Netflix.
Are you going to check out this new series? Have you already and have thoughts? Let us know on Twitter and Instagram @DreadCentral.
Categorized:News
