Like Hoover, who faced backlash for attempting to release a coloring book based on the novel, Lively is being criticized for marketing the film as a lighthearted romance and promoting her haircare line during the press tour. One particular interview in which Lively told viewers to “grab your friends, wear your florals” to see the film is rubbing many fans the wrong way. Meanwhile, fans have noted that Baldoni’s interviews are largely centered around the film’s depiction of abuse.
“Grab your friends, wear your florals...
. but forget the sole purpose of this film is to raise awareness to domestic violence?” one user commented. Neither Justin Baldoni nor Blake Lively have directly commented on the controversy.
Even a recent AP interview discusses criticism of the film as a whole, though his reference to the “attention economy” suggests he’s aware of concerns about the press tour. “We’re in a clickbait world and everyone is trying to figure out how to gather attention,” he said. “It’s everywhere around us.
” Some fans think this was a subtle dig at Lively. “This is an ice cold read! He is saying a lot without directly calling Blake and them out,” one user commented on TikTok. Another wrote, “He’s gotta be so frustrated that he put so much sincere work into this films message and ‘others associated with the film’ are doing the opposite.
” For her part, Blake Lively says she wants fans to know that Lily Bloom is not “defined by something that someone else did to her.” “This movie covers domestic violence, but what’s important about this film is that she is not just a survivor, and she’s not just a victim, and while those are huge things to be, they’re not her identity,” she said during a red-carpet interview with BBC News on August 8. “She’s not defined by something that someone else did to her or an event that happened to her, even if it’s multiple events, she defines herself.
And I think that that’s deeply empowering, to remind people that no one else can define you, no experience can define you. You define you.” She continued, “You really feel like we delivered a story that’s emotional and it’s fun and it’s funny and it’s painful and it’s scary and it’s tragic and it’s inspiring, and that’s what life is.
” Whether or not viewers agree with her, of course, is up to them. Originally published in Glamour.com.
