Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Why HaleyyBaylee's Marie Antoinette-inspired Met Gala video went wrong

Transcript

MINI SCROLL: Why HaleyyBaylee's Marie Antoinette-inspired Met Gala video went wrong · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  Hi everyone. Welcome to Mini Scroll, the
• 0:02
  daily Internet culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories
• 0:05
  from social media, the creator economy and the digital space.
• 0:08
  Every Monday through Thursday. I'm your host, Lauren Meisner,
• 0:12
  the founder of the youth digital media brand Centennial World.
• 0:16
  All right. Welcome to Mini Scroll, the last
• 0:18
  Mini Scroll of the week. I have a very niche.
• 0:23
  I don't even know what other word to use.
• 0:25
  Deep dive for you guys tomorrow for infinite Scrolls.
• 0:28
  So definitely get excited for that.
• 0:31
  It's. I don't know, I'm interested to
• 0:33
  see how you guys respond. OK, so today's mini scroll, I
• 0:37
  just wanted to touch on one big story.
• 0:40
  It's a bit more Met Gala news, but I wanted to give this story
• 0:45
  a proper breakdown because in the past we have analyzed the
• 0:49
  Met Gala from a pretty critical perspective.
• 0:51
  You know, we obviously look at the fashion and the makeup
• 0:53
  choices, but also the theme and what that theme represents.
• 0:58
  And this year I feel like I took a very surface level approach.
• 1:02
  Like I really just analyzed the fashion, like shared my opinions
• 1:05
  on it. I shared what the theme was, but
• 1:07
  not really what it represents at a, you know, bigger level.
• 1:10
  I feel like there is so much more to be analyzed,
• 1:13
  particularly when it comes to the theme in relation to what's
• 1:17
  going on in the world with cost of living, the genocide going
• 1:21
  on, like all of the shit that we are experiencing right now.
• 1:24
  There's a lot to be said for the theme and how some celebrities
• 1:29
  and influencers executed it. So I think that deserves some
• 1:32
  airtime and the story that I'll be sharing today is a really
• 1:35
  good jumping off point for that. So the story that I have for you
• 1:39
  guys today is that Tik Toker Haley Bailey is facing backlash
• 1:42
  for her Marie Antoinette inspired Met Gala video.
• 1:46
  So creator Haley Khalil, who goes by Haley Bailey on TikTok
• 1:50
  is facing criticism for posting a very out of touch video from
• 1:53
  the Met Gala. This was Haley's first Met Gala
• 1:56
  and she wore a gown and a headdress by Mark Bauer.
• 1:59
  Prior to the event, Haley posted a TikTok to her 10 million
• 2:02
  followers where she lip syncs to a sound from Sofia Coppola's
• 2:06
  Marie Antoinette where the Queen says her iconic quote let them
• 2:09
  eat cake. So before I keep going, I know
• 2:12
  that it is highly debated if Marie Antoinet actually said
• 2:15
  this quote. You know, people say that there
• 2:17
  is no historical evidence that she ever said let them eat cake,
• 2:20
  so please leave that aside. That's really not the point.
• 2:23
  It's more about like what this video and that quote and her
• 2:26
  outfit all together represents. Getting in the details of if
• 2:29
  Marie Antoinette actually said that quote is missing literally
• 2:32
  the entire point of why people are upset about this.
• 2:35
  OK, so her video has over 17,000,000 views and the
• 2:39
  majority of viewers are calling it quote dystopian, comparing it
• 2:43
  to something out of The Hunger Games and saying it is just too
• 2:46
  on the nose given the current political and socio economic
• 2:49
  climates. For anyone who is unaware, Marie
• 2:52
  Antoinette was the last Queen of France before the French
• 2:55
  Revolution. According to the Royal Museum's
• 2:57
  Greenwich quote, in the late 18th century France was on the
• 3:01
  brink of bankruptcy due to its involvement in the American
• 3:04
  Revolution and King Louis extravagant spending.
• 3:07
  This led to a people's revolt against the inequalities of
• 3:10
  French society, the corruption of royal officials, and despair
• 3:13
  owing to widespread economic hardship.
• 3:16
  And during the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette
• 3:19
  became known as a Madam deficit because the country's financial
• 3:23
  crisis was blamed on her lavish spending.
• 3:26
  She was also opposed to social and financial reforms that would
• 3:30
  benefit the lower and middle classes and she had a quote,
• 3:33
  ambiguous attitude about the French Revolution.
• 3:36
  All of this accelerated her demise, which as many of us know
• 3:41
  ended in her being executed in 1793 from worldhistory.org
• 3:46
  quote. With her death France was free
• 3:48
  of its Austrian She Wolf of the so-called Madam Deficit who had
• 3:52
  bankrupted the nation both morally and financially.
• 3:55
  What it got in return was 10 months of blood for Marie
• 3:58
  Antoinette was one of the first high profile victims of the
• 4:01
  Reign of Terror. So the point is Marie Antoinette
• 4:06
  was not just some fun loving French socialite, this like
• 4:10
  glamorous figure that I think sometimes she's portrayed as in
• 4:13
  the media. And though I'm sure you can't
• 4:14
  blame the entire French Revolution on her, you know,
• 4:17
  maybe you can. I don't know.
• 4:17
  I'm not a historian. I don't know if all of you know
• 4:21
  the stuff out there about her and how she contributed to that,
• 4:24
  if that's all fact or if a lot of that is, you know, maybe
• 4:27
  seeped A misogyny or whatever, like, I don't know.
• 4:29
  OK, that's not really the point. Marie Antoinette as a historical
• 4:34
  figure represents the 1% who were exploiting the lower and
• 4:39
  middle classes and destroying the economy so that they could
• 4:43
  have more and basically didn't give a shit if you know, these
• 4:47
  people lived or died. And that is like a direct
• 4:50
  reflection in our current time of the 1%, right?
• 4:54
  Like so much of what happened leading up to the French
• 4:56
  Revolution, we can see mirrored back to what's happening in our
• 5:00
  current existence. So for an influencer who is
• 5:04
  probably making more money than the vast majority of the world,
• 5:08
  who probably doesn't need to worry about if she can afford
• 5:11
  groceries next week or her rent next month like so many people
• 5:15
  are struggling with right now. For her to post a quirky Marie
• 5:19
  Antoinette inspired video at the Met Gala, an event that costs
• 5:25
  $75,000 a ticket more than most people's annual salary, it is
• 5:32
  literally just an event for the 1% in this economic environment.
• 5:37
  It feels like she is just spitting in our faces and I know
• 5:41
  it was just like a dumb quick little video.
• 5:44
  I don't actually believe she did this out of malice.
• 5:46
  I don't think she thought very much about it, but that's why
• 5:50
  people are pissed. It's not because they thought
• 5:52
  she had necessarily, like, bad intentions with it.
• 5:55
  It just felt too on the nose, really disgusting.
• 5:58
  And then she responded, which I will get to in a little bit, and
• 6:02
  people are not happy with how she's responded.
• 6:04
  So the other element of what makes this video feel really
• 6:07
  icky for people is when you consider the theme of this
• 6:10
  year's Met Gala, The Garden of Time.
• 6:12
  So I did touch on the theme in Tuesday's episode, but I didn't
• 6:16
  really talk about, like, what it really represents.
• 6:19
  I more so touched on the story that it was based on.
• 6:21
  So the theme was based on this story about a wealthy couple who
• 6:25
  created their own utopia. They lived in a villa protected
• 6:28
  behind a wall. But one day on the horizon, they
• 6:32
  saw this massive army of rebel that was slowly approaching
• 6:36
  them. The couple could pick flowers in
• 6:38
  their garden that would basically, like, turn back at
• 6:41
  the hands of time. And so instead of taking any
• 6:43
  action and doing anything about the rebel pushing towards them,
• 6:47
  they just started picking flowers in their garden to turn
• 6:50
  back the hands of time. And eventually, obviously, their
• 6:53
  time ran out and the rebel was upon them and the story ends.
• 6:57
  So the irony here is that the story, the Garden of Time, is so
• 7:01
  representative of Marie Antoinette's story, right?
• 7:04
  It's a story about wealthy people who are out of touch,
• 7:06
  living in their own bubble and who are basically unaware that
• 7:11
  their time is running out. So the Met choosing this theme
• 7:14
  for this year, given everything going on in the world, it feels
• 7:19
  like a huge fuck you to all of us.
• 7:23
  And watching these huge celebrities and influencers who
• 7:27
  are the one percenters, parade around in floral gowns at their
• 7:31
  $75,000 a ticket event where they had to walk past Palestine
• 7:37
  protesters to enter. It's either that these people
• 7:41
  don't understand the irony of the theme or it's that they
• 7:46
  literally don't care and they're doing it as like a slap in the
• 7:49
  face to us and basically saying like, we don't care about what's
• 7:53
  going on in the world, we just care about our status, our
• 7:56
  wealth, and having more and maintaining our lavish
• 7:59
  lifestyles. That's why people are upset
• 8:02
  about this particular video, but also about the Met Gala this
• 8:05
  year in general. So Haley responded in the
• 8:07
  comments. As I said, she wrote quote.
• 8:09
  Just wanted to clarify that this sound was used because my dress
• 8:12
  was Marie Antoinette themed. That is the only reason I would
• 8:16
  never use this sound for any other meaning.
• 8:18
  That's heartbreaking. So I do believe that she didn't
• 8:22
  think very much about this video and that it wasn't done out of
• 8:25
  malice like I previously said. But that's literally the point.
• 8:28
  Going to the Met Gala dressed in a Marie Antoinette themed dress.
• 8:34
  Like, that's the problem. That's the point.
• 8:36
  That's what people are trying to like, lead her to is, you know,
• 8:39
  do you not see the irony in this?
• 8:41
  Do you not see how this is so icky?
• 8:42
  Do you not realize what you've done here?
• 8:45
  Like, that's the actual problem. So she actually hasn't removed
• 8:49
  the video, and I don't think she will at this point.
• 8:52
  She posts a lot and it's already pretty far down her feet, even
• 8:55
  though it's only a couple days old.
• 8:57
  But I think that this is a good example of the fact that, I
• 9:01
  mean, a lot of people like to say we make the wrong people
• 9:03
  famous. I don't know if this is an
• 9:05
  example of making the wrong people famous.
• 9:07
  I think this is an example of famous people, you know, not
• 9:12
  wanting to see how they are part of the problem.
• 9:16
  I don't know if it's that a lot of celebrities and influencers
• 9:19
  aren't smart or if it's that they just want to have blinders
• 9:23
  on. Because a lot of times, if you
• 9:24
  think about who becomes, you know, famous, it's typically
• 9:28
  like creatives. Like those are the people that
• 9:30
  we platform with this type of fame, who we see platformed at
• 9:34
  the Met Gala. And a lot of times, creative
• 9:36
  people are sometimes the biggest critical thinkers.
• 9:39
  They sometimes are the people that are trying to push for
• 9:42
  change. But then when you get to a
• 9:43
  certain level, you become part of the problem when you get that
• 9:46
  much money, and you probably don't want to accept that.
• 9:49
  So that's what I think starts to happen here a little bit.
• 9:52
  I'm not talking about like the billionaires like the Jeff Bezos
• 9:55
  or even the Kardashians. You know, I don't necessarily
• 9:57
  consider them creatives. I would consider them more like
• 9:59
  business women. I don't think that they start
• 10:04
  off with a critical eye about the world around them, but I do
• 10:09
  think a lot of celebrities do because they are creatives.
• 10:12
  I think this is a good example of the fact that too much money
• 10:16
  and fame, you know, at some point everyone has a price.
• 10:20
  I think the allure of a glamorous lifestyle, money,
• 10:25
  success, fame, that becomes much more important to a lot of
• 10:31
  people. And I'm not saying that it
• 10:32
  wouldn't happen to me, probably fucking would.
• 10:34
  I don't know, you know, But that becomes more important to people
• 10:37
  then you know, their morals, their values, their ethics, and
• 10:41
  looking at things with a critical eye.
• 10:42
  Nobody wants to believe that they are contributing to massive
• 10:47
  problems like we are currently experiencing around the world.
• 10:51
  So it's probably easier to be in denial and to just go about your
• 10:54
  life. And this is also not me
• 10:56
  criticizing people who enjoy the Macala.
• 10:58
  I literally did a whole episode breaking down my favorite looks,
• 11:02
  my least favorite looks, whatever.
• 11:03
  Like, it's totally fine to enjoy these moments in pop culture and
• 11:07
  look at them through this entertainment lens.
• 11:09
  And that's kind of what we did initially.
• 11:11
  But I just thought with the uproar of what's going on right
• 11:14
  now with Haley's TikTok and just more conversation about how kind
• 11:19
  of icky than Matt felt, I felt like it was important to really,
• 11:21
  like, explain why people feel that way.
• 11:24
  But if I got invited to the Met Gala, like, I'm sure I would
• 11:27
  fucking go. Actually, no, I would definitely
• 11:29
  go. So this is not a criticism
• 11:32
  either of anybody attending the Met Gala.
• 11:33
  Like most of those people are not paying $75,000 ticket
• 11:36
  personally. They're getting invited by
• 11:38
  brands or whoever. And so yes, I would go to the
• 11:41
  Met Gala if I was invited for sure.
• 11:43
  I'm not trying to yuck anyone's yums by any means, but I think
• 11:46
  it's important to look at why people are reacting the way
• 11:49
  they're reacting. And that's why it's not that
• 11:52
  people are trying to take fun away from Haley or anyone who
• 11:56
  has enjoyed talking about the fashion or consuming the content
• 11:59
  around the Met. It's not that at all.
• 12:01
  But all of these conversations deserve, you know, a critical
• 12:04
  eye, a critical lens. I hope that I explained that
• 12:08
  well. Thank you guys so much for
• 12:11
  listening to Mini Scroll. Please remember to rate your
• 12:14
  view and subscribe. It helps me so much.
• 12:16
  I love you guys. I will have a deep dive for you
• 12:18
  tomorrow. Again, it's a bit unhinged.
• 12:20
  It's also in the old studio. So if you hate this green wall,
• 12:24
  I know some of you do, I'm going to try and figure out like a
• 12:27
  solution to it. I don't totally hate it.
• 12:28
  I think it's kind of like grungy and fun, but like, whatever.
• 12:30
  I get it. And it like kind of messes with
• 12:32
  the lighting in this room, so like how it bounces back off the
• 12:35
  camera. So tomorrow's episode will be
• 12:38
  more aesthetically pleasing to watch on YouTube.
• 12:40
  And then I'm hoping this weekend I'm able to get some type of
• 12:43
  solution for this wall. OK.
• 12:45
  Bye guys.