STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
In 2011, Jesy Nelson was a member of the girl group Little Mix, that won the talent show The X Factor, and shot to international stardom. However, almost as soon as this happened, she found herself being singled out for online abuse, from trolls about her weight and appearance. This caused her to become a lot more image conscious, and when she performed with LM again on TXF in November 2013, she hoped everyone would see her looking differently, only for a mean tweet from Katie Hopkins to drive her to a suicide attempt. Here, Jesy offers an honest appraisal of herself to the camera, as well as meeting with others who have suffered at the hands of online bullies.
It makes me feel pretty old to think back to my schooldays (twenty years ago!) to a time when any bullying that went on was confined to the playground, or the school gates. Not that long ago, really, when the word 'cyberbullying' didn't exist. But for kids today (or maybe anyone under 30!) it's a very real thing, where they're never free from the hurtful comments of bullies, even when they go home from school. Or, it seems, is anyone in the public limelight, which Little Mix singer Jesy Nelson highlights with this documentary, lifting the lid on the hidden pain she was hiding behind the smiles.
It seems astonishing that anyone would think she looked anything less than as stunning as her three bandmates, or that maybe whoever was sending it knew they were talking nonsense and were just jealous, but then this highlights the impact words can have, especially in the minds of young women. That someone as stupid and meaningless as Hopkins could push her to suicide is just desperately sad, especially when surrounded by more positive people such as her mum, who seems to not like who she felt she had to become to be accepted in the world she was in, in spite of her success, as well as her bandmates who feel as wounded by the cruelty as she did.
This is a short but sweet documentary, that shines this prominent member of one of the biggest girl groups around in a more human and relatable light than before, and hopefully will raise awareness of the harmfulness of mean words. ****
In 2011, Jesy Nelson was a member of the girl group Little Mix, that won the talent show The X Factor, and shot to international stardom. However, almost as soon as this happened, she found herself being singled out for online abuse, from trolls about her weight and appearance. This caused her to become a lot more image conscious, and when she performed with LM again on TXF in November 2013, she hoped everyone would see her looking differently, only for a mean tweet from Katie Hopkins to drive her to a suicide attempt. Here, Jesy offers an honest appraisal of herself to the camera, as well as meeting with others who have suffered at the hands of online bullies.
It makes me feel pretty old to think back to my schooldays (twenty years ago!) to a time when any bullying that went on was confined to the playground, or the school gates. Not that long ago, really, when the word 'cyberbullying' didn't exist. But for kids today (or maybe anyone under 30!) it's a very real thing, where they're never free from the hurtful comments of bullies, even when they go home from school. Or, it seems, is anyone in the public limelight, which Little Mix singer Jesy Nelson highlights with this documentary, lifting the lid on the hidden pain she was hiding behind the smiles.
It seems astonishing that anyone would think she looked anything less than as stunning as her three bandmates, or that maybe whoever was sending it knew they were talking nonsense and were just jealous, but then this highlights the impact words can have, especially in the minds of young women. That someone as stupid and meaningless as Hopkins could push her to suicide is just desperately sad, especially when surrounded by more positive people such as her mum, who seems to not like who she felt she had to become to be accepted in the world she was in, in spite of her success, as well as her bandmates who feel as wounded by the cruelty as she did.
This is a short but sweet documentary, that shines this prominent member of one of the biggest girl groups around in a more human and relatable light than before, and hopefully will raise awareness of the harmfulness of mean words. ****
