Netflix's 'Elite': HIV, Sex, Drugs And Religion
SPOILER ALERT
Elite is more than rich kids and a murder. It was Netflix’s big hit on October, placed as the most “binged watched” series in the world. According to ABC Newspaper and TV Time, almost 5% of its viewers were unable to just watch one single episode. Before the first season was aired, it had already been signed for a second season. But what is it about?
In a nutshell, three public-school students transfer to a private high school where a murder occurs. The series episodes reveal little by little how everything builds up to the murder. On the journey, it shows drugs and alcohol abuse, political corruption, sex, Muslim relationships (both heterosexual and homosexual), parents' pressure on children and both social and cultural differences.
Why did it have this success?
1. Difference: story creators Carlos Montero and Dario Madrona recognized that the secret was “looking for differentiating elements that had not been seen together,” (ABC Newspaper).
2. Actors: the actors were already known for La Casa de Papel (Miguel Herrán, Jaime Lorente and María Pedraza). Further, they used recognized Mexican actress Danna Paola, with 6 million followers on Instagram.
3. Flashback method: the audience acts as a detective to find out about the murder. Besides, every single episode ends with cliffhangers and obliges the spectator to watch the next episode.
Why do we need this series?
The series itself does not completely go out of the hegemonic culture from today’s entertainment as it still has a high school drama storyline, love and rich kids. But it also gives visibility to aspects of society that are not normally shown on mainstream entertainment. Many of these aspects are subtle and incorporated on a fairly mainstream, making the series much more powerful and successful while teaching certain values. The main controversy comes from the obscene language, explicit sex, violence and drugs use. Some Social Media comments have criticized the +13 rating and demanded readjustment.
But the most important points Elite give visibility to and that we should remark are:
Muslim Religion: Schools in Spain and all over the world still have internal rules that forbid students from wearing any type of head covering, whether for religious motives or otherwise. In Las Encinas, Elite's high school, event though other girls wear accessories, Nadia is told she cannot wear her hijab. Her parents also tell her that she cannot have a relationship with a white man and in fact, his father tries to match her up with another Muslim man for her wedding. Furthermore, Nadia gives visibility to a hot topic when she gives the pregnant protagonist the contact of someone who can procede to a clandestine abortion. Not only looking through a Muslim perspective, Nadia’s brother, Omar is an underage drug dealer. He does this because he wants to escape his house, since he is homosexual and says his family will kill him for it.
Parents Pressure: "Today, parents want competitive children with good grades, and demand high returns regardless of whether their children can achieve it or want it,” Isabel Menéndez Benavente, a psychologist specialized in children and teenagers, indicates (La Vanguardia). This pressure is done multifariously in Elite. Ander hates tennis, but he is becoming a professional player because he needs a scholarship and does not want to let his dad down. Carla has to lie multiple times in order to maintain her parents social status presence and to protect his corrupt father. Guzman becomes a dad figure to Marina, as the family avoids talking about her sister HIV problem. Not only that, he is the perfect student, the football player and the "cool” kid at school.
Sex: in all forms. Marina has unprotected sex with a man and gets HIV. Polo discovers he is a voyeur and enjoys watching Carla and Christian having sex, but also realizes that he is bisexual. Moreover, Elite shows how people use sex for career advancement. Business Insider states that 15% of women have slept with their boss and 37% of them got promoted for it. Elite changes this with Christian compromising his sexuality to give Polo a blowjob in order to be featured on the cover page of a magazine.
Underage consumption of drugs and alcohol: El Pais researched that 28,3% of students aged 14 to 18 drink alcohol at least once a month. In Elite, 16 year olds are drug dealers, they buy drugs and drink alcohol on a regular basis. But it is not only a children’s issue: one of the politicians consumes cocaine.
Corruption: The latest data for Spain is that there are 1,378 politics accused of corruption. But, in Elite it is not only about corrupt politicians, there is also a teacher who accepts a bribe from a student who promises him to have a faster adoption process with his wife. Also, the school director does not report a fight his son was involved.
HIV: Marina comes from a wealthy family and is seropositive. Elite is responsible for banishing a myth that, as seen, continues to be so. “The most outstanding examples of the representation of HIV in films and television are found in The Normal Heart and Pose. Both are creations of Ryan Murphy, and focus on the gay community and transgender of the 70s and 80s” (El Español). Hence Elite reinforces that HIV can be transmitted to anyone who has unprotected sex, through blood or mother-child contact. No matter your background. Elite’s director explained, "HIV is a disease that has long been associated with marginal social classes," (El Español).
This being said, what does this bring to the future of mainstream entertainment? Will Netflix continue to distribute series with a deeper meaning or will they continue the money-making hegemonic entertainment? In the end, the characters of the film are all beautiful, skinny and go to a wealthy school. Hence, even though it shows other important values of society, does Netflix and other media corporations need to keep showing this because that is what works? Are we ready to see new media entertainment or are we too afraid? Maybe if producers change, we will see with time.
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