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Firstly, I would like to disclaim that I do not think that “It Ends With Us” by Colleen Hoover should have been adapted to screens in the first place. I was not entirely surprised by its failure and the trail of destruction that the story left in its wake.
The premise of “It Ends With Us,” is meaningful and thought-provoking. A story about a woman’s strength inbreaking the generational cycle of abuse? It sounds incredible.
Hoover’s first-hand encounters with domestic violence from her younger years with her mother and father support her as a credible source.
When I call “It Ends With Us” a failure, I never mean to disregard Hoover’s experience with domestic violence regarding her mother and the abuse she endured. The narrative failed on paper and on screen not because of its premise or meaning, but because of the utter failure that was its marketing.
I will never really understand why Hoover, and eventually actress and entrepreneur Blake Lively, falsely represented “It Ends With Us” as a romantic comedy-esque story.
Individuals involved in the production of the film were instructed to focus on the protagonist’s strength and by extension, the strength of real life victims of domestic violence. But in the case of those individuals, it looks as if they are disregarding the point of the narrative completely, resulting in a more destructive than inspiring story.
In the novel, the random letters addressed to Ellen DeGeneres by Lily Blossom Bloom, protagonist and floral shop owner, awkwardly and jarringly incline the reader not to take the novel seriously.
In relation to the film, Lively’s nonchalance and unserious approach in interviews feels like, again, the consumer is awkwardly being asked not to take the story seriously.
It isn’t chic to utilize a story about domestic violence to promote your alcohol and hair brands, Lively.
Almost immediately after the release of “It Ends With Us” in theaters and throughout the press tour, Lively faced immense backlash for her general attitude toward the film. Actor and director Justin Baldoni’s reputation was initially unscathed and even boosted by social media’s praise.
Months later, Lively made a civil rights complaint and eventually filed a lawsuit against Baldoni, Wayfarer and its CEO Jamey Heath for sexual harassment and the intentional and strategic destruction of her reputation.
Lively alleges that Baldoni and his public relations (PR) team executed a “smear-campaign” and “multi-tiered plan” with the intention of harming her public image. However, arguably the most distressing parts of Lively’s lawsuit are the claims against Baldoni and other men on the “It Ends With Us” set alleging their disturbing behavior toward women.
“‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine” by reporters Megan Twohey, Mike McIntire and Julie Tate was published by The New York Times on Dec. 21, 2024 and updated on Dec. 22, 2024. The article addresses Lively’s claims against Baldoni.
Baldoni hired publicist Melissa Nathan, who previously worked with actor Johnny Depp during his defamation trial against actress Amber Heard in 2022, to prevent negative publicity about Baldoni from reaching virality and bolster negative publicity about Lively. Nathan specializes in crisis management and in 2022 successfully supported Depp.
Text exchanges released by Lively paint a condemning picture of Baldoni and his team.
“I’m having reckless thoughts of wanting to plant pieces this week of how horrible Blake is to work with. Just to get ahead of it,” Jennifer Abel, another member of Baldoni’s PR team mentioned in Lively’s complaint, wrote.
Suddenly, after months of Baldoni’s reign on the internet as a beloved male advocate of women’s rights, a substantial portion of the media turned on Baldoni and his team, defending Lively’s name instead.
Shortly after Lively’s legal complaint gained popularity, Baldoni filed a defamation lawsuit against Lively and Actor Ryan Reynolds, her husband, seeking $400 million in damages. The complaint names the happy couple, their publicist Leslie Sloane and Vision PR.
In his lawsuit against Lively, Baldoni denies all accusations against him and instead argues that out of desire for creative control over the “It Ends With Us” production, Lively and Reynolds lashed out by attempting to destroy Baldoni’s reputation.
Baldoni did not hold back—he additionally sued The New York Times for libel, seeking $250 million in damages. He described the headline “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine” as defamatory and misleading.
Within TikTok comment sections and gossip YouTube channels, were the people who argued that Baldoni couldn’t have possibly done such outrageous things, I mean, he said such nice things about domestic violence and equity in the past, right?
“It’s easy to ask, especially as men, ‘Why do women stay?’” Baldoni said. “But the real question we need to ask is, ‘Why do men harm?’”
Lively is a very wealthy, very famous white woman who is married to a very wealthy, very famous white man. She has had some less flattering moments of ignorance, this is true.
Additionally, it can still be true that Baldoni acted inappropriately toward Lively. Lively’s behavior regarding the marketing of “It Ends With Us” and her personal brands is a separate situation to Baldoni’s alleged disturbing behavior toward her; one situation’s truth does not negate the other’s.
Even if Lively was completely lying about everything in her lawsuit, which I do not believe is true, the immediate reaction from Baldoni’s fan club refuting her word because they assume Baldoni’s kindness and hate Lively is telling of their character.
Most of the people on the internet defending one side with their whole heart have never met either celebrity; therefore lack the knowledge of Lively and Baldoni’s personalities necessary to make a proper judgement of their characters.
A few carefully chosen words on camera do not make someone a saint incapable of doing wrong. In the case of Baldoni, he can say the right things to advocate for women’s rights, but he is still, well, a man who can act inappropriately and should be held accountable for it.
Sure, Lively is painfully ignorant, dismissive and seemingly out-of-touch in interviews, especially regarding “It Ends With Us”. I do not think that makes her a liar and a terrible person all around, and I certainly do not think that is substantial evidence for Baldoni’s claims.
I’m not saying that Baldoni is a liar, that Lively is completely innocent or the other way around. Truthfully, it may be a prolonged period of time before the public can say for sure what was truthful in their respective lawsuits.
PR teams are professionally trained to manipulate public opinion in the favor of their client. No one is immune to strategic PR campaigns, no one is immune to propaganda and the teams working for powerful people are experts at their jobs.
Every single news station has bias and every individual digests subtle propaganda throughout daily life. The most difficult prejudices to shake are the ones cemented into an individual over years of life experience; propaganda and PR campaigns are not always dramatic stunts.
Even if one person may be able to point out a discrepancy in a story or idea that is being fed to them, that same narrative may be subconsciously consumed by another person easily because of their own personal biases.
If short clips of Baldoni advocating for women’s rights float around the internet, but clips of Lively being rude or ignorant are boosted by the algorithm, supposedly with the help of PR teams, it becomes easier for the public to favor Baldoni’s word.
After being unavailable in the United States for just a few hours, TikTok credited its restoration to President Donald Trump a day preceding his inauguration. A shocking amount of people praised Trump’s “efforts”, as briefly described to all American users on the app upon opening, without further question.
10 second videos of carefully curated dialogue from an actor and a couple sentences filled with positive adjectives on a screen can shift public opinion drastically.
It is crucial for young adults to approach the media with a thoughtful and sharp eye. It can be jarringly easy to be swayed by misleading narratives in a lack of carefulness, but even just acknowledging how one’s view of a situation has been compelled is eye-opening.
