Amy Screening Response

The documentary film "Amy" presents the life and tragic death of British singer and songwriter Amy Winehouse through the perspective of family, friends, business partners and media portrayal. Unfortunately, being in my early to mid teens during the rise of Amy Winehouse's career, I was not able to fully appreciate and follow her career and catalogue beyond essentially her two biggest hits "Back to Black" and "Rehab," also while not understanding the meaning behind the records. In addition to my lack of knowledge in regard to her talent, unfortunately, at the time and until I later revisited her music and watched this documentary, my perception of her had been supplied by the media. As presented in "Amy," the media's portrayal of Winehouse was one that was fueled by constant jokes about her struggle with drugs and alcohol in lieu of possible constructive ways to assist her. The use of the news reels, that are common within the medium of biographical documentary film, were very powerful in their purpose to provide a juxtaposition of the media and public's position on Winehouse versus those closest to her. This is reminiscent of the aesthetic and portrayal that people today attempt to evoke on their respective social media accounts, however, as is the case with most celebrities, they are not always able to control their narratives. In Winehouse's case, as stated in the documentary, she not only never wanted the level of attention she received but she also unwilling to participate in her narrative in regard to her presentation in the media. Therefore, she was not able to control her narrative and did not have the luxury that even people who are Instagram famous in 2017 have to be able to control their perception.