The Moment by Charli XCX (Initial Thoughts)

Video Description

Hi everyone!

I recently saw The Moment by Charli XCX in theaters, and because style is my favorite subject, I had to make a video on it!

In this video, I’m sharing my thoughts and major takeaways on the rollout, plot, and core themes of the movie.

Like always, Charli XCX has given us a piece of art that I know I’ll be thinking about for a long time.

Make sure to let me know your thoughts on The Moment, and on this video, in the comments down below.

Until then, have a wonderful day, and thank you so much for watching!

Video Transcript

Hi everyone, I'm Joshua Miller and welcome to my YouTube channel.

And because style is my favorite subject, today I want to talk about The Moment by Charlie XCX. For those of you who've been living under a rock, Charlie XCX recently came out with a movie titled The Moment. That's a mockumentary style movie about Brat Summer and what it felt like to be heard during that period. In this video specifically, I'm going to be going over the thoughts I had going into the film, my thoughts while I was watching the film, and what it is that I think about the film now that I've finished watching it and I've sat with it for a couple of days. But without further ado, let's get started.

To my knowledge, this film was first teased at the end of one of her Coachella performances where she alluded to wanting the moment to last forever. And while I do forget the specifics of it, it is really cool how Charlie XCX's career can always be best understood through hindsight. Like, at the time, we didn't know that she was a teasing what would eventually become her first major film. We were just rocking out to the 365 remix at the end, and it's just really cool getting to watch her career play out through this way. But going into the movie, I didn't watch any trailers or read any reviews of the movie. So when I was going into the theater, I really just thought it was going to be a movie about trying to make the most of the moment. And while this theme was definitely touched on throughout the beginning half of the film, the entire time I remember just sitting in the theaters thinking to myself, where is this even going? And since posting my initial reaction to this on TikTok, I've also noticed that a lot of people felt this way as well.

The movie doesn't have a very clear rising action until you actually get there. It's really hard to tell where the film is going, but I think that that still makes it so worthwhile. In terms of the core idea of this movie, the moment follows Charlie XX in a mockumentary style as she prepares for her brat tour. And in this, we get to see her fight with all of her label executives, a new creative head, as she tries to figure out how it is she wants to tell this story using a platform that's a size that she's never had before, while also wrestling with all of these internal feelings of trying to make the most of something that you've been chasing your entire life. And what one of the things that I love about this movie is how good it is at convincing you that it's not fake. Like there were so many times when I was watching the film where Charlie's acting was so good. And even if she's playing herself, yes, it's still acting.

It was just crazy getting to see how much emotion she was able to convey through the screen. And even if she was playing a character or reading lines, the words still felt like they were authentically coming from her, which made them really believable and just really emotionally grabbing as an audience member. But in terms of a favorite scene, I have to say the scene with her and Kylie Jenner has to absolutely be my favorite scene just because it's such a smart way to introduce a narrative shift into the story by introducing someone who's the embodiment of the person that Charlie wants to be but often feels like she isn't. Like throughout her music and throughout the film, you start to sense that Charlie XX has this large sense of insecurity and that she's gotten really used to always being kind of a belister just in that she's always one step away from the mainstream, but she's never there.

Like she talks about how even though she's famous and very critically successful, she's always felt like she has one foot in the normal life. And I feel like this scene really illustrated that for everyone to see. Like up until this point, Charlie XX is really determined to enact her creative vision for what she wants the Brat Tour to be. But once she has a conversation with Kylie Jenner that makes her realize that the things that she has are the things that other people want and specifically things that the cool people have, that it's the kind of thing that she should chase after regardless of whether or not she has it. We start to see that underneath this Brad persona is someone who's really insecure and just really scared of the fact that this moment is going to end and they don't really know how to let go of it. And all of this eventually builds to the climax of the film, which I would argue is Charlie X's monologue to her friend Celeste that she gives inside the stairwell. In this monologue, we get to hear all of the feelings and all of the things that she was feeling during this time period about struggling with being able to let go of this moment that she's been working towards forever. And in this monologue, I think we ultimately get the thesis of the film, which is even if you as an artist care about a body of work so much, if you try to hold on to it to the point where it hurts you, you're only doing yourself a disservice.

And I feel like this is really evidenced by Charlie XCX literally stating that she's done trying to hold on to Brat and trying to hold on to the moment of Brat summer and that she ultimately just has to let go of Brat and let commerce and let the music executives kill it because once she finally lets other people have it, she'll be free from the grip that it has on her. And while I might never be a major pop star like Charlie XCX's, that doesn't mean that there isn't a lot that I took away from this film. Like as someone who's creating constantly and always wants to make the most of every single moment of their life, it can be really easy to hold on to things and just want everything to be perfect because I care so much. But in doing so, I can often stress myself out or freak out over the things that don't matter to the point where I end up missing the moment altogether or where I don't enjoy it as much as I should have. And I really love how Charlie XCX reminded me of that in this movie.

And the other thing that I love about this movie is how its core theme of the importance of letting go can be applied to fashion and pop music as well. While fashion and pop music undeniably celebrate the beauty that is the moment and all of the amazing things that make it so special, it also reminds us that we have to be willing to let go of the moment in order to pursue the next one. And while it can be difficult to accept sometimes, accepting the timely nature of a lot of these pieces of art is an essential part of being an enjoyer of it. And it can often be one of the best parts of it as well. It's just really cool getting to see Charlie XX flex her creative instinct in a format that isn't the one that made her famous. But it still shows that if you are an artist that that instinct can be applied to any medium as long as you have something to say. And I'm glad to know that Charlie XCX pretty much always will. as Charlie XX talks about things like having children or wanting to settle down and enjoy being married. And because a lot of the film industry is clustered inside Hollywood, California, I'm really happy for Charlie XX for finding film. And I really hope that it's something that she continues to pursue if it's something that she really enjoys because she has such an innate knack for it.

So, there you have my initial thoughts on Charlie XX's movie, The Moment. If you liked this video, make sure to give it a thumbs up and hit the subscribe button down below. I'm trying to get back into the swing of posting weekly YouTube videos, and your guys' support makes all the difference.

But make sure to let me know in the comments down below if you've seen this movie and what you thought about it. One of my favorite things about this movie is getting to hear what other people took away from it, just because Charlie XCX and her entire body of work is so complex that everyone is going to see it differently, and I feel like that's one of the most beautiful things about it.

So again, if you saw this movie, make sure to let me know. I'm so excited to hear what you have to say.

But until then, make sure to have a wonderful day and thank you so much for watching.

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