{"id":410628,"date":"2022-02-28T15:16:40","date_gmt":"2022-02-28T12:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/the-dropout-is-a-weirdly-compelling-character-study\/"},"modified":"2022-02-28T15:16:40","modified_gmt":"2022-02-28T12:16:40","slug":"the-dropout-is-a-weirdly-compelling-character-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-dropout-is-a-weirdly-compelling-character-study\/","title":{"rendered":"#’The Dropout’ is a Weirdly Compelling Character Study"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#’The Dropout’ is a Weirdly Compelling Character Study<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

     <span class=\"mx-1\">Amanda Seyfried\u2019s studied performance anchors this Hulu limited series<\/a> about doomed biotech company Theranos.&#13;\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
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                <figure class=\"sf-entry-featured-media<\/a> \">\n            <img width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/The-Dropout-Amanda-Seyfried.jpeg\" class=\"articlethumb wp-post-image\" alt=\"The Dropout\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/The-Dropout-Amanda-Seyfried.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/The-Dropout-Amanda-Seyfried-768x512.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\"\/>                                    <p>\n                    <span class=\"sf-entry-flag sf-entry-flag-creditline\">Hulu<\/span>\n\n                        <\/figure>\n\n    <!-- START BYLINE -->\n    <div class=\"row align-items-center justify-content-center my-4 text-center medium dark-gray\">\n        By\u00a0Valerie Ettenhofer\u00a0\u00b7 Published on February 28th, 2022 \n        <\/div>\n    <!-- END BYLINE -->\n\n    In 2003, Elizabeth Holmes had an idea that could change the world. In 2015, the world found out her idea was impossible. Hulu\u2019s new series <strong><em>The Dropout<\/em><\/strong> takes place largely in the time in between, focusing on the meticulously built house of cards on which doomed biomedical company Theranos was built. It\u2019s a strangely enthralling character study that works thanks to its committed lead performance.\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
Amanda Seyfried<\/strong> plays Holmes, the single-minded inventor who tried to create a mobile medical testing system that only required one drop of blood. It\u2019s fitting that her invention features a blood sacrifice because, in The Dropout<\/em>, she seems to see herself as some sort of god. She\u2019s a tricky character to get a hold of, perhaps in part because of gaps in public knowledge. But Seyfried plays her with precision, somehow disapp<\/a>earing into a role that doesn\u2019t require much physical change.<\/p>\n
The Dropout<\/em> is quite good, but mostly in the sense that it is novel. And its novelty comes almost entirely from Holmes\u2019 strangeness. We see formative moments in her life, from her dad crying about the promise she showed at seven years old, to her mom telling her to compartmentalize her college sexual assault to survive. Yet nothing we see quite explains what Holmes becomes. She practices basic conversation in the mirror throughout the series, pushing her voice to a lower register each time. She dances in a freestyle flail to hip hop songs, then later claims she never dances. The CEO is eccentric, but she\u2019s also determined and apparently unconcerned with morality. The result is a compelling, borderline frightening figure who\u2019s also utterly unrelatable.<\/p>\n
The story of Theranos will likely be familiar for many viewers. The Dropout<\/em> is based on the popular investigative podcast of the same name. And the story has also been depicted in the documentary The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley<\/em><\/a>. For the uninitiated, it goes something like this: Holmes created Theranos, courted investors, promised big, and even launched a partnership with Walgreens, all without ever delivering a working product. Theranos\u2019 path to success, and then ruin, is riddled with faked demos, cherry-picked data, and full-blown cover-ups. While other ripped-from-the-headlines limited series\u00a0intentionally blur their central figures\u2019 level of involvement in an attempt to remain diplomatic, The Dropout<\/em> implicates Holmes at every turn.<\/p>\n
The series starts with Holmes as its protagonist, but as her decision-making gets more opaque, it eventually shifts its focus to tertiary figures in her story. The supporting cast is strong, from Stephen Fry<\/strong> as noble chief scientist Ian Gibbons, to Dylan Minnette<\/strong> and Camryn Mi-Young Kim<\/strong> as a pair of interns who feel compelled to speak up about the corner-cutting they witness in the lab. Eventually, a small army of people who don\u2019t buy what Holmes is selling emerges, led by practical Stanford professor Phyllis Gardner (Laurie Metcalf<\/strong>) and a frustrated family friend, inventor Richard Fuisz (William H. Macy<\/strong>). The Dropout<\/em> is muted, with few emotional high points to speak of, but it\u2019s wise to re-center the action around people whose motivations make more sense than the protagonist.<\/p>\n
This gets to the root of The Dropout<\/em>\u2019s only problem: it has no emotional anchor. Holmes\u2019 story is one of relentless single-mindedness. She tries to follow a narrative of success that doesn\u2019t actually exist, frequently citing the names of famous start-up CEOs without acknowledging the actual work those people put in. Her plan for world domination seems to involve two steps: dropping out of college and making people believe in her. While her vision, as it exists, is clear, we never really know her from the inside out. Depending on the angle, she seems like an overconfident striver, an immature girl, or a full-blown sociopath. The Dropout<\/em> does well to preserve her enigmatic core, but it also makes for a strangely distant viewing experience.<\/p>\n
Regardless of Holmes\u2019 own characterization, The Dropout<\/em> serves as a searing indictment of start-up culture and the charm-and-greed-based machinations of Silicon Valley. Early on, Holmes clearly has trouble breaking through because she\u2019s a woman. When she does gain power, she holds onto it for years too long for the same reason. It would be unfeminist to question the success of a woman, Holmes and others imply, even if that woman is obviously shady and has no data to support her entire endeavor. The fact that Theranos\u2019 shoddy work and non-functional devices slipped through the cracks for so long, even getting FDA approval, shows investors\u2019 thoughtless drive to get in on the next big thing. Theranos becomes a business based on exclusivity, secrecy, and hero worship: the show features not one, but two creepily adoring songs sung in honor of its founder.<\/p>\n
The Dropout<\/em> is thoughtful and engrossing, if occasionally remote. If it stands above its contemporaries in the rising tide of scammer-centric shows, it\u2019s largely because of Seyfried\u2019s performance and the series\u2019 no-frills execution. The actress communicates Holmes\u2019 wild-eyed ambition with a practiced smile that can\u2019t quite mask the inventor\u2019s awkwardness and insecurity. Seyfried wears the layers of Elizabeth Holmes with ease. As the series unfolds, its central figure remains partly unknowable, even as she grows steadily more intimidating. By the time Theranos comes crashing down, it\u2019s clear that the only real thing this dropout has successfully built up\u2013is her own denial.<\/p>\n
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\n            Valerie Ettenhofer is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer, TV-lover, and mac and cheese enthusiast. As a Senior Contributor at Film School Rejects, she covers television through regular reviews and her recurring column, Episodes. She is also a voting member of the Critics Choice Association’s television and documentary branches. Twitter: @aandeandval<\/a> (She\/her)        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“#’The Dropout’ is a Weirdly Compelling Character Study” <span class=”mx-1″>Amanda Seyfried\u2019s studied performance anchors this Hulu limited series about doomed biotech company Theranos.&#13; <figure class=”sf-entry-featured-media “> <img width=”800″ height=”533″ src=”https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/The-Dropout-Amanda-Seyfried.jpeg” class=”articlethumb wp-post-image” alt=”The Dropout” srcset=”https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/The-Dropout-Amanda-Seyfried.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/The-Dropout-Amanda-Seyfried-768×512.jpeg 768w” sizes=”(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px”\/> <p> <span class=”sf-entry-flag sf-entry-flag-creditline”>Hulu<\/span> <\/figure> <!– START BYLINE –> <div class=”row align-items-center justify-content-center…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":410629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/The-Dropout-Amanda-Seyfried.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-410628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}