What’s most provocative about “Brandy Hellville & the Cult of Quick Style” (streaming on Max), and concerning the horror present it contends is behind the immensely common cheap-clothing retailer Brandy Melville, isn’t essentially its content material. Different documentaries have tread related floor with related strategies — the Netflix documentary “White Sizzling: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch,” as an illustration — which is to say that the whole lot in “Brandy Hellville” has been reported earlier than.
Documentary members allege that the corporate and its leaders, particularly co-founder and proprietor Stephan Marsan, engaged in a bunch of horrible behaviors starting from fat-shaming and exploitative practices to actually terrible racism and sexism. Geared toward teen ladies, the corporate’s advertising and marketing and messaging is to Gen Z what Abercrombie was to my technology: an aspirational model designed to make you are feeling horrible about your self, even should you had been the thin white lady within the footage or working within the retailer. You’ll be able to examine all of it, after all; what the documentary offers is a bunch of eyewitnesses, together with ladies who labored within the retailer as youngsters and males who labored intently with the corporate to open new shops. Consultants and activists additionally attest to the menace that quick vogue (that’s, cheap, primarily disposable clothes offered at retailers like Zara, H&M, Shein and Without end 21) poses to world economies and the atmosphere.
However the subtitle of “Brandy Hellville,” directed by Eva Orner, factors to an fascinating thought, even when it’s underdeveloped within the film. Manufacturers like Brandy Melville and their ilk resemble a cult, and even harness some methods employed by cults to maintain their “members” (on this case, highschool ladies, whether or not as clients or as employees) in line. The documentary reveals how staff had been flattered, after which shamed by the management so that every would wish to be extra of a “Brandy lady” (which, the movie hints at, normally required disordered consuming). There was a strict picture projected for “Brandy ladies,” which lots of the former staff within the movie element at size. Being a part of the group requires continuously giving your time and cash (which is to say, shopping for marked-up, poorly made clothes, in response to the documentary, after which posting footage on social media) to remain within the group. At instances, ladies had been remoted from household and associates. And as in a cult, there’s a small, secretive inside circle (on this case, Marsan and a few cronies) that makes all the selections. There’s additionally a complete bizarre factor associated to Marsan’s obsession with Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged,” however I’ll allow you to discover that out for your self.
Among the most disgusting, discriminatory and outright terrible allegations had been reported about Brandy Melville years in the past — involving, as an illustration, Marsan’s reported penchant for sending Hitler memes to his inside circle, or requiring teenage staff to ship full-body footage of their outfits daily. However as a number of members level out, it seems to haven’t even made a dent within the enterprise, which is prospering and nonetheless populated by Brandy ladies. That’s one other pink flag usually related to cults: Inconvenient info are written off, ignored and disregarded till it’s too late to do something about them.
Cult documentaries are so common that I’m just a little shocked the movie didn’t head extra closely in that course. However the refrain of voices within the film makes it clear that buyers ought to be paying consideration. And it’s apparent, too, that the issue is way larger than Brandy Melville.