I remember when 50 Shades of Grey first hit theaters in 2015. I was fifteen, a freshman in high school, and an avid participant in Wattpad culture. So I very much remember unironically thinking, with a sense of misplaced prestige that the fiction I had read on Wattpad was better than the movie and especially the book. And do you know what?
I was so so wrong. Sure, there are some good Wattpad original and fan-inspired works out there, but was that what I was reading? No. Not even close. No, I was reading something along the lines of plot holes filled with trashy “romances” that threw together every cliche known to man. Which is why I can say with full confidence that 365 Days was not for Moms like 50 Shades had been labeled, it’s not for teens like After was, and it’s not even really for all women.
No, 365 Days is one hundred percent for the teens – now adults – who consumed shitty Wattpad stories in their teen years.
A movie about a dominant Italian mafia boss who kidnaps the protagonist and then they fall in love?
A thousand percent old school Wattpad. At the risk of me exposing my younger self’s interesting taste, I’m genuinely surprised the term werewolf was not thrown in that description line. The movie is completely what you would find on the “x-rated” (I use this term lightly, as it was all cringe-worthy or awkward at best) side of Wattpad.
While I’m not sure when as a society we decided moving horrible fiction that’s really just thinly veiled porn into the mainstream media was a good move (though I do have my theories) I do think it makes hilarious moments, but also teaching moments. One being, not all writing is good writing, but some bad writing does do good. But also bring into conversation the recent trend of abuse equating to love in mainstream media. I won’t go too far into detail, because simply I don’t think I could articulate it well, but I do wonder what made us think that the “Wattpad love” was something that should be filed under romance instead of a psychological thriller.
On that note, I wonder what all the hype about Love on Netflix is about?
Just kidding because, and I mean this when I say this, ew.
