the amount of rage i felt for her. when she cried and screamed in private because she felt like it was a sin to feel, that was so real. religious trauma is something so difficult to tackle, and Laurel Parmet did an incredible job. but not only that, she brought a new perspective on grooming relationships. jem had the agency to be in that relationship, but she didn’t have the experience to understand that her relationship with Owen was not morally right. throughout the movie you feel happy for her for getting to experience and explore her sexuality, but she shouldn’t be experiencing in this way. towards the end when she runs off with Owen, i personally felt like it…

“Spit it out. Spit. It. Out.” 

Magnetic. Hypnotic. Dreamy. Hazy. Sad. So very, very sad. It’s like that quote from Stuck in Love: “I remember that it hurt. Looking at her hurt”.

As someone who’s left the church, a witness to so many corrupt displays of power dynamics and relationally abusive situations, I think there will always be a piece of me that is drawn to watching films like this. They hurt but I can’t stop leaning into their sting. Can’t help retreading those painfully familiar routes. You know what’s coming a mile away, you see the breadcrumbs being left for naive, yearning Jem to follow, and yet, you’re still left struck by the way she stumbles into such a…