(From “A Bad Review Of,” a blog series where I intentionally misinterpret media)
Send Help recently came out in theaters, and it is a heart-warming story of love, survival, and corporate leadership. What many critics and Redditors miss, however, is that the majority of the film actually takes place in dreams and that the entire thing is actually just an extended metaphor for how to have a healthy relationship.
Spoilers
Plot Summary
Regina George has a bad hair day and becomes Linda Liddle, a brilliant but socially awkward business strategist with a collection of completely worthless side hobbies such as hiking, first aid, swimming, hunting, foraging, knife fighting, and holding-Chekov’s-knife. Bradley, on the other hand, is a highly successful business CEO whose skills include being-the-son-of-the-previous-CEO and abs.
Many of the men Linda works with are misogynistic pigs, particularly that guy from the Barbie movie, and they relentlessly bully her. However, Linda and Bradley turn out to be the sole survivors when their private jet crash lands on a definitely-deserted-don’t-question-it island.
Regina George (once on the island, Linda reassumes her ideneity as Regina) uses her survivor skills to tend to Bradley, but he is not appreciative so she stops helping him for two days. The two fall asleep, and the rest of the movie is a series of dreams that constitute relationship and business metaphors.
This is hinted at early in the film. Bradley attempts to make a HELP sign, but misspells the letters – this is because spelling correctly in dreams is hard. Regina George frequently forages and arrives with food and supplies that are obviously from a wealthy person’s abandoned house, a very surreal detail obviously overlooked by Bradley because he is dreaming and probably also a huge fan of the later seasons of Lost. Regina George hunts a boar, which is a metaphor for the “pigs” she is forced to work with, and Bradley attempts to poison Regina George so she threatens to castrate him. Bradley’s fiance inexplicably appears on the island, tragically falls in an accident caused by indirect-rock-to-face, and her body washes up right next to Bradley. Bradley and Regina George fight, then the two wake up.
Off-screen, the two remark at the hilarity of their shared dreams before noticing the existence of a massive hotel next to them. Bradley teaches her golf at the hotel, but then the two are attacked by a nightmarish boar who is seeking revenge for his fallen comrades. Bradley dies, but not before uttering the secrets of business and life success to Regina George, who vows to succeed as a businesswoman as a way to honor his memory.
Analysis
Though the two are not actually lovers, this film serves as a helpful manual for how we can all strive to have a successful relationship.
Regina George demonstrates that she is hypercompetent, fully capable of killing a “boar” and this fact empowers her to overcome sexism. She uses this skill in the dream sequences to demonstrate High Agency and set healthy boundaries. When Bradley attempts to murder her, for example, she gains the upper hand by threatening to cut off his penis and then subsequently killing the love of his life but allowing the body to appear as a reminder of Bradley’s powerlessness and failure.
The two both have trauma, but this is no excuse for Bradley’s misogynistic behavior. Though Regina George appears to be more useful than him in both the office and on the island, it is only by exploiting business needs that Regina George can truly shine. She does this by depriving Bradley of water, poisoning him, and killing him. In each case, Regina George uses her understanding of the market to become the most powerful business entity on the island.
Finally, this film has much to teach us about negotiation in relationships AND business. Bradley comes from a world where he often has the upper-hand; Regina George uses this against him by forcing a meeting to occur on “her turf.” The surrounding terrain is a little bit like a business environment, something Regina and Bradley both attempt to navigate. Bradley attempts to quickly acquire skills. Regina George adapts to situations such as a storm, hilly terrain, a literal mansion, a boat that could have rescued them, and two easily-to-kill tourists.
Regina George learns something critical: In business, always use leverage to destroy your enemies. In their first negotiation, Regina George is easy to dismiss because of a power imbalance. So Regina George uses High Agency and the capacity to efficiently and unflinchingly take away life in order to win later negotiations.
Finally, this film teaches us about favors. Relationships are about balance, of carrying out acts of service and kindness for one another so that we can continue to overcome hardships as a couple. This is demonstrated when Regina George mercilessly executes every potential witness to her crimes.
Closing Thoughts
It’s like The Five Love Languages, but on an island, or Men Are From Mars Women Are From Venus but with murder.