Earlier this week we blogged the tabloid rumour that Bethany Platt was going to get involved in a lap dancing storyline. You can read that here.
I truly hoped that this was one tabloid rumour that was not going to be true, but we can now confirm it will indeed be shown on Coronation Street.
Lucy Fallon, who plays Bethany Platt in Coronation Street, tells the Manchester Evening News in an interview this week about the storyline.
She says: “Bethany does get a job at the strip club and for Bethany it’s a thing to say that she has control over what those men can do to her so they can’t touch her and they can’t do anything to her. She takes back control of her own body and the way she views herself. In her mind she’s laughing at them as she’s doing. Obviously a lot of people will be asking ‘why is she doing that? that’s ridiculous’ but it’s the way that she’s recovering.
“Whether that’s the right thing is another story.
“She’s got a really, really long journey to recovery and whether she will fully recover ever we don’t know. We have to show she’s really struggling and she’s not going to suddenly get over what’s happened. And it’s an interesting way to play it out.”
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So it's really true. Ugh. I think I'll watch something else for a while. And if this is the direction the show is going permanently, then I'll be done for good. There is so much wrong with this story, I don't even know where to start. It was cringe worthy watching the story with Nathan, and this just makes it even worse. :(
ReplyDeleteI see they're going with the stripping as empowerment myth. Why would having control over the customers feel empowering when to become a stripper in the first place you have to be hired by club managers who treat these women much the way Nathan and Neil treated the girls they were pimping out?
DeleteThis continued exploitation of Ms.Fallon's good looks perfectly explains why they gave her the grooming storyline instead of the more likely victim: Faye. The idea that it was decided because Faye's portrayer was too young doesn't hold water at all considering that she was given a teen pregnancy when years younger and currently has an AIDS/HIV storyline because of her boyfriend. How are these storylines easier on the actress than portraying being groomed would have been? Not at all, but a stripping aftermath would have been entirely out of the question.
I'll reserve judgement until I see the story. It might be good for her, or it might set her back. We shall see.
ReplyDeleteOh it will set her back alright. So they can drag this story out as long as possible. I'm out.
ReplyDeleteWell it is happening in the soceity. Why not explore it with Corrie? Maybe then we can empathise the strippers instead of looking down at them?
ReplyDeleteCall me an old fuddy duddy but I think a better route to reclaiming yourself might be bit of time in therapy (group and/or individual) rather than parading around in the altogether.
ReplyDeleteEspecially since the medical center,where the sessions would doubtless take place,is just at the end of the street where she lives.
DeleteI don't care what "motivation" is put about by the ITV powers. It is all about using a beautiful young actress to increase their advertising revenue through titillation. They are the worst pimps of all.
ReplyDeleteThe only way this can get worse is if Bethany's biological father visits the strip club not knowing the girl on the pole is his daughter. AT this point I have full faith Corrie will crawl down that gutter.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous--don't give them any ideas!!!
ReplyDeleteSo much for the idea that the original story line was to be educational too. I know several people who have been raped or sexually abused, but not a single one of them became a stripper or lap dancer.
I find the whole thing highly offensive at this point. Not so much what she's doing, but the way they are defending it.
They did the same thing with Leanne..wasn't she a stripper or lapdancer a few years back?
ReplyDeleteLeanne was a prostitute so yeah they've been down a similar road before.
ReplyDeleteAnon @ 20:03: you needn't worry. Bethany's biological father, Neil Fearns, was killed in a car crash ages ago.
ReplyDelete