The Four Hundred: How the film 365 Days Reveres Sexual Violence
Netflix
"A woman falls victim to a dominant mafia boss, who imprisons her and gives her one year to fall in love with him.”
Categorized as "controversial" on the streaming platform, the film description Netflix offers of 365 Days sounds like a possible romance drama or a thriller. But for some viewers, 365 Days is the epitome of romanticizing domestic abuse, rape, and violence: the film has earned itself a petition via Change.org that demands its removal from Netflix. Since its creation, 84,283 individuals have signed it.
The petition is championed by Instagram influencer Mikalya Zazon (@mikzazon). Zazon says, "I am outraged and heartbroken that this movie shows up on teens' "watch next" recommendation"...For me personally, I have been diagnosed with PTSD and continue to go to therapy, having gone through a 4-year abusive relationship starting at the age of 17."
As a survivor of sexual violence, Mikalya Zazon asserts that the way 365 Days is presented as a love story is damaging, as many young adults will turn to media to learn about romantic relationships. Since 365 Days is targeted to a younger audience, the scenes from 365 Days give a false impression of what love, sex, and intimacy are. As Mikalya Zazon writes in her petition, these scenes are "assault served to us on a silver platter."
365 Days is a Polish erotic film, based upon the novel, "365 DNI", the first in a trilogy by Blanka Lipińska. It follows Massimo's story, a member of the Sicilian mafia, who kidnaps a woman named Laura while she is on a trip to Italy. But what she least expects is while she is on her vacation, Massimo kidnaps her and gives her one year to fall in love with him. If she does not, she will be freed.
Despite a seemingly innocent description, 365 Days is filled with scenes varying from a glamourization of sexual assault, coercion, kidnapping, child trafficking, and obsession.
Before Massimo meets Laura, he flys on a private plane. While onboard, Massimo grabs a flight attendant working there. He whispers in her ear and then pushes her head downwards to perform oral sex on him. Without any form of verbal consent, she does. Afterward, she walks into the bathroom and smiles.
For example, right after Massimo kidnaps Laura, he says to her while groping her breasts, "I'm not going to touch you without your permission." This is not the only instance of sexual interaction that lacks consent. Later in the film, Laura goes to Massimo's room, where they talk for a few moments. Suddenly, all of a sudden, he locks the door. Then, he throws her down, very aggressively, onto his bed, and chains her up, as she struggles to resist.
Yet rather than Laura's character having any solidified attempt to free herself from her kidnapper, Laura's character is written as a helpless, sexual object. She exists to be taken shopping and to be touched, lacking any tangible emotions about the situation that she has been put in. Instead, Laura toys with Massimo throughout the movie. There are several redundant sexual scenes between the two, and despite the physical violence Massimo does unto her, the two end up engaged.
The same goes for the scene with the flight attendant. There, the film is clearly showing a scene that lacks any form of sexual consent. To top that, after the sexual act has been performed, she goes to the bathroom and smiles, signaling to viewers that that was not problematic. Despite the apparent authority Massimo has over this flight attendant as her boss, he is also an armed, violent member of the mafia.
365 Days has clinched a spot on the Top 10 rankings list in the United States, Britain, and India. Moreover, teens have begun jokingly imitating the film, calling it the #365dayschallenge, where they post videos of themselves after they have watched 365 Days with a romantic partner. In these videos, young girls show off large bruises on their legs, breasts, or necks. On Tik Tok, the hashtag 365 Days has accumulated 2 billion views. One of the more popular videos, captioned, "so my friend watched 365 days with her boyfriend" and shows a girl with a huge, purple bruise on her upper leg, posted by @emmamurrrr on Tik Tok, has been liked 1.8 million times.
BDSM tendencies in the bedroom are a personal choice. Yet, sharing physical injuries from a sexual experience inspired by a film where the line between consensual sex and assault is blurry holds deep-seated consequences for young individuals. Especially for sexually inexperienced and/or experienced individuals, and survivors of sexual violence that use the Tik Tok app.
It is more than possible for survivors that these types of images shared on Tik Tok are triggering. To boot, the reactions to these videos are joking and playful, or even tinged by jealousy. One user commented on @emmamurrrr's post: "I want something like that to happen to me."
Tik Tok is now being used by teenage girls to circulate opinions about the movie
Moreover, #365days has become a trend on Tik Tok, where users post videos that glamourize the kidnapping. In a Tik Tok video with 1.4 million likes, @tara.fornaciari posted a video where she says, "#POV (Point of View) you get kidnapped by an Italian mafia." In the video, she posts a photo of Massimo's character, takes off her blindfold, and smiles. In the comments, users commended the movie: "he can kidnap me any day", "I JUST WATCHED IT & I WOULD NOT MIND AT ALL," "Me and her could have switched places and I would have been happy...to stay.
The critical role that social media plays concerning this film is that many young people lack proper sexual education and turn to mass media. In this day and age, it's easier to ask the internet than to ask your parents about sex, masturbation, or relationships. On the same token, this proves to be self-deprecating for those seeking information from online sources: the media's reaction to 365 Days, primarily through Tik Tok, shows that if sexual assault scenes are laughable, desired, or appropriate, there is a disconnect between what truly is healthy or consensual for young people experimenting with intimacy.
Regardless, 365 Days should not be a marker or spout inspiration for sexual experiences. In the United States, 1 in 4 women experiences intimate partner violence. Every year, over 10 million men and women are physically assaulted by their partners. Thus, trending movies and mass media forums need to highlight the dangers of intimate partner violence and sexual assault, as well as reinforce the concept that in any relationship, you deserve to feel safe, loved, and respected as a human being.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline takes calls 24/7 at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), or 1-800-799-7233 for TTY. If you cannot speak safely, you can log onto thehotline.org or text LOVEIS to 22522.
