2024-03-04 03:21:58
The second season of let me know when you arrive (premieres this Monday the 4th at 8:30 p.m. on Lifetime) It consists of twenty-three episodes, although It could have been two hundred thousand. Such is the number of women who disappear Every year in the United States, victims of gender crimes, and that this project takes up to raise awareness about the most extreme vein of misogyny.
Although the cut goes from a small town in Texas to another in Oklahoma, the facts resonate in any geography. “We hope that this program has a meaning beyond the obvious. The impact is felt by women from different places and contexts, without distinction of race, economic situation or place, we all feel the impact of this type of violence,” she tells Page 12 Nicole Vogel, its showrunner, interviewed alongside Kim Clemons, vice president of the A+E network signal.
The documentary series took its name from the femicide of Englishwoman Sarah Everard in 2021, kidnapped, raped and murdered by a London Police officer. The re-victimization of the young woman by the force and the advice that women “not use headphones or cell phones” when they are alone at night, generated a boomerang effect synthesized in the phrase #TextMeWhenYouGetHome. “At the same moment that the hashtag appeared, we began to conceive the program. Here is something that we must tell in a television program. It was the title and from there we began to conceive it. There was nothing more to add, nor think too much” says its creator.
Text messages on networks, real-time reconstruction, interviews and recreations are part of this eloquent delivery based on experiences of daily brutality against women (virtual kidnappings, human trafficking, racism or marital violence). According to those responsible, the movement #MeToo marked a turning point in the visibility of these cases, while the statistics make it clear that the problem remained in the red. “We want to be part of a conversation that should not stop,” says Clemons.
–let me know when you arrive tells events from small towns in the United States, do you think that amplifies the closeness with the audience in other parts of the world?
Nicole Vogel: -Women are the target anywhere in the world. In certain areas, certain cultures, certain economic levels it impacts differently, but the program shows that no matter who you are, the danger is for anyone.
-How did you find the appropriate format that encompasses such different cases?
N. V.: -It depends on the story. We didn’t want to tie ourselves to a formula because it impacted each woman in a different way, the same with her family or those close to her. In cases where there was unfortunately a death, we could not have the same treatment as in that of a survivor. Maybe we focused more on the police investigation or the subsequent trial and what that meant for her family. In the cases of a survivor, yes or yes, we wanted her to be the one to tell her experience in her own voice. I think that no episode is the same as another, but basically those were the two great structures.
-In a program of this type it is very important to avoid exploitation and reification. What “red flags” arose during the production?
Kim Clemons: -The most important thing was never to blame the victim. Even in cases where one tends to believe that she put herself in a risky situation, we were very careful on how to tell it. Nicole had a mental marker with which she crossed off every time someone could go down that path. There is always a different way to tell it. That was unspoken rule number one. The second was that of do not speak for third parties. We always have the family approval, They actively participated in the production of each episode because our intention was not to retraumatize them. We are calm because they trusted us and were proud of the result.
N. V.: -The respect for families is very evident when you watch the program. And there it is also clear that It is not an anti-men program, because these cases affect parents, husbands, brothers and friends of the victims. They are also secondary victims.
-Did you have your own manual when choosing cases?
N. V.: -One parameter that we used was counting stories that have not been part of the media agenda. We didn’t want to tell the same thing over and over again. We wanted to give a voice to those cases that had never had one and that the audience was unaware of. Ideally that was an ideal parameter: tell new stories. The other was to have different events in which there is a survivor, and in which unfortunately only the family can tell what happened to the victim. We broaden the focus in all existing facets. And one last question appears next to the title, let me know when you arriveinspired by the global networking movement, so there is a technological aspect to which we also gave relevance. In many of these stories, the computer or cell phone has a great presence. Technology has two faces: on the one hand it can be a threat to our security and, on the other, an incredible tool to take care of ourselves. Many of the survivors were saved by cell phones, or technology also served to solve homicide cases.
-Did creating this program touch any intimate chord?
N. V.: -Completely. Not only the experience of being involved with the making, of having seen it over and over again, They are stories that stick to you. I have a daughter and I can’t stop thinking about these cases through her. She gave me certain tools and at the same time she makes my hair stand on end.
-Have you used the hashtag with your loved ones?
N. V.: -I do it even if they don’t ask me and I let myself know when I get home.
K. C.: -I think we used that containment network before the hashtag appeared. We wrote things like “I’m here”, “send me a message so I can stay calm”, but now it has a clearer dimension and connotation.