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Culture War Roundup for the week of August 10, 2026

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I think the ad is more effective than the music video in large part because of the context of the first minute or so (which your link skips past by default). We first see Qualley sitting in a group setting, politely smiling at some speaker slightly above and to the right of the camera. So then, when she moves into an empty room and starts looking directly into the camera and making silly faces, it feels more explicitly intimate; now that we're alone she's taking the mask off and showing us her real goofy self.

I think this general strategy of acting goofy as a way of showing that you're letting your guard down is something women do often do. But it doesn't usually involve this level of crazy Jim Carrey expressions and movements because, outside the context of a larger-than-life musical number, it'd feel unnatural and forced. (If your goofiness feels too much like a performance, that works against the idea that it's an expression of your genuine self.) But you also can find that kind of thing in anime characters, and the segment of e-girls/cosplayers/streamers that imitate anime characters, because anime also creates a context where the viewer is expecting crazy expressions.

It also helps that her silly dance involves thrusting her chest out and jiggling around a lot, things that are usually more attractive when women do them.