I, Tonya: Some girls are bigger than others
For someone who is interested in figure skating, one name stands out amongst others for her success. For the others, she has been known for the scandal she was involved in and actually, the brutal media coverage of her. She was huge. Not just in the US, but also the world knew of her. Actually, they just had some opinions about her. She didn’t come from a privileged, wealthy family. She was seen as what the kids say ‘white trash.’ Her career was over after one of the most scandalous incidents in sports. It’s still unknown whether she was guilty or not, whether she has been lying for decades or not about the infamous attack on America’s sweetheart figure skater Nancy Kerrigan.
‘There’s no such thing as truth, everyone has their own truth.’ says Tonya Harding portrayed by Margot Robbie in the controversial biographical film I, Tonya. The film is based on the different memories of people involved in the infamous attack happened in 1994. How it behaves the actual victim of the attack, it’s a bit complicated. This infamous incident could be told by placing Tonya as an anti-heroine. However, this story is not just about the attack. Well, that’s why the story interests people, but it actually is about how one woman can freeze her feelings and become a huge success in the sports history. Even though Kerrigan is the physically victimized in the attack, as said above, everybody has their own version about what actually happened. There is not just one victim in here. Tonya is one of them. She is a victim of domestic violence and child abuse. Her way of dealing with what she was going through at home was to psychologically put herself away from the situations and incidents happening in relationships with her mother and her husband. It might be unnecessary to say that her family has some issues since every family has their own issues that glue them together to be stronger and closer. Some families, which are the most displayed in dramedies, are quite dysfunctional. In this case, Tonya’s is a bit more problematic than usual. Her mother forces her to be better at figure skating so extreme that the line between encouragement and child abuse is crossed way before she gets to the age when she starts developing her own character. So, throughout her teenage years, she starts developing psychological immunity to abuse which evolved to domestic violence when she falls in love with a guy and marries him.
Tonya’s way of disconnecting herself to traumas is displayed with a mockumentary-ish way in which she turns to the camera and make comments about the situation she is in at the moment. There is no excuse for child abuse, but in her mother's defense, she just wants her daughter to be successful as she could never be. Also to give the audience how the others see the incidents, they have their own scenes as well where they try to explain themselves. Allison Janney shines like the sun where she goes into her perspective of the events that occurred as Tonya’s mother. In order to make the audience have their own judgments, giving different perspectives to the issue is a brilliant idea that also can keep them engaged. For a woman like Tonya, finding comedy in the most dramatic moments must be easy after all years, so the tone of the movie serves well to the narrative. She doesn’t just turn the other cheek; she reacts to the violence. Violence incites violence. Her personality and her aspect of life are shaped through these behaviors and skating literally becomes her escape from reality. Anything that happens outside the surface of the ice becomes irrelevant while she is skating. Right when Tonya thinks she finally gets out of domestic violence in the house she lives with her mother, another one welcomes her in the form of a tempestuous relationship with her boyfriend. Because she was used to the situation, she easily keeps pace with him. Sebastian Stan, once again as an underrated actor, gives his realistic approach to a supporting character. The damage he gives to Tonya’s career, which is also her life, is inexplicably heavy. Still, to be objective in a story that could be told extremely subjective, he is also given having the right for his reasons and point of view.
The story was covered in the media as a jealousy between two women, brutal decision one of them made to shine on, and her fall from fame and success. Because you know, old- fashioned sexism has been making people think that women are jealous of each other and when they are threatening to each other, they can do anything to step over the other one. Just like Tonya, Margot Robbie proves everyone that she is not just somebody’s girlfriend or just a feminine part of a story shaped for male gaze. She, as an actress, and as a woman, doesn’t just ask, also demands to be seen in the level that any other actors are seen. With the rise of the movies that put female characters in the center and give them their own authentic voices, instead of displaying them only as the object of desire, I, Tonya, produced by and starring Margot Robbie, gives us an entertaining ride besides showing a woman under psychological pressure and consequences of papering over the cracks as the most loud way possible.
