Written By: Paul Thomas Anderson, Influence- Boogie Nights
Casting By: Mary Vernieu, Influence- Black Swan
Production Designer: Mark Digby, Influence- Slumdog Millionaire
Film Editor: Tatiana S. Riegel, Influence- Bad Words
Director of Photography: Steven Soderbergh, Influence- Magic Mike XXL
I know I said in the beginning of all this that every character's name is going to be Kanye, but for this one I wanna to switch it up to Kim. The main character here is a female and although Kanye can be a unisex name, I feel more comfortable sticking with Kim. Now, what about Kim? Well..
Kim is the middle child of 5 from a very strict, old school family. Throughout most of her childhood, she wasn't given much attention at home and was seen as an outsider/loser in catholic school.
Struggling to fit in most of her teenage years, senior year is finally here and she got accepted all of her choices along with full scholarships to all of them.
Her parents, excited, assume she's going to follow the family tradition and commute to Roberts College. For Kim, that's more of a last resort as she has other plans to attend Donda University.
Bringing up her choice one night during dinner, it turns into a heated argument and she storms off into her room while crying. Her sister, the oldest sibling, Paris, tries to comfort and praise her for standing up against their parents. Paris never wanted to go to Roberts but being the first child, she felt obligated to go. Paris then encourages Kim to still go through with her plans to Donda regardless of how the folks feel.
Awkward period between then and her finally moving on. Not literally awkward, just awkward that I'm not sure what to fill in the black space with. Let's go with her dad eventually warms up to her going to Donda but wants her to come home for the weekend every two weeks, being that it's only a 2 hr drive away. Agreeing to the deal, she's ecstatic to finally explore and experience a new lifestyle.
Fast forward a bit and we have her in her first two weeks of college. During the time frame she's trying to get a feel of the environment and figure out what route she wants to take on this 4 year journey. One day while shopping in the mall with her roommate she decides to get a nose piercing. She's always wanted one and figured why not at this point. That following weekend as promised, she spends it at home. When the ultimatum was originally initiated, she wasn't so thrilled, fearing she was going to still feel chained to the house and miss out on freedom, but when she was on her way home, she's never been so excited to see her parents and fill them in on her last two weeks.
Upon getting to her house, instead of warm hugs and loads of love, she pressed on the nose ring and questioned on what's gotten into her and what's the follow. Kim tries to defend herself saying it's just a small piercing and something she's always wanted. Both parents don't want to hear it and the weekend back home is off to nasty start. Fast forward to dinner, Kim talks about the classes she's taking and what clubs she's possibly planning on joining to then get cut off by her ol' father on to not get distracted and remember she's there for an education, not to fool around. Yes'ing him to brush him off, she continues on about her classes to then have her mother question why she's taking such random unnecessary classes. Kim tries to explain it's just for the beginning of the year and next semester and her schedule will be better and better geared towards whatever she might want to major in. Pressing her into nursing, they bring up Roberts College again and if she wants to transfer over, the process needs to begin soon. Kim tells them what they want to hear just to get them out of her hair. The rest of her weekend is spent in her room avoiding any contact with the rest of the house.
Sunday evening comes and Kim can't wait to head back to campus. While leaving the house, her parents mention the next two weekends when she'll be back. Not acknowledging it, she says her goodbyes and hits the road. (My timing on this is probably wrong but just roll with it, friends. Roll with it) Back at Donda is rush week and Kim's roommate, Chelsea, drags her along, not wanting to go alone.
Trial and error for each group, Kim ends up surprisingly being interested in one chapter. What's the name of it? I don't know, it's made up. Why that one? I don't know. You decide.
Questioning whether or not she should join, a light bulb then goes off. Joining a sorority will force her to commit to staying on campus, helping her avoid her bi-weekly visit back home. Seeing this great excuse of an outlet, she breaks down the news to her parents and goes for it. To no surprise, they give her shit on the decision but whatever, fuck em.
Fast forward the process of joining, Gamma Psi Sigma? GPS? That shit is ugly. I don't know, man. Just made that up. Anyway, fast forward to the process of who does and doesn't make the cut, Chelsea's easily chosen but Kim is a major debate amongst the recruitment board. One of the members, Mel, is all for Kim but the others aren't. Mel feel it's a race thing, well, she knows it's a race thing but the rest of the board can't prove why she's a bad choice. She's pretty, she's tall, she's athletic, she's nice, she's funny, she's smart, she's the whole package so what's the problem?
This goes on for quite some time but eventually she gets accepted and it all turns out for the best. She's a great fit, having a great time and Kim feels like she's found a real attachment to a group of people she can trust for once.
One night at a mixer, there's a twerk contest and the pot is a some $250 cash. Kim participates and ends up winning the pot. Loving the attention and seeing how easy it was to make that much money so fast, home girl thinks about secretly going into stripping for some extra cash. In doing so, she tells her sorority sisters that she's bartending at some spot near her house, far from the school to avoid the girls ever wanting to visit her at work.
Moving on to a weekday morning, Kim doesn't show up at school. Normally, Chelsea would assume Kim stayed back home after a long night of bartending, however some weird shit was found via Instagram. On Kim's page, a post was made from a screenshot from the notes app saying "To whoever's reading this, your friend was found passed out drunk outside. We have her and are taking care of her. Call this number to reach her xxx-xxx-xxx." Mel saw it first and sent it to Chelsea asking what's that about. Clueless as well, they both leave class to meet up with each other and find out what's going on. Next thing you know, all the girls in the sorority are blowing up the group chat talking about the IG post.
Chelsea and Mel head back to Mel's place to call the number. A ghetto female voice picks up and goes on to explain that they found her on the curb passed out, brought Kim back to their place and she's been resting since. Mel asks if the person can wake up Kim but they said they'd rather have her rest a bit more. Feeling sus about it all, Mel says fine and that she's going to call back in hour. An hour passes by and Chelsea calls this time to hear a male voice this time. He just reiterates what was said from the other person and says Kim is still sleeping and that she should rest. Frustrated, Chelsea starts demanding they wake up Kim or they're going to call the cops. The guy puts Chelsea on hold, asking his crew if they should let her go. Chelsea hears this, hangs up and tells Mel that she thinks Kim's been kidnapped. Trying to quickly figure out what to do, they get a call back from this mysterious group of people. "Hey we have your girl and she's up. You have to meet us by McDonald's though if you want her." They ask to speak to Kim and finally hear her voice. The girls try to get information out of Kim and make sure she's okay but her voice sounds too groggy to understand anything she's saying. They take her off the phone and ask if they're going to meet up or not. The girls tell them they're going to call them back and call the cops right after, explaining the situation.
Some time passes and finally a pair of cops show up to Mel's place to get more detail on everything and try to tune in on the next phone call. They call to hear another voice at the end of the line, this time, another guy. Mel asks why isn't Kim's phone on? "It's dead." "Can I speak to her again?" "She's sleeping again." "Well wake her up." "Na, you can speak to her tomorrow." Mel then threats to get the cops involved and the guy cooperates a bit more. They agree where to meet up and how soon. The guy ends the conversation with "your friend isn't the same though..." and hangs up.
Raising so many emotions, they rush to pick her up to see her sitting inside McDonalds alone. She looks dirty and drained. The cops follow the car that dropped her off and the girls head back to the house.
Sleeping for a solid days after that, Kim finally wakes up. Chelsea, coming back from class finds and the floor opens up for questioning. Chelsea's trying to get any info out but Kim can't remember anything. Trying every question she can think of on Kim, nothing works until a break of silence. Kim begins to open up about her night life antics and where she goes. Shocked, confused but trying to keep Kim sane, Chelsea asks where the strip club is. Chelsea then heads over to try to find out more information. Kim stays behind to avoid anymore anxiety. Chelsea promises to return soon and hopefully with more information.
At the spot, she asks to speak to a manager to see if what Kim says is true. He admits that Kim does work there and sometimes leaves with customers. The other night, she was working up a performance for 2 guys and left early with them without the bosses' permission. Chelsea asks if he happens to know who they were but he's just as clueless as everyone else. Chelsea leaves and decides to call the number from the other day hoping someone will pick up. Expecting a guy, the female from the other night picks up asking who it is. Chelsea, giving a brief description. "Oh you again? What you want?" "What did you do to my friend?" "We just did what she came for. We ain't know she wanted to get down like that but shittt, I had a great time. Just know she better get herself checked out." "Huh?" "Your lil friend probably ain't what you remember anymore."
Chelsea rushes back and asks Kim if she remembers leaving with anyone. "No not really." "Well apparently you did. We checked back with the cameras and everything. I know this is going to scare you but I think you need to get yourself checked out." "Why?" "Just in case you were raped and caught something or are pregnant." "No that can't be true." "Well I need you to do so anyway. I'll go with you if you want."
The following morning they manage to squeeze an appointment with a doctor and briefly explain the situation. Afterward they get something to eat and head to Mel's to inform on everything. The rest of the week, Kim avoids going to class from all the stress, hiding in her room drinking and smoking to get her mind off it all. The weekend comes and Chelsea wants to take Kim out to a house party. Kim feels it's best if she stays home but Chelsea drags her anyway.
At the party, Kim's very to herself but is approached by Kanye, one of the boys from the twerking mixer a few weeks ago. Making her feel good and feeding her drinks the whole night, Kanye takes her back to his room and they fuck. She wants to stay but he tells her maybe another night. Fast forward to Monday, the doctor asks if she can come in that afternoon for the results. They get there and, well, no bueno. Kim caught HIV. Wow. Fuck. Now what? Well, what better way than to cry cry cry some more and start this downward spiral of self-destruction.
Followed by the tragic news, Kim fucks her life up some more, cutting all her classes and drinking her life away. Chelsea and Mel try to help but nothing seems to work. When she's not in the room incoherent she's out and about doing God knows what. The girls try their best to keep the secret on the low but also fear for her life. This negative process of copping with the situation is not noticed by other members of GPS and a meeting is brought upon on why this is happening and what they should do about it. As much as Mel and Chelsea want to tell the sisters what happened so Kim can get as much support needed, they fear it would just get her kicked out. It's decided that Kim should be put on probation and if she continues to act in this embarrassing manner, she'll get kicked out.
Chelsea heads back and finally gets a chance to warn Kim about everything. Kim, drunk as fuck, feels nothing is wrong in denial that she's even sick. Trying her best to help Kim, it turns into a loud, nasty, ugly argument and Kim storms out. She ends up calling Kanye asking she can go see him. Getting to his house with all his boys, she flirts with him and tries to hook up with him while he's chillin with his roommate, Louie. Seeing how drunk she is, Louie asks Kanye if he's down for a threesome with her or even would want to tell all the guys about what might go down. Kanye, down for the shits, starts making out with Kim and signals Louie to try to but in to see her reaction before any other arrangements are made. Kim doesn't hesitate and takes off Louie's clothes while Kanye is taking off her clothes. Jumping back into Kanye's attention, Louie finds the opportunity to write in the group chat to join in, in about 15 mins or so. Shit starts getting hot and heavy real quick and then it just gets wrong. Muu fuckas ran a train on the poor girl. Gangbang gangbang.
What's to follow? Rumors of course. Well not even rumors, just word gets out across campus and ol Kim's seen as the campus slut. Guys all over try to get with her and she gives it up easy as fuck. Girls all over begin to hate her and she doesn't give a fuck. The word quickly gets to GPS and, well, you can guess she gets the boot. What's followed by that? The boot from school of course. Refusing to head back home, Kim uses almost every guy on campus to find a place to stay. Disgusted and scared for everyone, Chelsea and Mel report the gangbang to University. Shutting them muu fuckas down and raising awareness, a letter is sent out warning that if any muu fuckas are seen with Kim, they're going to get bound to get expelled as well. To further avoid any contact, the university issues a restraining order from her anywhere near college grounds, and notify her family all of what's been going on? Where were them muu fuckas all along? Kim was dodging them heavy. They pick her up from campus security and take her back home, at a lost for words.
She's then basically locked up in her room going through heavyass recovery, still unaware she got HIV. One weekend they decide to take her to church and her mother gives her a rosary before walking in. The service that day relates to the whole story somehow, making Kim's urge for relapse stronger than ever. What's to follow? Our lovely lovely Kim sneaks out that night, hitch hikes and runs away.
Our story ends with her back at the strip club dancing with the rosary in her hand. Young and we alive. We never gonna die.
Famous.