‘Emily the Criminal’: A real tale story or Fiction?  

• Okay, I see a lot of people out there who can relate to Emily Benneto’s situation in Emily the Criminal.
• The Netflix movie that has continued to gain viewers for more than six months.
• Real-world legislation that would remove a significant chunk of student loan debt.

If you are or have previously been heavily indebted due to student loans, please raise your hand. Okay, I see a lot of people out there who can relate to Emily Benneto’s situation in Emily the Criminal, the Netflix movie that has continued to gain viewers for more than six months after its debut on the streaming service. Emily Benneto is played by Aubrey Plaza. Emily’s felony conviction stems from a domestic argument that might have gone either way but ended with her spending time in jail and leaving a lasting mark on her record.

If you have a criminal record, finding work that pays a living salary is practically hard. The movie explores each of these very genuine truths of life. Because of the absurd amount of money required to obtain a college degree, we naturally wondered if Emily the Criminal was based on a true story about a young college graduate who turns to petty crime in order to raise herself out of a huge hole caused by Uncle Sam. Below is what we discovered.

It Feels Like “Emily the Criminal” Should Be a Real Tale

We can confirm that the story of Emily, who delves deeply into a life of crime in order to avoid bumming off her friends and family or outright becoming homeless and hungry, is not based on any real events that we could find, despite our certainty that someone, somewhere, has turned to illegal activity to make ends meet (including paying the government back for higher education). It’s unfortunate since the behaviour Emily engages in effectively amounts to a victimless crime.

Only the inconvenience of having to call Visa or Mastercard to dispute a charge that they did not initiate is caused by credit card theft and gift card fraud. Everyone who is reading this essay has had to do it at some point and most likely will do it again multiple times throughout their career. So, is it a crime without victims?

Only to the extent that the card issuers’ and their insurers’ financial obligations require payment. Contrary to what Flo from Progressive, Jake from State Farm, Doug and Limu the Emu from Liberty Insurance would have you believe, it’s difficult to have any compassion for all the large and faceless insurance firms out there. To be clear, we do not support what she does or any form of fraud, but this is a relatable narrative that makes a strong case for drastically lowering student loan debt to a level that is far more affordable. It just blows my mind that there are folks out there who are still making payments on their student loans decades after they graduated.

A Relatable Tale About Emily

In the movie, Emily is seen working a dead-end catering job that leaves her further behind on her bills each day. The system makes it hard for her to make full reparation and her monthly payments in full; it’s not that she doesn’t want to. Many people in their 20s, 30s, and even later years can identify with this.

Emily has loans from the government that total more than $70,000. She tries her hardest to apply for salaried work, but she keeps getting turned down or needs experience to earn the experience she needs to get a job. There is a vicious spiral that many of us are all too familiar with.

Emily ultimately decides to grudgingly participate in a so-called “dummy shopping scam,” where you are both a dummy acting in lieu of the real owner of the “dummy” card and since you are a dummy for trying it, the offer of $200 per hour is too good to refuse. She is the ideal choice to pull it off, and her fencer, Youcef Haddad (Theo Rossi), makes a pretty good case when he recruits her.

‘Emily the Criminal’ Would Be True If Only

Even though the crime drama from director John Patton Ford is a work of fiction, it is a new kind of criminal story that needs to be told. To demonstrate how the existing system is biassed against these young borrowers who are attempting to better themselves and acquire the skills required to be a valuable part of society. We would prefer Emily to be real. Perhaps we could start a Go Fund Me campaign to cover her legal fees and other costs associated with her struggle to pull herself out of a financial hole that she gets stuck with and may have to carry for the rest of her life.

Real-world legislation that would remove a significant chunk of student loan debt is currently being promoted in political circles and is being contested in the American legal system. Something needs to happen. The government will extend its indefinite moratorium on debt repayment until a final choice is made about the proposal. If only Emily had been able to see such a bright spot at the end of the gloomy student loan debt tunnel.

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