Seeing the opioid epidemic through COVID-19: Ambivalent aesthetics in The Family Statement (2023)

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dc.contributor.authorHarries, Rhiannonen
dc.contributor.editorBrett, Oliveren
dc.contributor.editorHarries, Rhiannonen
dc.date.accessioned2026-09-01T14:21:09Z
dc.date.available2026-09-01T14:21:09Z
dc.date.issued2026-09-04en
dc.description.abstractThis piece examines the short film The Family Statement (Grace Harper and Kate Stonehill, 2023) as a response to the US opioid epidemic shaped by the production constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic. Reconfigured during lockdown from a planned vérité feature into a fifteen-minute short, the film centres on WhatsApp messages exchanged among members of the Sackler family and recovered from bankruptcy proceedings against Purdue Pharma. Superimposed over static exterior images and intercut with observational footage, the messages foreground tensions between care and harm. Situating the film within contemporary screen representations of the opioid crisis, I argue that its fragmentary digital form registers a broader ambivalence shared by the pandemic and the epidemic: a crisis of trust in institutions and structures that promise care while exposing individuals and groups to unequally distributed harm. By resisting documentary’s “mode of emergency,” the film offers a meditation on neoliberal family structures, systems of care and the politics of digital mediation.en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionPublished Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationHarries, R. (2026) 'Seeing the opioid epidemic through COVID-19: Ambivalent aesthetics in The Family Statement (2023)', Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media, 31, pp. 10–16. https://doi.org/10.33178/alpha.31.01en
dc.identifier.doi10.33178/alpha.31.01en
dc.identifier.endpage16en
dc.identifier.issued31
dc.identifier.journaltitleAlphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Mediaen
dc.identifier.startpage10en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/19147
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherFilm and Screen Media, University College Corken
dc.relation.ispartofAlphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Mediaen
dc.rights© 2026, the Author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.en
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
dc.titleSeeing the opioid epidemic through COVID-19: Ambivalent aesthetics in The Family Statement (2023)en
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media. Issue 31: Pandemic Documentary: Negotiating “Cramped Space”