#ImNotOkay — A Not Okay Review

The downfall of Danni Sanders is one of the most realistic depictions of how horrific lying is on social media to boost personal gain. Not only is Danni a compulsive liar, but she is offensive and so incredibly out of touch (believing she hasn’t experienced enough trauma in her life when in reality she is just a privileged white girl). A small lie to impress non other than bleach blonde Dylan O’Brien (to be fair girl same) which turned into a whirlwind of constant compulsive lying simply to make Danni’s life the influencer type she dreamt of.

Her once non existent social status suddenly became huge from her editing skills — making it seem like she was adventuring around Paris on a writers retreat, when in reality she was sat at home faking it. The lie continued, she kept the narrative going that she was a red beret wearing insta-girl living her best life in Paris, until the worst case scenario happened — a terrorist bombs the Arc de Triomphe while Danni was supposed to be at that exact location. Instead of doing what any sane person would do, her lies spiralled out of control. She posed as a survivor, acting like she suffered, when in reality she wasn’t even there.

The downfall of her human decency starts here. Something she said to a boy to make him notice her has turned into a fully fledged story posing her as terrorist attack victim. Her white privilege boosts her ineptitude to come clean, consistently making bad choices and gaining fame from something she never experienced. She even started to hallucinate the bombing, most likely down to her impending guilt or, more likely, attention.

There isn’t a single moment where you feel sorry for this girl. Potentially the final straw for her is what she does to school shooter survivor and advocate Rowan Aldren. She meets her in a support group for survivors, becomes one of her closest friends on the basis that they share trauma, and uses Rowan’s power to boost her own social status. Danni used Rowan’s trauma and words of comfort for her own use to gain status online, and consistently underappreciated just how horrific trauma is.

Be careful what you wish for. Danni Sanders, you do not deserve a redemption arc. Your time is up.