The Sydney Sweeney Theory (or how her situation talks more about Hollywood — and about us — than about her)

Based on the things I had noticed, and using Sydney Sweeney as the central point of it all (since I needed one), I had created in my mind a theory I liked to call “The Sydney Sweeney Theory.”

What is the Sydney Sweeney Theory? you might ask.

The Sydney Sweeney Theory is based, first of all, on the hypothesis of why Sydney still seems to be the only member of the Euphoria cast who gets along well with Sam Levinson. Let me clarify: I don’t think people are entirely right about what they say about Sam Levinson. But I do believe that Sam Levinson thinks he’s smarter, more innovative, and better than he actually is.

I think Sydney is so approving of everything Sam makes her do — and everything people criticize (at least regarding Euphoria) — because she feels he was the one who gave her the big opportunity she had always wanted.

Jacob Elordi had The Kissing Booth, but that was… The Kissing Booth. He did Euphoria, sure, and people started noticing him because of it, but what he really wanted was to make serious movies. In that sense, the person he should probably be most grateful to is Guillermo del Toro, who gave him a role in his Frankenstein film. Yeah, he got it as a second choice, but he still got it.

Maude Apatow was already the daughter of a well-known director, so she was fine.

Zendaya was already somebody before Euphoria.

Hunter Schafer seemed perfectly fine and on board during the first seasons of Euphoria, especially considering her special episode that she wrote herself and which Sam respectfully let her do. But I think after that — especially after the criticism of Malcolm & Marie and the failure of The Idol — Sam Levinson stopped caring so much about how things would look or how people would react, and started believing his own hype.

Hunter appeared in the horror movie Cuckoo and in The Hunger Games. She proved she can stand on her own, and now she has the wings to fly solo. Sydney has that too, but she also has something Hunter doesn’t: the complete rejection from the public no matter what she does, and the fact that she finds it genuinely fun to play Cassie in Euphoria exactly as she’s written in the later seasons.

While the others seem happy with the idea of flying on their own, Sydney, on the contrary, seems to enjoy flying closer to the nest. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t know what she’s doing when she takes on other movies, campaigns, or deals with the controversies that come her way. But her way of handling fame, the impact she has, the image she’s built, and how much she enjoys going back to play Cassie… makes it so that whenever old Sammy calls, she doesn’t hesitate to call him back.

I’m not trying to join the hate train against her, not at all. Sure, you can learn to ride a bike without training wheels, but if they put them back on, it can still feel comforting. Sydney has embraced Euphoria like a second home she can always return to whenever they need her, and that’s okay.

But precisely because of that, I don’t think all the blame for what happens with her character on screen should fall on Sam Levinson. Yes, he has the keys to the kingdom when it comes to Euphoria, but Sydney is not some poor little bird who gets manipulated and exploited and just says yes to everything.

Sam Levinson may have more or less problems with his shows, but that doesn’t mean he and Sydney should be the center of every single controversy surrounding the series.If you want to hate Sam Levinson and think he’s a degenerate, fine. That’s your opinion.

And if you want to hate Sydney Sweeney because she doesn’t fit the molds and limits you want to impose on her according to your worldview, that’s also fine.

But that says more about the people criticizing them than about what they’re actually doing.

What I’m trying to say is that it’s becoming harder and harder to make it in Hollywood without getting covered in shit one way or another. Usually because of the constant exposure you’re subjected to, whether you want it or not, and the judgment people make about you. Because to them you’re no longer a person — you’re a celebrity, you’re something more than them, and therefore you’re not allowed to be flawed or make mistakes like any other human being.

Like the Green Goblin says in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man: “There’s something people love more than the rise of a hero… seeing them fall.”

Hollywood has become a place where success comes with almost automatic hate. People don’t just judge your work anymore — they judge your very existence.

They’ve always done it. The difference now is that they don’t need masks or positions of power to do it. They don’t even bother hiding it anymore. All you need is a social media account to publicly join the mob.

The world hasn’t changed that much since the Salem witch trials.

The differentiating factor with Sydney is that instead of running away from the fire like others did, she seems to have learned to dance in it. She has learned to use it as fuel. As long as there are people hating her, she will keep growing and improving as much as she can.