Netflix docu-series explores Depp vs Heard trial as social spectacle

Netflix has released "Depp VS Heard: The Verdict," a docuseries by Emma Cooper that examines the 2022 defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. The series, available on Netflix, uses alternating testimony clips to create a confrontation that never occurred in court, supplemented by commentary from American TV and social media. The trial, held in Virginia with cameras allowed, was a media spectacle fueled by influencers and commentators. Cooper, who previously directed "The Secrets of Marilyn Monroe" (2022), focuses on the trial's mechanisms as a postmodern courtroom drama. The series raises questions about justice in the social media age, comparing the trial to the O.J. Simpson case of 1994. It also explores post-trial evidence and unsealed documents, leaving viewers to form their own conclusions. The article, written by Nicola Davide Angerame for Artribune, reflects on the trial as a mirror of the "metooic or tiktokian era."