In Netflix’s new disaster movie, Leave the World Behind, there is a major crossover between Julia Roberts’ character and a role she played nearly 30 years ago in Friends, but instead of this being a problematic paradox, the movie gives the issue a much deeper meaning. Leave the World Behind is a thriller based on a book of the same name by Rumaan Alam. It tells the story of a family whose vacation is interrupted when strangers arrive to tell them of a worldwide blackout. Both groups must band together as the world seemingly falls apart around them.
In Leave the World behind, Julia Roberts plays Amanda Sandford, a woman on vacation with her husband and two children when a blackout quickly turns their holiday into something sinister. One notable detail in the film, which seems risky, is that Amanda’s daughter, Rosie, is obsessed with the 1990s sitcom, Friends. What makes this risky is that Julia Roberts had a cameo in Friends season 2 as Susie Moss. In this way, Julia Roberts essentially exists in this universe as both Amanda Sandford and an actor named Julia Roberts who appears on Friends. However, Leave the World Behind makes this problem more symbolic than troublesome.
Rose’s Friends Obsession Means She Would Have Noticed Susie Moss Looks A Lot Like Her Mom
Typically, this Julia Roberts paradox would cause issues for Leave the World Behind. If Rose really is so obsessed with Friends, she likely would have noticed that the character Susie Moss looks suspiciously like her own mother. This is especially true since Friends plays such a big role in Leave the World Behind, as Rose insists that she wants to watch the season finale. Thus, if Rose did notice Susie’s resemblance to her mother, this would bring attention to the fact that Leave the World Behind and Friends cannot really exist in the same space. Therefore, Julia Roberts is a paradox.
However, Leave the World Behind takes the best route that it can: it ignores the paradox. Although Julia Roberts is both Amanda and Susie Moss, the movie totally glosses over this fact to keep the story’s integrity. Audiences should not be focused on the Julia Roberts paradox, but on Amanda and her family’s story. But, Leave the World Behind really does more than just ignore the paradox it created. In reality, it makes the Julia Roberts paradox a useful storytelling tool.
Leave The World Behind’s Media Commentary Gives Julia Roberts’ Friends Paradox A Deeper Meaning
In Leave the World Behind, the Julia Roberts paradox is not just an unfortunate crossover, but is actually a symbol of the movie’s greater themes. Throughout the movie, Leave the World Behind’s cast talks often about how media can both reflect the real world, but also distort it. Entertainment can teach lessons, but it can also hide real problems from view with fiction. Ruth even discusses how Friends itself is representative of a nostalgic time that never truly existed. Therefore, the Julia Roberts paradox in Leave the World Behind is just another aspect of this conversation about how media can be real or totally distorted and wrong.
