Jolene

The action starts in the summer of 1998, placing Jolene's escape and early years squarely in the late 1990s South. The narrative follows her through a sequence of era-typical urban landscapes and social climates as she travels, survives, and reconstruсts herself. The timeline tracks a long arc of hardship and reinvention across the turn of the millennium, culminating in a hopeful, artistic pursuit in Los Angeles.

The story moves across several American locales, beginning in suburban South Carolina where Jolene's foster care situation collides with a secret marriage and fraught family dynamics. It then shifts west to Arizona, Las Vegas, and Tulsa, each locale exposing Jolene to new threats and temptations, from romance to crime to abusive power. The final stretch unfolds in Los Angeles, where she channels her experiences into art and storytelling, hinting at a possible future in film.

🏃‍♀️ Survival

Jolene's life is defined by her relentless attempts to escape exploitation and danger. She endures abuse, instability, and institutional barriers while clinging to her artistic talents as a lifeline. Each new city presents a fresh chance to redefine herself, even as old traumas persist. The theme focuses on resilience in the face of systemic and personal adversity.

🔗 Power & Control

Across foster care, marriage, and criminal networks, Jolene encounters those who seek to dominate her choices. The men in her life use secrecy, money, and coercion to shape her fate, while Jolene fights back by asserting agency and seeking safer paths. The story highlights how power imbalances drive danger, yet also how personal resolve can carve out space for autonomy. The tension between control and freedom runs through every relationship she endures.

🪞 Identity

Art becomes Jolene's guide as she evolves from a vulnerable teen into an artist and narrator of her own life. Her drawings, crayon portraits, and later comic illustrations in Los Angeles symbolize her effort to reconstruct a coherent self from chaos. The narrative traces how memory and creativity help her understand who she is beyond the roles others assign her. It culminates in a self-portrait of resilience and a dream of acting on a bigger stage.