Four Fun Things

For a satire of the rich, I recommend the new Ruben Östlund film, Triangle of Sadness.

I read her post when it first came out and did not read it as transphobic. I felt she was very thoughtfully making very valid points about cancel culture.

I wasn’t aware of this- here’s an article that I read that sums it up well.
https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/22537261/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-transphobia-cancel-culture-jk-rowling-akwaeke-emezi-olutimehin-adegbeye

I’ve been wondering if she’s named after Harper Lee. Seems like her social justice awareness could have been instilled in her by her parents who would have read To Kill A Mockingbird..?

I’ve been hearing that theory as well, Pamela!

The main reasons I’ve been watching WL are 1) my husband is willing to watch it with me, and our TV taste intersects so rarely beyond, like, the World Cup and MSNBC that I’m just glad I have company and 2) I like talking about television, like Joanna. Mike White’s satire is pretty broad for my taste, and the characters feel flat – which is a valid subgenre of pop social criticism, but I prefer the more nuanced and Shakespearean sweep of Succession, which is also much funnier. Aside: it’s not a contest, but Succession also has one of the all-time greatest themes, whereas another season of the White Lotus theme, described this time around as “EDM with people warbling like turkeys,” might kill me.

I loved Trying, and Acapulco on Apple+ is also great! It’s funny, sweet, so well styled, and a welcome break from my usual TV diet of scandi noir crime dramas.

Totally agree re: Trying! That show was a surprising delight!

I’ve found season 2 of White Lotus to be much funnier and overall more enjoyable/less stressful than season 1 – but haven’t seen the finale yet obviously so who knows what that will bring! I’m sure you’ll love it whenever you get to it. Will have to check out Trying :)

Trying is so great! Makes me laugh and cry happy tears as well!

I feel like Albie doesn’t have much of a personality beyond wanting to save women, though. He isn’t that interesting to talk to and he doesn’t feel like someone to have wild fun with for a few days. The other guy at least seems fun even if he’s turning out to be terrible.

WL is the car wreck I can’t turn away from. The characters are ALL so insufferable (maybe Mia is the only one I can stomach, and even then, barely) but still, I keep watching. It’s honestly SUCH a feast for the eyes, this is where I think Mike White shines–the stunning setting, gorgeous people and FASHUN in contrast with the deep, deep ugliness of the characters themselves makes for such irresistible TV. Love your commentary Mollie and think you are spot on re: Tanya. Albie has been spoonfed his whole life and agree he is nice but SO boring. Can’t say which couple is happier however–they both are stuck in death spirals of their own making–I hope some freedom for Harper, whatever that looks like, in the finale!

I don’t get this show. It’s boring and annoying! No idea why the hype.

albie,his dad, and his grandfather are three different versions of toxic masculinity! The grandfather is a shameless/blatant womanizer, the father tries to hide it, has shame, but still plays games with women anyway, and albie is an incel! I dont buy his nice guy routine for a second. He’s one of those guys that thinks just because he took a shower and is polite to a woman, he deserves to “have” her. it’s explained here: https://graziadaily.co.uk/life/tv-and-film/white-lotus-season-two-albie-adam-dimarco/

and here https://theswaddle.com/how-the-nice-guys-of-the-white-lotus-embody-toxic-masculinity/
!

Helen, it’s both a mystery and a psychological drama — set in the most beautiful location — with some very beautiful (on the outside people) — is funny (Jennifer Coolidge’s character, for example, is HILARIOUS) — tensions rise in each episode and you start the season knowing that someone (or people) are going to die so you spend the entire time trying to guess which character is going down and who’s going to do the killing. Honestly can’t imagine finding it boring!

oh! and I almost forgot, for the culture snobs — the show is dripping in classical references (to music, paintings, and literature) with regards to the themes, plot, etc and i think a lot of people agree that it is a statement about toxic masculinity in general, with each male character demonstrating different forms it takes!

I loved and recommend Scattered Minds by Gabor Mate. It’s more general adult ADHD, versus being a mother with ADHD, but I found it really helpful and interesting.

I’m also in the process of getting an ADHD diagnosis in adulthood! So far I’ve found Driven to Distraction and ADHD 2.0 very helpful. Same authors, I recommend reading them in that order, which is the order they were published in, too. Neither one is specifically about the parenting part of your question, but both are comprehensively about navigating ADHD in your adult life, world, family.

you are not alone! you sound like me re: adhd and being inattentive. makes me feel guilty all the time (3 kids under age 10)

Hey Jeanne,
since this post is a few weeks old, I hope you somehow still read this comment! Congrats to being on the ADHD-Diagnosis journey! (I got mine last October at age 32, after waiting more than half a year for an appointment in Germany). Anyways, some helpful ressources and podcasts that also touch on mothering with ADHD: “Is it my ADHD” with writer Grace Timothy. “ADHD for Smart A*s Women” by Tracy Otsuka features many interviews with moms who have ADHD (and sometimes have only been diagnosed after their children were diagnosed). “Women & ADHD” by Katy Weber also has some very insightful interviews. And another vote for the book ADHD 2.0 by Edward Hallowell, that Ruth already recommended!

I love Hidden Brain! Excellent podcast for those interested in psychology and how the mind works, with practical applications in your day to day life!

I AGREE WITH YOU, ERIN!!!!!

Girl same. Stopped watching season 1 before the end, no plans to consider watching season 2, don’t want anyone to change my mind on this, am happy sitting out this cultural moment. (And none of my friends are talking about it, so I’m also in the “my people don’t talk about tv” camp mentioned below!)

I promise I’m not a grump about everything all the time, I just happen to use my grump energy on this for today. 😂

Ok but WHY do you hate it? My mother also hates it but I guess that it’s because she doesn’t like irony or satire. Personally I LOVE a good satire.

THANK YOU for this. I have tried so hard to get through Season 1 and I can’t do it. Everyone loves it and I find it insufferable!! I do love Meghan Fahy but instead of attempting S2, I might just go back and rewatch The Bold Type from the start, which I loved. Why force ourselves to watch something we hate, ya know?

I really am curious WHY you hate it, and WHAT OTHER SHOWS DO YOU HATE? Did you hate Fleabag? Succession? Mad Men? I would be curious to see where we overlap and where we differ. I won’t try to convince you to like it!

Thank you! Hated it. And then of course I’m like what’s wrong with me?! Everyone loves it so it’s got to be me right? Feeling better reading these comments

Can’t speak for Erin, but I have a personal line with media where it’s no longer fun, funny, cathartic, or enjoyable to me if primary characters are bad humans. I understanding completely that it’s satire and irony. I’m a performing comedian myself. I’m also a trauma survivor and maybe my brain doesn’t interpret this kind of media as a release in the way that other people do? If there’s danger, terror, especially in the form of interpersonal abuse or manipulation, it’s a hard no for me.

I liked Fleabag but knew that Succession and Mad Men were not for me and never started either show. Also no plans to watch. The “[white] people being terrible” category is just not my scene.

I will say I love Season 2 a LOT more than Season 1! It was hard for me to love the first season but I gave it a chance. The second season is a lot more fun and a little less disturbing I think!

My husband feels the same way — he keeps saying “I just hate everyone on this show” which is definitely a genre in and of itself (love the “white people being terrible” categorization!)

I usually keep these types of shows to watch for myself knowing he feels that way, but we had just finished Only Murders in the Building and were looking for another mystery type show.

Now here we are, slogging through season 1 while the whole world lobs spoiler alerts at us! LOL!

Someone asked below why people don’t like it. I think this show falls in the category of American satire i.e. not my style. There is no irony that I can see, it’s just not a good show.

I can respond to why I dislike it: I actually don’t particularly care if the characters are “all bad people,” and I lean very dark in my tastes (favorite shows of the last year+ are Succession, Yellowjackets, and Severance, which is I would argue one of the best shows on television I’ve seen in years) so I am not in the “I prefer sweet easy things” category. But to me, the White Lotus didn’t scratch either the comedy or the dark itch: it wasn’t quite funny enough to be truly funny, but it also wasn’t dark enough to be really provocative or scary or intense in that way. It just struck a very weird and dull middlebrow tonal note that never truly gripped me. I also am not sure I really think it qualifies as “satire”: satire usually is a riff on a preexisting genre, and I don’t know what genre this is criticizing, unless you mean a satire of rich white people, which… ok, sure, but also old news/not well done enough to overcome the weird writing. If you’re someone who doesn’t like shows where all the people are terrible––I don’t really get that criticism, but obviously we hear it a lot––then you’d be much better off overcoming that in service of watching shows with far sharper writing and more textured characters like Succession, Mad Men, The Sopranos, etc. than for WL. My opinion. (With the other touchpoint here, I liked Fleabag for the most part, but I disliked some elements of it: namely, it was too sex-oriented for my taste, and while I have a high threshold for bad characters, I have a low one for stories that make a woman being f*cked up into shorthand for her being interesting, intelligent, etc.)

x100!!!! I just couldn’t get into it and am perplexed by the insane level of love it receives!!

@Molly — Billy absolutely NAILED everything I think about the subject, namely, not humorous to be dark humor, not ironic enough to be satire, very very very dull.

I thought Fleabag was just ok, I watched Mad Men until it jumped the shark, haven’t and won’t watch Succession because it just doesn’t sound interesting to me.

I think that The Resort deserves all the praise and accolades that White Lotus gets instead. WOW, that is A Show! Other more zeitgeisty shows I have enjoyed lately include Yellowjackets, Fleishman Is in Trouble, Only Murders, Wednesday (of course….)

Oh no! I appreciate the heads up. We were really enjoying Trying on Apple+ but there are some serious episodes near the end that def killed the “fun evening hang with hubs” vibe.

I haven’t watched this new show, but when people mention it I keep thinking they are talking about Man Like Mobeen. And I had that experience you are describing with THAT show, so tossing this out just in case LOL

TBH I’m not entirely sure you can tell a story about the Palestinian experience without sadness and pain and ‘darkness’. It’s too entwined in the history. I think that’s the intent and the conflict that one grapples with as a refugee/asylum seeker in exile. I think this show does an incredible job of bridging those two aspects, however. It’s something folks have to balance and live with on a daily basis and I feel this show accurately portrays the laughter and the tears in a really adept way.

I felt like the show had incredible depth (trauma, pain, grief) that was real and rich and nuanced — but then they dark-spiraled with the torture, which felt excessive and over-the-top, especially since they already had so much qualtiy material to work with.