I haven’t watched any of these as yet but I really think that most people don’t even think about the underlying message. They are after entertainment first and foremost.
I am always incredibly disappointed by the lack of genuine concern and action from the majority of the people I know and in fact they all think I’m a bit crazy for caring so much.
This Xmas/NYE break I read a couple of books about the end of capitalism - "Less is More" by Jason Hickel, and "Post Growth" by Tim Jackson. Both great, albeit vastly different in tone and style. (Less is More was WAAAAY more accessible, for me at least.)
Point is I finally understand JUST how fucked up capitalism is and how much it has contributed to the vast swathes of clusterfuckery we enjoy – social/financial inequity and climate destruction as the two headliners – and I feel encouraged by the perspectives of the young people who responded to the study you mentioned in "this one wild and precious life"... that they fully expect the system to collapse.
I hope it does, and I hope it can be reorganised into a socially equitable, sustainable, regenerative way. And I'm still grappling with how I can weave more of these conversations into my work, and into my life. And it's hard, often paralysingly terrifying, but worth it.
I don't know if I have an opinion about rich hate... you may have nailed it when you said that the rich are likely to leverage the sentiment for their own ends. I think as a society we need to get much much angrier than we have for a long time. It's entirely possible a revolution/renaissance is the only way through/out of this mess we're in.
In any case, welcome back, thanks for everything you do, as always. Even – especially? – the stuff I don't necessarily agree with. It's good to be challenged and invited to aim higher and think more deeply. 😃❤️🙏
I loved reading this – thanks Sarah and welcome back. :)
I haven't seen any of the films or series' you mention, but have been looking forward to watching Triangle of Sadness.
One thing that's always struck me is that most people don't realise that the '1%' are not just the people living in mega-mansions with super yachts and private planes, but also likely include many of us and the people we know. I think this failure to recognise ourselves in these depictions of the uber-rich is a big part of the reason that people can view these films and TV shows as pure entertainment and not see them as cautionary tales about where we’re all headed if we continue to live such shallow, highly extractive and consumptive lifestyles.
I listened to a really interesting podcast a while back on how the demands of people building new homes have changed just in the past decade or so. The host mentioned that ten years ago, a butler’s pantry was something you’d only see in a multi-million dollar mansion, but that this has apparently become a fairly standard request from people building new homes and something property developers are incorporating into many new builds. So while we see ourselves as different to the uber-rich, there are still a lot of people aspiring to aspects of that lifestyle… These things hold zero appeal to me, but most of the time, I feel like I’m in a very tiny minority.
I was deeply unsettled by Triangle of Sadness and haven’t watched TWL. Not sure I want to.
In ToS the laughing at the rich was hilarious but then the reverse when the cleaner took charge.
How people behaved on the island with regards to power and stealing etc really unsettled me and I didn’t like the ending. All a little too real I suppose. Was expecting to be more comedy.
I'm probably "people over there" even though I'm trying half-heartedly not to be, I blame the 80s, when the 2 "W's" want and win became ingrained in western life and made us unhappy, insecure and afraid. It was the beginnings of our desensitisation to greed and inequality causing us to disconnect from the concept of community. Sure, before that you had uber wealth but the Rockefeller's were just filling the void left by royalty, now we teach it to our children- greed is still good
I am firmly of the view The White Lotus is criminally overrated, particularly Season 1. The characters were genuinely unlikeable and it was far from the quality of art that experiencing the suffering of how intolerable they are as a viewer was the point of the programme. It doesn’t get that much credit.
Overall, I suppose I’m pleased it’s wildly popular and Americans are interested in the topics it raises. But also deeply disappointed they consider it a nuanced script and well acted when it’s painfully surface level. That makes me disillusioned with my fellow humans. (“We think THIS is deep thinking?!”)
Rather amused your friend didn’t realise it’s about Americans. Sure, it can be applied to the increasing disparity of the 1% globally but there’s so many things that are uniquely American in the show that it could not be about any other population. Her lack of self-awareness is very TWL (no offence to her.) As a long term American expat I can’t say how painful it was to watch as both an outsider and someone probably part of the club (dear god help me.)
The thing that disappointed me is Americans being surface level with a surface level show. Many of the characters were dumb (Jennifer Coolidge) and sounds like people found it funny rather than irritating. This concerns me as the US has a strange culture of glamorising a lack of education and emotion over logic.
Agree on the concern there could be no action out of this but if these messages become commonplace they could slowly start a tidal wave.
Sarah I love the edge you write on. I love your intellect, insight and activism. I also sense something in your anger that I feel I can relate to. It is potentially a bit “knot-tying”. Julia Cameron talks about anger as a map, helping us to know what direction to go in. And I RATE feminine anger but I worry when it stays in our beds too long. It becomes the glasses we reach for each day to write our morning pages. We potentially stop seeing the prophecy in art and instead see a problem with everything - insurmountable, killing hope. We’ve got this us women, and women-thinking men. The rise of the feminine will bring the collaboration that is needed. Don’t lose the nurturing, the gratitude for the solutions that are already in existence, the belief in the breakthroughs just around the corner. Love your work. Thank you for being so willing and so alive and a voice for our times. Melissa
Wow i have to say, I am so glad this post caught my eye.
I just so happened to watch TWL with my family the last few weeks, and we have started diving into series 2. We were totally sucked in for the entertainment value. But thats it.
At the end of season 1, i think we all felt something, and talked about it briefly-feelings of disgust, or pity for the characters who were carried away by ego, lust or greed, and perhaps some sense of the problem is so much bigger than us, we cant do anything,
But my family are getting on with their lives and i would be too if i hadn't read about this and got engaged to dig deeper into this topic.
I dont want this to just become another thing we are ok with, and take for granted in society.
I had a question come up at work today, that fits this situation well - "what is something that is so serious for you, it cannot be joked about" i feel like us making a hit comedy out of this topic will numb it down, or casualize it.
Thank you for offering your thoughts-they definitely got me thinking.
I watched TWL and enjoyed it for the mystery aspect (I was also quite sick at the time it was released so it was a welcome distraction).
But I did feel a certain discomfort watching it because I recognised a lot of myself, and those I love, in the behaviours of many of the characters. I've liked to think I am more attuned to some of the critiques of wealth accumulation and capitalism generally...the show held up a mirror and in it was a reflection of myself I really needed to see. I have a long way to go and a lot more to learn...
WL is the only one I’ve watched of those mentioned, so maybe it’s lesser of the “eat the rich” vibe than the others, or maybe I just overlooked that because what I saw was simply white, extractive, hyperconsuming, entitled, American/western culture. The issues of race, colonialism, exploiting individuals and entire groups, gender politics...stood out and opened the way to a lot of interesting discussions. Overall I enjoyed it, but - like about every film/show out there - the male gaze (for lack of diff term) is so tiresome. Nearly all the women striking, youthful, amazing bodies, while most of the men were okay/average at best.
I get what you mean about your passions becoming trendy points, esp when it’s lending to consumption more than actual, deep conversation. I’ve struggled to find people to discuss these sort of issues with over the past few years, without being brushed off. It’d be frustrating to have the messages out there but at such a superficial level. Also...there’s the petty part of me too who starts to feel like I did in middle school when my best friend would take all my favorites for herself and make a bigger, showier thing of them, but lack substance IMO. 😝
I watched The Menu the night before I traveled to India for work a couple of weeks ago. Stark contrast of how we live and what we value. I'm still a little unsettled.
I haven’t watched any of these as yet but I really think that most people don’t even think about the underlying message. They are after entertainment first and foremost.
I am always incredibly disappointed by the lack of genuine concern and action from the majority of the people I know and in fact they all think I’m a bit crazy for caring so much.
This Xmas/NYE break I read a couple of books about the end of capitalism - "Less is More" by Jason Hickel, and "Post Growth" by Tim Jackson. Both great, albeit vastly different in tone and style. (Less is More was WAAAAY more accessible, for me at least.)
Point is I finally understand JUST how fucked up capitalism is and how much it has contributed to the vast swathes of clusterfuckery we enjoy – social/financial inequity and climate destruction as the two headliners – and I feel encouraged by the perspectives of the young people who responded to the study you mentioned in "this one wild and precious life"... that they fully expect the system to collapse.
I hope it does, and I hope it can be reorganised into a socially equitable, sustainable, regenerative way. And I'm still grappling with how I can weave more of these conversations into my work, and into my life. And it's hard, often paralysingly terrifying, but worth it.
I don't know if I have an opinion about rich hate... you may have nailed it when you said that the rich are likely to leverage the sentiment for their own ends. I think as a society we need to get much much angrier than we have for a long time. It's entirely possible a revolution/renaissance is the only way through/out of this mess we're in.
In any case, welcome back, thanks for everything you do, as always. Even – especially? – the stuff I don't necessarily agree with. It's good to be challenged and invited to aim higher and think more deeply. 😃❤️🙏
Don't these creative works serve to open up debate though and to prompt the asking of questions (even if the questions are "what next")?
I loved reading this – thanks Sarah and welcome back. :)
I haven't seen any of the films or series' you mention, but have been looking forward to watching Triangle of Sadness.
One thing that's always struck me is that most people don't realise that the '1%' are not just the people living in mega-mansions with super yachts and private planes, but also likely include many of us and the people we know. I think this failure to recognise ourselves in these depictions of the uber-rich is a big part of the reason that people can view these films and TV shows as pure entertainment and not see them as cautionary tales about where we’re all headed if we continue to live such shallow, highly extractive and consumptive lifestyles.
I listened to a really interesting podcast a while back on how the demands of people building new homes have changed just in the past decade or so. The host mentioned that ten years ago, a butler’s pantry was something you’d only see in a multi-million dollar mansion, but that this has apparently become a fairly standard request from people building new homes and something property developers are incorporating into many new builds. So while we see ourselves as different to the uber-rich, there are still a lot of people aspiring to aspects of that lifestyle… These things hold zero appeal to me, but most of the time, I feel like I’m in a very tiny minority.
https://theconversation.com/we-are-the-1-the-wealth-of-many-australians-puts-them-in-an-elite-club-wrecking-the-planet-151208
OMG I kinda hate being this person [dumb life etc etc] but I'm dying you know the location....
Loved reading this, as always - thank you.
I was deeply unsettled by Triangle of Sadness and haven’t watched TWL. Not sure I want to.
In ToS the laughing at the rich was hilarious but then the reverse when the cleaner took charge.
How people behaved on the island with regards to power and stealing etc really unsettled me and I didn’t like the ending. All a little too real I suppose. Was expecting to be more comedy.
I'm probably "people over there" even though I'm trying half-heartedly not to be, I blame the 80s, when the 2 "W's" want and win became ingrained in western life and made us unhappy, insecure and afraid. It was the beginnings of our desensitisation to greed and inequality causing us to disconnect from the concept of community. Sure, before that you had uber wealth but the Rockefeller's were just filling the void left by royalty, now we teach it to our children- greed is still good
I am firmly of the view The White Lotus is criminally overrated, particularly Season 1. The characters were genuinely unlikeable and it was far from the quality of art that experiencing the suffering of how intolerable they are as a viewer was the point of the programme. It doesn’t get that much credit.
Overall, I suppose I’m pleased it’s wildly popular and Americans are interested in the topics it raises. But also deeply disappointed they consider it a nuanced script and well acted when it’s painfully surface level. That makes me disillusioned with my fellow humans. (“We think THIS is deep thinking?!”)
Rather amused your friend didn’t realise it’s about Americans. Sure, it can be applied to the increasing disparity of the 1% globally but there’s so many things that are uniquely American in the show that it could not be about any other population. Her lack of self-awareness is very TWL (no offence to her.) As a long term American expat I can’t say how painful it was to watch as both an outsider and someone probably part of the club (dear god help me.)
The thing that disappointed me is Americans being surface level with a surface level show. Many of the characters were dumb (Jennifer Coolidge) and sounds like people found it funny rather than irritating. This concerns me as the US has a strange culture of glamorising a lack of education and emotion over logic.
Agree on the concern there could be no action out of this but if these messages become commonplace they could slowly start a tidal wave.
My novel is done now. :)
Sarah I love the edge you write on. I love your intellect, insight and activism. I also sense something in your anger that I feel I can relate to. It is potentially a bit “knot-tying”. Julia Cameron talks about anger as a map, helping us to know what direction to go in. And I RATE feminine anger but I worry when it stays in our beds too long. It becomes the glasses we reach for each day to write our morning pages. We potentially stop seeing the prophecy in art and instead see a problem with everything - insurmountable, killing hope. We’ve got this us women, and women-thinking men. The rise of the feminine will bring the collaboration that is needed. Don’t lose the nurturing, the gratitude for the solutions that are already in existence, the belief in the breakthroughs just around the corner. Love your work. Thank you for being so willing and so alive and a voice for our times. Melissa
Wow i have to say, I am so glad this post caught my eye.
I just so happened to watch TWL with my family the last few weeks, and we have started diving into series 2. We were totally sucked in for the entertainment value. But thats it.
At the end of season 1, i think we all felt something, and talked about it briefly-feelings of disgust, or pity for the characters who were carried away by ego, lust or greed, and perhaps some sense of the problem is so much bigger than us, we cant do anything,
But my family are getting on with their lives and i would be too if i hadn't read about this and got engaged to dig deeper into this topic.
I dont want this to just become another thing we are ok with, and take for granted in society.
I had a question come up at work today, that fits this situation well - "what is something that is so serious for you, it cannot be joked about" i feel like us making a hit comedy out of this topic will numb it down, or casualize it.
Thank you for offering your thoughts-they definitely got me thinking.
I watched TWL and enjoyed it for the mystery aspect (I was also quite sick at the time it was released so it was a welcome distraction).
But I did feel a certain discomfort watching it because I recognised a lot of myself, and those I love, in the behaviours of many of the characters. I've liked to think I am more attuned to some of the critiques of wealth accumulation and capitalism generally...the show held up a mirror and in it was a reflection of myself I really needed to see. I have a long way to go and a lot more to learn...
WL is the only one I’ve watched of those mentioned, so maybe it’s lesser of the “eat the rich” vibe than the others, or maybe I just overlooked that because what I saw was simply white, extractive, hyperconsuming, entitled, American/western culture. The issues of race, colonialism, exploiting individuals and entire groups, gender politics...stood out and opened the way to a lot of interesting discussions. Overall I enjoyed it, but - like about every film/show out there - the male gaze (for lack of diff term) is so tiresome. Nearly all the women striking, youthful, amazing bodies, while most of the men were okay/average at best.
I get what you mean about your passions becoming trendy points, esp when it’s lending to consumption more than actual, deep conversation. I’ve struggled to find people to discuss these sort of issues with over the past few years, without being brushed off. It’d be frustrating to have the messages out there but at such a superficial level. Also...there’s the petty part of me too who starts to feel like I did in middle school when my best friend would take all my favorites for herself and make a bigger, showier thing of them, but lack substance IMO. 😝
Has anyone watched The Platform? Ooof.
Has anyone watched The Platform? Ooof.
I watched The Menu the night before I traveled to India for work a couple of weeks ago. Stark contrast of how we live and what we value. I'm still a little unsettled.