![]() Far from ridding us of resentment and disgust, these works encourage us to embrace, celebrate and cultivate the baser elements of our nature. “Catharsis,” from the Greek for “purge” or “cleanse,” is not what we get from this genre. While we shouldn’t lump them together wholesale-they vary considerably in what they seem to be trying to show us, and in the coherence and complexity of their themes-they point to a strong appetite for mocking depictions of the wealthy, extending into the territory of sadism. These stories are often billed as “dark comedy” and have been described by many as cathartic. A spate of films has portrayed wealthy “beautiful people” meeting grim fates, among them “Triangle of Sadness,” “The Menu,” “Glass Onion” and “Parasite.” (This fall also saw the release of a novel bluntly titled Kill the Rich, blurbed by “Don’t Look Up” director Adam McKay and sure to be optioned sooner rather than later.) Some of the most buzzed-about shows of the past five years, including “Succession” and “The White Lotus,” invite us to wallow in the foibles and frustrations of high-net-worth characters. Some of the most buzzed-about shows of the past five years invite us to wallow in the foibles of high-net-worth characters.īehold the zeitgeist. And even in this world, where the last note struck is resonant goodness, the richest are a lost cause. Here is a show suggesting, in brave defiance of our despairing age, that authentic spiritual rebirth is possible. Despite its generosity toward financially comfortable and struggling characters alike, “Beef” allowed its lone uber-wealthy figure-the only one who represented, roughly, the 0.01 percent-to exist as a caricature, and to die so gruesomely I had to turn away. One note from the show, however, seemed out of tune with the rest. And in its concluding episode, it pulls the most surprising move possible: It ends in a place of radical, transformative hope. It also contains perhaps the most authentic moment of Christian redemption that I have come across on screen. ![]() It brilliantly conveys the indignities of modern alienation and quickly wins our investment in its central characters-characters who inhabit very different positions in the social hierarchy. ![]() One of the most original and engrossing shows I have watched in years is the Netflix series “Beef,” which was released last spring.
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