Review of White Lotus (2021)
Review of White Lotus (2021)
I am joined by Rob Henderson to talk about the HBO show "White Lotus" (2021). We discuss the show's treatment of race, sex, class, generational differences, wokeness, and much more.
Up until this point I have paywalled these discussions while putting them on YouTube for free, but I doubt anyone is actually subscribing to the Substack just for our TV and movies stuff, so I’m thinking I’m just going to make them all free from now on.
The subscription thing will now be completely voluntary, though I would like to provide something for subscribers. I’m thinking of having an hour or so on Zoom, and just letting people pop in and talk to me about whatever. I don’t know if there’s any actual demand for this, so let me know by replying to this e-mail or leaving a comment if you’re interested.
Here’s Andrew Sullivan’s review of the show, referenced in the discussion.
Review of White Lotus (2021)
Just listened to this today 1/17/23, and loved it. Really like that Rob and Richard listen to each other, and consider each other's comments, i.e. "I hadn't thought about that, that makes sense."
Elsewhere, it was mentioned that the show title 'White Lotus' was a double-entendre concerning White people and the flower (easily damaged, and a hallucinogen). Mike White's father came out as gay, well into adulthood, and Mike White claims to be bisexual. So the plot distraction for the straight beta male (Mark) as possibly into 'experimenting' with resort manager (Armand), appears to be included to "give permission" to the curious to give it a try. The butch father who died of AIDS ("it was a different time and he lived two lives") is included so that 'anybody might be gay if they give it a try.'
btw, the Hawaiian resort kid, Kai, was a big buff object of fantasy for the girls Olivia and Paula. He could be whatever they wanted him to be, kind of like a cocktail waitress or airline attendant. He was always a low IQ buffed out torch runner, with no moral center. He stole a $75K bracelet because it was in him to be a thief, just like it might be in Mark to be gay, or Rachel to be lazy untalented arm candy, or Lani to be 9 months pregnant and lie to get a job, or Paula to be an entitled minority scholarship student admitted just to boost her Ivy League school's numbers. Nobody thinks she got in on merit. Nobody thinks Olivia got in on anything other than her mother's fame-and-status.
Writer/Director Mike White also wrote 'School of Rock' and there is a gay kid (under 12) character. He wrote 'Brad's Status' which includes a wealthy, generous, happy character who is in a 'throuple' and explains that the three parties are 'sort of fluid'. Like it is his obligation to introduce strange orientations to his stories, so that "white privilege" can get 'diversified' instead of choking on its homogeneity.
As for the observation (which I agree with!) on the 'junk' display of Mark, in the beginning, and the #2 delivery by Armand in the suitcase at the end, the show is on HBO Max. HBO shows like this (and The Wire, Sopranos, etc.) seem to all have Schedule I drug use, explicit sex, and lots of homosex. Otherwise, they could be on broadcast network TV.
Lastly, I watched the show because I wanted to listen to your podcast about it, and understand what you were talking about. Thank you!
Would be interested in zoom