(Possible spoilers)
Taking a break from the keyboard here has done some good and bad for me the last couple of months. I've basically come to terms with what this corner of the Internet is, and I've gotten so much positive influence through osmosis from reading and interacting with the members of this forum. So there is that.
Not being in communication with really anyone who can pick apart the Influences of the FI in society has left me doing a lot more listening and analyzing to myself. There's a lot of things I've thought through that I'll probably share one way or another, but I wanted to talk about a pair of shoes that I've watched in the last couple of months.
Power is a show on Starz about a 40-something year old African-American night club owner. He has two kids, a dime black wife, a high rise condo in (what appears to be) Downtown Manhattan, and a closet of designer suits, shoes and watches that would make the G Man himself in awe. However this is a front, as "Ghost" and his white partner Tommy are the biggest drug dealers in New York City and are the sole distributors for the Cartel. The show is produced by 50 Cent, has had great ratings and is due for it's breakout next summer with its third season.
The Affair is on Showtime and features McNulty as a failed writer, in a "good" marriage with his wife who unknowingly makes him feel less than because she comes from a rich family and her dad is a successful writer. (SPOILER ALERT) He has an affair and the show revolves (initially) around how different people recall events. The Affair is split up into segments that often display the same events from different perspectives to show how people's memories often present them in a better light.
Now, while I have enjoyed both shows, I do feel as if they are pushing false narratives onto an unsuspecting public. At the center of both shows is an affair that both male leads have, due to the fact that their wives don't see them the ways they want to be seen (or the ways they see themselves). In Power, Ghost tries to share his desires to get out of the drug business and go legit with his nightclub business, while in the Affair, Noah's wife is comfortable in the fact that her husband is a failure, and can be controlled.
The portrayal of both of these betrayals is framed as such. A betrayal of thesis vows to each other. In both shows, the men's decisions tear apart their families. Ghost and (especially) Noah are shown to be selfish with no regard or understanding for how their betrayals are negatively impacting their families.
The first season of the Affair was interesting, because it showed to sides to every story told, and left it up to the viewer to choose a side to be on. The second season of the show has thrown that away, and has exclusively revolved around how terrible of a father and human being Noah is. Unlike the ambiguity of the first season, there is no way to be on Noah's side, as he is shown to be a detestable character to the point where he's not even shown in a good light from his own perspective.
What's interesting about both shows and how they portray infidelity in marriage is how little it shares with the reality of modern day marriage. Maybe in Mad Men these kinds of portrayals would make sense, but in 2015, I can't help but watch these shows and feel like a narrative is being pushed on me. Being in the military and meeting people from all walks of life, and making an effort to talk about relationships and such with everyone I meet, I have heard close to zero instances of infidelity in which the man is cheating. Yet on television, this is almost all they portray.
But the cheating is not what bothers me the most. Both shows characterize the leading males as a fundamental lack of understanding of how their decisions impact their children. I think it would be hard to find any man around here who wouldn't castigate Noah and Ghost for their decisions. Yet, I feel as though the creators of these shows are putting these men on display as if they are the representations of how all marriages are torn apart. Could you imagine a show that was about a young male college student being raped by a fellow female? Neither can I.
I know a lot of you might not care about what's on television, but I've found that what is on is a good indicator on how a culture sees things.
Taking a break from the keyboard here has done some good and bad for me the last couple of months. I've basically come to terms with what this corner of the Internet is, and I've gotten so much positive influence through osmosis from reading and interacting with the members of this forum. So there is that.
Not being in communication with really anyone who can pick apart the Influences of the FI in society has left me doing a lot more listening and analyzing to myself. There's a lot of things I've thought through that I'll probably share one way or another, but I wanted to talk about a pair of shoes that I've watched in the last couple of months.
Power is a show on Starz about a 40-something year old African-American night club owner. He has two kids, a dime black wife, a high rise condo in (what appears to be) Downtown Manhattan, and a closet of designer suits, shoes and watches that would make the G Man himself in awe. However this is a front, as "Ghost" and his white partner Tommy are the biggest drug dealers in New York City and are the sole distributors for the Cartel. The show is produced by 50 Cent, has had great ratings and is due for it's breakout next summer with its third season.
The Affair is on Showtime and features McNulty as a failed writer, in a "good" marriage with his wife who unknowingly makes him feel less than because she comes from a rich family and her dad is a successful writer. (SPOILER ALERT) He has an affair and the show revolves (initially) around how different people recall events. The Affair is split up into segments that often display the same events from different perspectives to show how people's memories often present them in a better light.
Now, while I have enjoyed both shows, I do feel as if they are pushing false narratives onto an unsuspecting public. At the center of both shows is an affair that both male leads have, due to the fact that their wives don't see them the ways they want to be seen (or the ways they see themselves). In Power, Ghost tries to share his desires to get out of the drug business and go legit with his nightclub business, while in the Affair, Noah's wife is comfortable in the fact that her husband is a failure, and can be controlled.
The portrayal of both of these betrayals is framed as such. A betrayal of thesis vows to each other. In both shows, the men's decisions tear apart their families. Ghost and (especially) Noah are shown to be selfish with no regard or understanding for how their betrayals are negatively impacting their families.
The first season of the Affair was interesting, because it showed to sides to every story told, and left it up to the viewer to choose a side to be on. The second season of the show has thrown that away, and has exclusively revolved around how terrible of a father and human being Noah is. Unlike the ambiguity of the first season, there is no way to be on Noah's side, as he is shown to be a detestable character to the point where he's not even shown in a good light from his own perspective.
What's interesting about both shows and how they portray infidelity in marriage is how little it shares with the reality of modern day marriage. Maybe in Mad Men these kinds of portrayals would make sense, but in 2015, I can't help but watch these shows and feel like a narrative is being pushed on me. Being in the military and meeting people from all walks of life, and making an effort to talk about relationships and such with everyone I meet, I have heard close to zero instances of infidelity in which the man is cheating. Yet on television, this is almost all they portray.
But the cheating is not what bothers me the most. Both shows characterize the leading males as a fundamental lack of understanding of how their decisions impact their children. I think it would be hard to find any man around here who wouldn't castigate Noah and Ghost for their decisions. Yet, I feel as though the creators of these shows are putting these men on display as if they are the representations of how all marriages are torn apart. Could you imagine a show that was about a young male college student being raped by a fellow female? Neither can I.
I know a lot of you might not care about what's on television, but I've found that what is on is a good indicator on how a culture sees things.
![[Image: pair-of-distressed-shoes.jpg]](https://madeleinehatfield.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/pair-of-distressed-shoes.jpg)
