Gotta Get Up Gotta Get Out

December 16, 2019 11:49 PM

Haunted Metaphors - A Russian Doll Video Essay (43:00) A video essay on Russian Doll's influences, themes, feminism, story structure, the lower east side, depression, addiction, Bohemia, Judaism, generational trauma, catharsis, and cats. (Spoilers)
posted by The Whelk (8 comments total)

this is good. I won't say there's ground-breaking revelations but it's conscientious and interesting and good. Then again I really liked the show, too.
posted by From Bklyn at 5:50 AM on December 17, 2019 [2 favorites]

Thank you, perfect timing, I was just talking with my therapist about this show in relation to trauma.
posted by KTamas at 7:14 AM on December 17, 2019

(And now I have that song in my head again...)
posted by XtinaS at 7:46 AM on December 17, 2019 [2 favorites]

This is going to be extremely my shit as soon as I have a second where i'm not grading or … this other shit i'm doing. Thanks!
posted by allthinky at 10:05 AM on December 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

I just watched this over the weekend and found it pretty breathtaking! Really comprehensive, but also so broad that I would love for her to do even deeper dives into some of these concepts.

I actually found this after watching her essay about Fleabag, which was just as good. I hope she does a lot more of these!

I love the way all of it seems so natural, like she's just your really smart friend riffing on something she loves, but the content for both is actually really rich and well-supported and deeply rooted in the source material. This is the best of youtube cultural criticism.
posted by lunasol at 11:20 AM on December 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

That was amazing. Also, it explains why I should not just sit there sucking down every Netflix in an unending stream never pausing to ponder or revisit and not differentiating between the type of show so four hours spent gobbling whole a show about someone trying to help another someone persist despite the unendurable agony of persisting is immediately followed by three more hours sluicing down in one colossal gulp a show about inept people attempting to recreate the elaborate fondant fantasies of a French patisserie chef in an effort to secure the right to wear a glitter-covered chef's hat for a few hours.
posted by Don Pepino at 11:34 AM on December 17, 2019 [5 favorites]

I guess what I'm really trying to say is, the actual world is unbelievably scary and painful and we'll possibly all get killed in a thermonuclear blast up here in a minute, but OH MY GOD TV RIGHT NOW IS SUBLIME
posted by Don Pepino at 11:36 AM on December 17, 2019 [5 favorites]

This gave a lot of color and may have inspired me to rewatch Russian Doll on the train.
posted by PMdixon at 5:31 PM on December 17, 2019