The Green Knight, The White Lotus, and Aubrey Grande

The journey vs. the destination, plus a very cozy Drake photo

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Aug 10, 2021

Hello!

On this week’s episode of Criticism Is Dead, we discuss The Green Knight and The White Lotus, two quality works about how things go awry far from home.

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04:50 The Green Knight, playing in theaters now, is an out-of-this-world adaptation of the chivalric tale that asks one ultimate question: Are you going to step up or pussy out?

First and foremost, this take on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is visually stunning. An epic in all senses of the word, the imagery in this film — light and shadow, misty forests, sweeping landscapes, creatures both ordinary and surreal — will linger in your mind long after the lights have come back on. That is nearly enough reason alone to see this in the theater if you can.

But it’s also an interesting retelling from a storytelling point of view. In many ways, The Green Knight remains faithful to its source material, but the divergences that David Lowery does take are deliberate and provocative, calling into question concepts like chivalry, knighthood, and honor as they have been portrayed in traditional Arthurian tales. This Gawain (played magnificently by certified hottie Dev Patel) is a very human hero, which means he often makes very bad decisions. But, if the last 10 minutes or so of this film is any indication, there is always still time for redemption.

27:13 The White Lotus, a miniseries on HBO Max, is an intriguing character/relationship study that is both satirical yet sincere, cynical yet sympathetic.

A very worthy new showing from Mike White (of Enlightened renown), this miniseries — which airs its finale on August 15, so our discussion only covers the first four episodes — is a study in contrasts: the upstairs/downstairs dynamics, the characters who evoke both resentment and pity, the uglier sides of human nature juxtaposed with the incredible natural beauty of the island.

There’s plot, too, somewhere, but mostly the show works best as a closed pressure cooker, in which “the guests and the employees crouch and circle one another like animals in a cage,” as Naomi Fry writes for the New Yorker. It’s a fun, voyeuristic watch that manages to touch on larger themes of money, privilege, and entitlement without coming across as too capital-I “Issues”-driven. Can’t wait for the finale!!