The Rehearsal, Love Island, and late summer/early fall preview
Art or trash, illuminating or exploitative; plus, TV and film to look forward to
Hello!
On this week’s extra-long episode of Criticism Is Dead, we discuss The Rehearsal and Love Island, two shows that put into question how reality is depicted onscreen.
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04:15 The Rehearsal, streaming on HBO Max, is a docuseries of breathtaking scale and intricacy that toys with the genre’s inextricable question of manipulation.
What, exactly, is The Rehearsal? It’s not such an easy question to answer. To some, like The New Yorker critic Richard Brody, it’s a solipsistic series defined by the “arrogant, cruel, and, above all, indifferent” gaze of its creator. To others, it’s a work of self-aware genius above reproach. In the most straightforward of terms, however, it is Nathan Fielder’s latest project, and in both of our opinions, it is well worth watching, in part because of the fascinating debate at the heart of it: Is such a work exploitative, or is that the point, or is that being the point not enough to excuse its machinations, or do those machinations even need excusing in the first place? (And, also, for all its mind-blowing reveals that expose all the elaborate work that goes into bringing such an experiment to life.)
P.S. Here’s a link to the Forward piece about Fielder as a God-like force within this universe, and a link to the New York Mag profile of him.
32:57 The U.K.’s premier reality dating competition show Love Island, streaming on Hulu in the U.S., says the quiet part about relationships out loud.
Yes, we are finally talking about Love Island! As someone who has never watched it before, I have to say… wow! If crafting artificially or authentically compelling storylines from hours of footage is an art form, this show’s producers have mastered it — it’s entertaining, addictive, and the perfect national summer pastime. But it also is one of the strongest encapsulations of the potential perils of reality TV: how viewers’ hunger for drama and the selective editing that seeks to feed that can make or break lives. Also, what was up with these trash lads this season??
55:07 Plus, a few things we’re looking forward to watching in the upcoming weeks/months.
House of the Dragon! Selling the OC! The Patient! The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power! American Gigolo! The Fabelmans!
Bonus links… coming next week. Sorry! Sick day, etc.
That’s it for now. Bye!
— Jenny
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Some credits:
Music: REEKAH
Artwork and design: Sara Macias and Andrew Liu