Editorial | “Lifestyle Porn” aka The Great American Television Genre (part 1)*
There was a moment, sometime last December, when I found myself standing at a bar with Bob Fisher (screenwriter of Wedding Crashers) in downtown LA. Somewhere around my third drink, we started discussing modern television, and what the other was watching. The conversation went something like this:
And truth be told, it is good. Aziz Ansari, a breakout stand-up comedian, iconic portrayer of Tom in Parks & Recreation, New York Times bestseller, and subsequent writer / director/ star of Netflix comedy / drama Master of None. As of a few days ago, he was honored with the 2017 Emmy for Best Writing. The guy is easy to love. But is Master of None?
Again, the answer is yes, but not just for the sum of its parts, and also not because the second season ripped me apart and then stitched me back together with unsteady hands.
In MoN, Ansari plays Dev, a millennial struggling to balance his life with the constant pressures of dating, familial expectations, and navigating the evolving landscape of the late 2010’s. In Dev’s world (modern day Brooklyn), the perfect taco truck is as elusive as the perfect woman. Between his after-hours jaunts, he can either pop in to visit his immigrant parents (his father is a doctor), or show up to work (he’s a commercial actor) long enough to spout a catchphrase and collect the month’s rent.
Ansari is amazing as usual, as is his surrounding cast, but there’s an underlying factor here that seems to be present in most of America’s most culturally relevant television shows of the last decade, which can be identified by a genre of entertainment that, over time, transitioned from “gimmick” (a show like Entourage) to “staple” (a show like Ballers).
And the question presents itself: Why would a show so few people can relate to resonate so much with the popular culture? For insight, I reached out to Eric Fischman, the social media manager for HBO’s Ballers (which, at the time of writing this, has been renewed for a fourth season). In an email, Fischman wrote,
“In so many words, Ballers is a show for hustlers and those that see themselves working hard to achieve their goals. It’s hard not to feel motivated after watching certain episodes of Ballers, and I think that also speaks to Dwayne’s work ethic in real life too. He’s the perfect actor to play this part because he’s living this part with everything he’s involved with in Hollywood.”
- Eric Fischman
So, the appeal of the show seems to rely on several key factors: The audience’s natural tendency to project their personal goals and desires into the characters, the general love of the actors portraying said characters, and the fluidity in which the actor and character resemble each other. It seems straightforward, but as I learned from my time working in Hollywood, great television is like a marriage: I have no way to finish this quote.
Where was I? Oh yes.
Christian Metz, a French film theorist born in the 1930s, believed that film is a relevant art form because of two factors: 1. The ability to be an imperfect reflection of reality, and 2. The ability to be a method to exploring the unconscious dream state. He also created the Four Stages of Film Genre theory, which we will explore later on in this essay. Assuming of course that modern television can be held to the same artistic merit as film, then we must ask whether shows like Master of None can stand as “an imperfect reflection of reality,” as well as an “exploration of the unconscious dream state.” Well, to answer that question, one must look at the reality of America in 2017:
Our President is a reality star whose campaign was based off the notion he would build a wall to keep out foreigners, which would also be financed by the same foreigners he vowed to keep out. Nazi’s are still around. Airports are a nightmare. The wage gap is a nightmare. Sexism is a nightmare. Racism is a nightmare. The environment is a nightmare. Television, like all great art, reflects modern culture. So it stands that culturally relevant television would provide an escape from what its audience is wanting to forget, which in this case, is the reality of our everyday lives. Our jobs, where we don’t make enough money (but somehow, everyone else does). Our social media, where we don’t get enough attention (but somehow, everyone else does). Our personal relationships, where we don’t get enough love (but somehow, you get the picture). If we threw all of these things into a blender, in order to construct the elements of a perfect TV show, the result would be something along the lines of this: (Insert name), aged (in the prime of their life), deals with (insert fun, lighthearted activities) while balancing (perfect job / living situation / family / relationship) with (the need to be selfish and yet somehow attain those perfect elements of living). Let’s refer to this as the The Equation.
When Metz’s two factors are applied to a television show, The Equation would effectively offer a vision of a life that imperfectly reflects reality (by removing the constant terror and stress of the world we all live in), and also reflects an unconscious dream state (simply put — the desire to do whatever we want — yes, this is using the literal definition of “dream”).
So Master of None, a show about a 30-year old (prime of his life), living in Brooklyn (coolest city in the world), who balances being an actor (perfect job which guarantees enough money to sustain perfect life while also affording main character plenty of free time) with his family pressures (an immigrant doctor and his devoted wife who live in the same city as Dev, who offer Dev a unique perspective on the world around him, and whose only want for Dev is that he hangs out with them a little bit more than he already does), and the overall need to be selfish (over-indulge in eating, drinking, partying, dating, and self-gratification). And there, you have the basic ingredients for the television genre, Lifestyle Porn.
WHAT IS LIFESTYLE PORN?
Before we delve deeper, let’s set a few hard definitions -
Lifestyle Porn — a genre of entertainment that depicts the main character (or characters) as living a life devoid of most major personal, social, and political issues (via a job which allows the characters to be relieved of immediate monetary concern, while still offering personal fulfillment).
The Equation (now known as Lifestyle Porn Equation or LPE) — (Insert name), aged (in the prime of their life), deals with (insert fun, lighthearted activities) while balancing (perfect job / living situation / family / relationship) with (the need to be selfish and yet somehow attain those perfect elements of living)
And so,
When we simplify the characteristics of the Lifestyle Porn genre into “characters who have little to no worries”, most of us will think of ENTOURAGE. A TV show whose tag line is literally “Things always work out for us.” The biggest actor in the world lives with his best friends in LA, has everything he could ever want, and only struggles when he wants even more than that. A show set in a world where celebrities fight to be your friend. A show where characters stress over which multi-million dollars contract to accept. Eight seasons and one movie later, everyone is exactly where they were in Season 1, just a little bit older and richer. If Lifestyle Porn is grunge, then Entourage is Nirvana.
Greater minds have spent little-to-no time dissecting the artistic merits of Entourage (and trust me, I will explore my own thoughts in a later entry), but Entourage offered the ultimate escapism in the vision of the perfect life. Love it or hate it, Entourage defined an era, and subsequently the genre. However, it didn’t create it. That honor would go to -
Sex In The City. A show where Carrie, a 30-year old (prime of her life), living in Manhattan (coolest city in the world), balances being a writer (perfect job which guarantees enough money to sustain a perfect life while also affording main character plenty of free time) with her family pressues (in this instance, her three other friends), and the overall need to be selfish (over-indulge in eating, drinking, partying, dating, and self-gratification). In fact, Sex In The City made such a cultural splash, Entourage is often referred to as “the male Sex in the City.” Sexism be damned.
Things got interesting from there. The next stop in Lifestyle Porn’s history, the failed How To Make It In America, is something of a television anomoly. Produced by the same team that made Entourage, it seems (to me at least) that the writers and producers simply sat in a room, watched Entourage, and had a conversation that went like this:
And so they tried. The show began as a counter to Entourage, a first-hand view of the other 99% who dream of achieving Lifestyle Porn, and usually just end up broke and bitter. However, as hard as they tried to create their own identity, it was still a show about Ben and Cam, two young and attractive guys (in the primes of their life) living in New York City (coolest city in the world) that have to balance owning and operating their own clothing line (perfect job which guarantees enough money to sustain a perfect life while also affording main characters plenty of free time) with family pressures (one of them is related to a gangster who constantly interferes with their operation over money disputes) and the overall need to be selfish (via over-indulging in eating, drinking, partying, dating, and self-gratification). How to Make It tried separating itself from Entourage with a grittier package, but it only took until Season 2 for a storyline consisting of Ben sleeping with one of his company’s investors on her husband’s yacht. The formula never lies.
While How to Make It didn’t last long, it did offer our first deviation from the Lifestyle Porn Equation. People living glamorously, while maintaining the idea of struggling. According to Metz’s Four Stages of Film Genre, this is the first moment where Lifestyle Porn transcends. In fact, How To Make It In America would actually change television history, resulting in shows ranging from Louie to Big Bang Theory. Not bad for a show that only lasted two seasons. As the genre began to form and grow, the ideas of How To Make It would be nearly perfected by one of the MOST culturally relevant and influential Lifestyle Porn offerings ever — GIRLS.
To Be Continued…
In PART 2, we will explore the history of Lifestyle Porn from Girls up to Atlanta, as well as fully dissect the genre using Metz’s Four Stages of Film.
#entourage #masterofnone #atlanta #donaldglover #ballers #sexinthecity #girls #lifestyleporn #hbo #fx #netflix
*This essay was written in 2018, as an entry for my personal blog. I do not condone any of the actions or alleged behaviors of any actor featured in this story.
