Staring Into the Reflecting Pond at The White Lotus

For a show that drip with irony, The white lotusWhose third season has now concluded excitingly, has to make sincere points. Some of these points are hidden behind the graphic images, the sensitive theme and the “adult situations”, while dating back. I have never folded one to the lawyer why a Christian can or must be morally ambiguous, nor do I have one leg to dictate when No To see it. The value I see when finding some Christian element in such things is that it equips us to contribute something significant to a conversation with others that goes beyond the scolding, whether this scolding is real or simply perceived.

An interesting point The white lotus He has done in his first three seasons comfort of the name itself. Lotus It is a reference to Homer’s odyssey. When Odysseus meets the island of Loto’s dining rooms, his crew is relieved at the beginning of having found food. However, Odysseus warns them that they do not eat when they see the effect it has on the inhabitants. All on the island are lethargic and inactive. They are not imprisoned by an external force, but by their own apathy, which is induced by the abundance, pleasure and drowsiness provided by the lotus. In the program, the white lotus is the name of a chain of high -end and luxurious complexes that are in exotic places worldwide. Guests who can afford assistance here require a lot of wealth. This gives them the right to experience the greatest pleasure that this world can sacrifice. It’s not just an escape; It is an abdication.

But what would the program be without a touch?

We discover in the first moments of the first episode of each season that something tragic has happened: a murder (well, we must assume that it is a murder, anyway). We are given little information: no WHO (Neinder the victim or the perpetrator), some whenever (As always is the end of the week), and not BecauseWorks Council As. This death now looms over every moment of the week until our curiosity is satisfied. What will be the circumstances that lead to whose disappearance?

So that you do not think that the main value in this program is the mysterious element of murder, know that it really lies in the dynamics and dialogue of the character. Taking into account the symbolism of the lotus, keep in mind that the complex could not execute without the efforts of those who could never dream of allowing the use of their services as guests. The program contrasts these two kinds of people, highlighting the disparity through the interactions of the staff with the guests. While the guests themselves are well traveled and mundane in one sense, they are also oblivious to the world of those who attend them. This is represented with humor through many conversations that involve an heiress of shipping/real estate (played by Jennifer Coolidge), but also creates an intense conflict between the characters.

As Christians, our mission is not to try to eliminate the class, since the “poor will be with [us] Always ”(Matthew 26:11), but to identify with them to the extent that we identify with Christ ourselves (cf Matthew 25: 35-40). The show does not reduce this to” rich = bathroom; Poor = Well, “but is satirizing the feigned Conern for the poor that characterizes the interactions between social classes. It is not a didactic presentation, but an instructive without owners.

If Odysseus is the model for the hero who must endure the difficulties, complete challenges and kill the monsters to get home with his family, then the island of Loto’s dining rooms is the first obstacle to their growth. If he stays, he does not fulfill his goal or return to his responsibilities as a wife and children. He loses his chance to love.

In the same way, every season or The white lotus He has presented characters with stunted male maturation. I was fascinated in the way the program represented the pornography habits of each character in a negative light, although not in a shameful way. The story showed that porn was retaining each of them from authentic relationships in their lives, and even more surprisingly, witnesses of their growth when the habit was interrupted. This pattern is not presented as obviatrics in the third season as in seasons one and two, but there are allusions on this subject in the bridge-Ish Paper, Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger). The effects of the porn were too presented in the first two seasons to be accidental, and although Saxon’s moment in the third final of the season is not a ST. Conversion at Paul level, shows a moment of deep growth from where it started only one week. This complements the Christian prohibition of pornography, which is ultimately sin against charity, a way of seeing another person as simply an object.

Another outstanding topic of each season of The white lotus It is that of desire and what shapes it. There are many rivalries and “microsts” among all the characters in the three seasons, but one stands out between two male friends of the university who attend with their wives. Another, from the third season, has three mid -point hatreds that have been friends from high school, but separated in adults. It is not surprising that the things of their past have chased them again and the old rivalries are resurrected as vacations take several aspects of their personalities. In the second season, a friend attributes the tension between them to the “mimetic desire” of the other. Without explaining so clearly, there are indications of mimetic desire and mimetic rivalry among the three friends in the third season.

The desire of letters and mimetics is the idea that our desires do not occur within us, but of an external “model”, which forms them unconscious. We don’t want the thing by himselfBut because our model is the first. Some may recognize this idea of ​​the Christian scholar René Girard. This concept is what contributes to what he calls the “scapegoat mechanism”, which implies the victimization of a non -senitable part within a community to unite that community around a common cause. While Girard’s scope certainly goes beyond the Church, the fact that it would be the program of his theory with a manifest biblical language (“scapegoat” is a term of Leviticus 16:22 and Girard attributed this idea to faith in Christianity) is.

Girard saw in biblical stories, first in that of José del Old Testament and, ultimately, in Jesus, a rupture of the scapegoat mechanism. Instead of participating in the escalation of desires with his neighbor and then finding another innocent victim to blame why that desire was not fulfilled, Jesus wanted to become the victim itself to show the bankruptcy of the mimetics. Christians, like those who participate in the body of Christ, the Church (cf. 1 Cor. 12:27; cf. Col. 1:18), are also destined to participate in this rupture of the scapegoat mechanism. Our wishes are no longer formed by our neighbor or the world, but by Christ, only if it means being the victim like him.

Is this a backup by bingeing? The white lotus? Not necessarily. Are there objectable elements in the program that can distract us from reflective or possible spiritual fertility? YEAH. What I think is worth taking out a program like this are the subtle elements within which a special Christian can appreciate. Collecting these elements allows us to contribute to a discussion about a popular media piece in a unique way that is not an obvious proselytization, nor breach of its problematic content. Perhaps his insightful comment with an unexpected Christian turn is just what moves the needle of his friend or co -worker to a monitoring conversation.