{"id":1419439,"date":"2022-04-05T08:16:12","date_gmt":"2022-04-05T12:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1419439"},"modified":"2022-04-05T08:16:20","modified_gmt":"2022-04-05T12:16:20","slug":"life-and-beth-accidentally-underscores-the-failures-of-feminism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/life-and-beth-accidentally-underscores-the-failures-of-feminism\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Life And Beth\u2019 Accidentally Underscores The Failures Of Feminism"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flife-and-beth-accidentally-underscores-the-failures-of-feminism%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1419439&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/DDA861D2-917B-4638-81C8-344CAC299F2F.jpeg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s odd to watch Amy Schumer find serenity in nature, but that\u2019s what \u201cLife and Beth\u201d is counting on. To paraphrase a gleeful Janis in \u201cMean Girls,\u201d seeing Schumer sell produce is a bit like seeing a dog walk on its hind legs. <\/p>\n<p>I had a sinking feeling the show would be good. At her best, Schumer can be very funny. She\u2019s mostly been <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2019\/04\/05\/amy-schumers-identity-crisis-culminates-growing\/\">at her worst<\/a> since making it big, but if \u201cLife and Beth\u201d was to be anything like \u201cGirls,\u201d I assumed it might just be incisive enough to function as an accidental critique of modern values.<\/p>\n<p>And so it is. The Hulu series\u2019 first season finds Beth, Schumer\u2019s semi-autobiographical character, relocating from Manhattan to her childhood home on Long Island, reconnecting with family, rejecting a big promotion, breaking up with her live-in fianc\u00e9e, and discovering joy in nature and community. These are all perfectly reasonable outcomes of the pilot\u2019s tragic plot twist, but they\u2019re also a sun-soaked rebuke of secular urban careerism. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"hamzMGDJtxj524wBy8TCWIrdAc9lo07ZNVepvXk1gQPYiFqHnfbR\"><\/p>\n[embedded content]\n<p><\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>During a funeral, for instance, Beth is deeply moved by the rituals of a thriving black church. She doesn\u2019t exactly convert, but it\u2019s just one example of the show\u2019s relentless but unwitting flirtation with traditionalism. It consumes virtually the entire plot.<\/p>\n<p>Back in her childhood home, Beth also plugs back into her childhood friend group. She dives into the community of a rural farm and reconnects with her father and sister. She falls for a stoic Michael Cera, who clearly embodies a much healthier masculinity than her swaggering and vapid ex-fianc\u00e9. <\/p>\n<p>She enjoys the peace of the rural landscape and savors the literal fruits of Cera\u2019s subsistence farming. Like the influencers who baked bread during the pandemic\u2019s uncertain early stage, the show\u2019s aesthetic also mirrors its unspoken quest for nature and beauty\u2014neither of which is overrepresented in Manhattan these days.<\/p>\n<p>After chasing an ostensibly dead-end career and dead-end relationship for at least a decade, Beth finds herself alienated and unfulfilled, having run from her family and her community with all the moral confidence and drive of reflexive fourth-wave feminism. Yet the series shows her finding fulfillment by rejecting that alienating, unmoored existence for the joys of family, friends, and nature.<\/p>\n<p>As the moral arc of technology seems to be bending towards transhumanism (which is fundamentally antihuman), feminist thinkers are <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/02\/25\/how-the-marvelous-mrs-maisel-is-missing-its-opportunity-to-reconsider-the-second-wave\/\">suddenly<\/a> pumping the brakes. Some are even trying to throw the car into reverse. From porn to hormonal birth control to the consequences of casual sex, modernity isn\u2019t exactly comfortable for women. <\/p>\n<p>For many reasons, of course, it\u2019s much more comfortable than past alternatives. But even so, the fallout from the sexual revolution sent millennials and Gen Z reeling. The refuge? A cold cartoon world delivered via headset or, perhaps, something that looks a little more retro. <\/p>\n<p>When thoughtful progressive feminists reflect on modern life, very often they wade into these waters. \u201cGirls\u201d tip-toed in that direction before landing squarely in the end zone during its final season. Batya Ungar-Sargon reminded me of this the other day with an excellent point about a particularly topical episode that depicted Lena Dunham\u2019s Hannah as an entitled narcissist for sharing personal life details with young students.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"r9y2zN7TeKDnCFqJAkaHpcf65Vodlj84xPGIZ0tMURmiXhsbB\"><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">There was a plotline in &#8216;Girls&#8217; where Hannah is criticized by the principal of the school where she teaches for over-sharing about her personal life to the students. That would probably be considered a conservative storyline today. That show was really good and ahead of its time!<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Batya Ungar-Sargon (@bungarsargon) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bungarsargon\/status\/1509580789876412423?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 31, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The final season of \u201cGirls\u201d (major spoilers ahead) embraced motherhood as the ultimate source of fulfillment, and by invoking deeply naturalistic imagery. Exactly three years ago <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2019\/04\/05\/amy-schumers-identity-crisis-culminates-growing\/\">today<\/a>, I wrote about Schumer\u2019s struggle with these questions in \u201dGrowing\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>There are, occasionally, \u201cI Feel Pretty\u201d levels of cringe in \u201dLife and Beth\u201d. But more often than not, the show is tender and clever and compelling. (And the soundtrack is great.) It\u2019s a testament to the necessity of values Schumer doesn\u2019t quite seem to know she holds. <\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Emily Jashinsky is culture editor at The Federalist. She previously covered politics as a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner. Prior to joining the Examiner, Emily was the spokeswoman for Young America\u2019s Foundation. She\u2019s interviewed leading politicians and entertainers and appeared regularly as a guest on major television news programs, including \u201cFox News Sunday,\u201d \u201cMedia Buzz,\u201d and \u201cThe McLaughlin Group.\u201d Her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, Real Clear Politics, and more. Emily also serves as director of the National Journalism Center and a visiting fellow at Independent Women&#8217;s Forum. Originally from Wisconsin, she is a graduate of George Washington University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s odd to watch Amy Schumer find serenity in nature, but that\u2019s what \u201cLife and Beth\u201d is counting on. To paraphrase a gleeful Janis in \u201cMean Girls,\u201d seeing Schumer sell<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":554,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1419439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1419439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/554"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1419439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1419439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1419439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1419439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1419439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}