Is it Worse to be Born Terrible, or to Aspire to it?
Is it Worse to be Born Terrible, or to Aspire to it?
People keep asking whether movies like 'Saltburn' and 'The Menu' are too mean or not mean enough to rich people. 'Saltburn' is bizarro 'Succession,' and this is missing the point entirely.
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Since Saltburn hit streaming a few weeks ago (my review), it seems like I’ve scrolled past a flood of takes about how it failed as a satire of elites, or that it wasn’t mean enough to Oxford Fauntleroys. I’m all for being mean to rich people, especially British ones, but it seemed like a lot of the criticism was missing the whole point of the movie. The entire line of criticism eerily mirrors a lot of similar complaints we heard about The Menu last year (I had a fun conversation about this with Luke O’Neil last year at WelcometoHellWorld), and some of the ones about Parasite from a few years earlier.
You could say that Saltburn (which featured a number of extended gross-out gags like Barry Keoghan’s character sucking spent semen out of a bathtub drain) was too gross, or that it could’ve depicted Oxford students as even snobbier and more depraved, and I wouldn’t necessarily disagree (though I do love most things deliberately gross and graphic). But at its heart, Saltburn is not an exposé of old money. It’s a strivers-vs.-swells dramedy that asks which is more truly depraved, to be born obscenely wealthy or to aspire to it?
It further struck me that this is a very similar dynamic to the one in Succession, which furthered its status as one of the most acclaimed and written about televisions shows of the decade (no show on Earth could match its words-per-viewer numbers) this past Sunday with four Golden Globe wins. That show had its own climbers-vs-nepo babies plot, in the form of Tom Wambsgans and the Roys’ disinherited cousin Greg (aka “The Disgusting Brothers.”). They were my favorite characters, and Succession’s creators seemed to know this, hence the ending.
Anyway, I wrote a whole thing breaking down Saltburn and Succession’s sort of equal-yet-opposite takes on strivers-vs.-swells, and I was about to publish it here. Then I realized that it had mostly proper grammar, not that many swears, and didn’t have much in it I could imagine being objectionable to advertisers. So on a whim I sent the whole thing to Alex, my editor at GQ, and he said he’d pay me genuine American currency to publish it in a national magazine— er, the website of a national magazine.
So, go check it out over at GQ. You should be able to read it for free. Also, there are spoilers for Succession and Saltburn in it, so reader beware. Hope you like it, and that you don’t mind the extra click.
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In other news, yes, we recorded a new Frotcast this past week (about Katt Williams and Natalia Speaks). We should have another one in a few days — Matt and I are attending a 25th anniversary Sopranos thing tonight for Pod Yourself A Gun. We’ll also be recording new episodes of Pod Yourself The Wire soon, as we prepare to begin season five. Subscribe to the Patreon (even if it’s just for free) for relevant updates.
"My sense is that a lot of the discrepancy in criticism is actually more of a referendum on how individual viewers reacted to Barry Keoghan sucking spent jizz out of a bathroom drain or having sex with a freshly dug grave than it is on wealth satire"
We saw this with the debate on Twitter as to whether Saltburn was provocative/not provocative. As Louis Peitzman noted, you may think it's dumb, but you're probably too online if you think period sex, grave fucking, and cum water drinking in a movie released by a major studio aren't that provocative. Aside from Barbie, I think I had more conversations with my normie friends/family members about Saltburn than any other movie last year.
Anyway, the reaction to Saltburn reminded me of the reaction to Promising Young Woman, where they're playing with issues of the moment, but are given undue THIS IS AN IMPORTANT FILM MAKING CONCRETE STATEMENTS consideration, by virtue of their proximity to award season. PYW was an exploitation movie - if it had come out in April 2020 like it was originally supposed to, we probably would not have spent a month debating whether it's pro-cop.
I watched Saltburn on your recommendation and was not disappointed. The actors in it were compelling enough that I actually checked on other movies they did. That's when I stumbled across the lead actor on the cover of GQ with a tag line about him manifesting his Hollywood destiny. End of search.
Solid movie though.