The Masochistic Filmmaking of The Curse

[@Lucasjamespetersen]

Whitney's artistic vision involves covering her passive homes with mirrors to ensure they reflect the essence of the Espanola community. The hilarious irony is that if she is actually successful the community she was seeking to reflect will have completely vanished. This servers not only as a poignant metaphor for gentrification but also mirrors the character arc of Asher, who undergoes a complete transformation in his attempt to emulate Whitney's personality, ultimately losing his true self in the process

[@reidmonninger1110]

this is brilliantly put wow

[@Wagglezzz]

very well observed and articulated!

[@Palletresearch]

i feel like you'd make a great character in the curse universe

[@karmic-fleas]

That is a good call.

[@AbrahamOfWorms]

yes lol

[@eliweidman4312]

Enjoyed this video. But I do have to address your statement about Whitney’s decision to let theft go unpunished being taken advantage of by the locals. The episode in which this happens opens with the young adults driving to the boutique and it’s pretty clear that they are NOT from Española, but rather from some White, affluent suburb nearby.

[@TaylorJWilliams]

Fair point! My thinking was word had to have spread from locals originally for it to get to that point, but that’s definitely the more important aspect of what ends up happening

[@idontknowwhatmyusernamesho5540]

Important!

[@isaacslomski-pritz3116]

However when Fernando complained to Whitney and Asher at the house he mentioned gangbangers stealing as well.

[@soph964]

ooo yes yes and deliberately having a scene where phoebe admits to no having stolen anything

[@ambylam]

I appreciate that this came across to non-locals! As a New Mexican, I knew when the one kid mentioned Cliff's (an amusement park), they were probably written to be La Cueva high schoolers from Albuquerque. It didn't even occur to me how the scene came across to people who are unfamiliar with this area. For more context, Española is about a 90 minute drive from Albuquerque, which for me definitely added to the eerie feeling about how far and how quickly word was spreading.

[@questionm2786]

I am actually surprised you took a show with so many layers and where able to give the most surface level speculative take on it good job

[@greggoat6570]

That is most of his videos, but he has this pretentious film school student (literally) shtick.

[@lysikasaito]

It is so strange to me that you make very serious inferences about how Nathan Fielder is in real life based on the characters he plays on TV. A real human being's life is not your art piece.

[@daniellebalouise9596]

Art is a reflection of life. I'd say at this point, there are definitely some overarching themes in Nathan Fielder's work that could definitely be seen as having some sort of tie to his own understanding and expression of life. An artist doesn't explore subjects that they aren't tied to in some way usually. I find Nathan's work to have a similar tonality to Andy Kaufman's - playing with real life dynamics and people's presumptions of sincerity or naivety to the manipulative practices of those seeking money and/or fame/influence (Kaufman's work was more of a social experiment though.)

[@lysikasaito]

@@daniellebalouise9596 Yes. I have always thought Nathan was a modern day Andy Kaufman.

[@d0murillo]

The curse is an episode of Nathan for you and Nathan is "helping" Benny.

[@PanicGiraffe]

I choose to accept this version of things.

[@JoeMama-tw6gu]

benny safdie actually did say that they decided what would happen in the finale before they made all the rest of the episodes

[@underthemayo]

Thanks for the conversation! Just finished the show, big Nathan fan. Can't wait for what he does next.

[@amyk6319]

Why does everyone forget Lisa Kudrow and The Comeback created the cringe reality spoof 20 years ago? Yes it was more comedic than The Curse, but people keep praising Nathan Fielder for his unique exploration of cringe and reality TV. The Comeback did that in 2005 and though many didn't get it at the time, it had such a cult following HBO brought it back for a second season 10 yrs later.

[@killerdls]

Great take on the show. I share a lot of the same opinions about the curse as you. I could never put them into words or a video as good as this! Great stuff.

[@trekkiejunk]

Asher didn't have a 'micro-penis', he just had a small one. A micro-penis is actually a medically-defined term for one that is extremely small, and close to an enlarged clitoris. Asher's was normal size, but smaller than average.

[@SistoActivitatemAtm]

Did this hit home? 😂

[@jordanvilla1369]

​@@SistoActivitatemAtm😂

[@mikylaj5564]

Calling him a narcissist is crazy.... I think one of the things the show critiques is how a lot of white liberals use buzz words to be performative and moralistic... You displayed a pretty spot on example of that..

[@danielradcliffe9256]

lol! I think its a very reasonable adjective to describe lots of nathan's behavior. i dont think this video is criticizing him for it either, nor suggesting a genuine mental health diagnosis. There is a self-obsession and desperately fragile self-perception that Nathan is exploring in his art. Pretty sure thats what the video means by narcissist.

[@PanicGiraffe]

He's so deep in his delusion he can't register the obvious criticism of liberalism and double inverts it into a socialist battlecry.

[@aadambaxx]

Excellent review dude. I love Nathan. He has had the same underlying character from the beginning of his work, to the curse. The very first video he posted on yt ends with him being a lonely loser who ruins everything… and that’s the insecurity he teases out in almost everything he does… and it shows up in all kinds of different ways that he looks for acceptance. There’s a genius thread of ‘insecurity’ in everything haha

[@BrutalistJr]

.. but is it really narcissism? or is it just Asperger's?

[@itsmeganjoy]

Ding ding ding! I’d say Asperger’s over narcissism.

[@BrutalistJr]

@@itsmeganjoy since the finale, I've now been pitching the show to friends like "think Pinocchio, but Asperger's instead of wood, and the ending is not happy"

[@karmic-fleas]

I don't get the accusation of narcissim or cruelty .

[@Turtlpwr]

Agree

[@lysikasaito]

@@karmic-fleas Same. It felt unnecessary and rude.

[@MrJballn]

"I liked the show" *cough* "virtue bat" *cough* "peep this cinema vocabulary"

[@madisonbird9324]

Masterpiece of a season Great video

[@OpDownfall93]

as a local New Mexican, it's sooo weird to hear people talking about Espanola--the place is so ghetto you don't ever consider that someone who isn't New Mexican could possibly know about it, and yet, here we are to be clear, screw gentrification, Espanola may be ghetto asf but it's OUR ghetto

[@honeyjarboi]

I grew up in West Side Spaña. My Grandma was the owner of Matilda’s restaurant. Española may be a crazy, forgotten place but to me it’s the most beautiful spot. The plaza fountain is my safe space

[@PanicGiraffe]

Defending slums because CNN told you to adopt a degrowth mindset is peak brain rot.

[@clorocloro4090]

Im Brasiliam and dont know much about USA geógrafi so most of the time i assume placês in american tv shows are made up, i thought That this was the case here so its interesting to know that this is a real place

[@LogsMaggot]

@@clorocloro4090 yeah, I'm Italian, same for me

[@livingbreath]

This guy doesn’t understand the definition of narcissism

[@sxt4447]

Okay I first learned about the incident involving the minor who filmed a scene in Good Time while watching this video, and even if the Safdie Brothers didn’t know the girl was a teenager, why would they allow any woman of any age to film nude with a man who had just been released from prison and allow him to continue to work on set even after he had made incredibly inappropriate remarks towards her while filming? Breaking up is not enough to distance themselves from that controversy…..

[@mcultras]

It very Christian of them

[@blondefisk]

I wondered if part of the play on Reality TV Shows aspect, or the literal reality of TV shows, is a conversation about how we watch artistic intent tv shows and reduce them to online discourse. How we become the reactionary high drama reality tv show with a premise of duking it out over who is moat right about TV we watched. To participate in cheap shallows and yell at each other on reddit. To grossly then throw serious diagnostic terms 99.9999% have no right or the wisdom to use. Rather than to reflect on the discomfort we felt, and what that might say about ourselves

[@patricknashh]

show of the year imo

[@KallMeSoda]

The curse was the most gripping television I’ve seen in a long long time

[@loganturner2061]

I'm not sure that Nathan is actually a narcissist or "narcissist", I'm not sure he's not either but there really is no way to know

[@RajlivHD]

@3:50 You mention that the film dirties up the frame with film emulation, which is kinda funny, because it isn't film emulation! The show is shot on a very high ISO and in HD to give it that look.

[@samrainnie2104]

This video was tougher to watch than the Curse. Your argument relies on too many things outside of the show, while the show gave us more than enough to talk about on its own. I like your approach but I was hoping for more

[@gnalkhere]

The floating reminded me of the film Teorema too

[@clanofclams2720]

3:49 that's not film grain emulation, that's digital noise.

[@TaylorJWilliams]

It is, but I think it still serves the purpose of evoking some of the dirtier artifacts of film. The Safdie’s are famously sticklers for film, but The Curse likely had to shoot digital for budgetary reasons, and using high ISO to achieve a similar effect is becoming more common for digital shooting. Lady Bird comes to mind as an example of a movie that used high digital ISO with the express purpose of mimicking film after being forced to shoot digital. That’s what I mean by film grain emulation, though I know there are minor technical differences.

[@steveklabnik]

@@TaylorJWilliams I don't have a link to it handy, but I saw an interview with Safdie where he said that they actually shot the show in HD, not 4k, and with a high ISO, as a deliberate artistic choice. and that they had a small tiff with Showtime about it. An interesting thread to tug on!

[@TaylorJWilliams]

Definitely! I’ve seen him talk about it too and wish I had included more on that in the video - he calls the technique, along with the extremely long focal length, “realism candid camera.”

[@indigosnow_]

The Curse was incredible. I love Nathan so much 🥲

[@burtfiasco]

I think "the curse" itself tells us that looking at life the way we do, in terms of birth and death, is backwards. We should realize death - like Asher's rising of the Phoenix -- is a triumph. There is no escape from death, but we strive to run from it for as long as possible. We look at the creation of life as a blessing while cowering in fear from from the curse of an inescapable fate. Also since Asher is such a beta, he was obviously going to become untethered physically and lose all gravitational connection with our planet, but that goes unsaid.

[@tennenyt5311]

Could it be that Dougie blaming the crash on a curse is like Bennie blaming that incident on the producer and his brother? Idk just a random thought

[@saraisett6743]

they learned about the producer thing in july 2022 and the show shot from june-october 22 so i don’t agree with your take that this was a cowardly way for benny to acknowledge this, the script was likely fully finished long before they were made aware

[@jaimeerindy4573]

Excellent video! Love hearing your commentary even though something about The Curse really didn't work for me. I think it's a great piece of art, I just struggled with it personally

[@lorenzodhernandes]

Honestly I think he just didn't get some of the commentary from the show based on some of his takes.

[@DennyPenn1981]

Wow Dude the whole point of this show went wa. Over your head

[@concrete_dog]

Most challenging tv show I've ever watched. But I'm glad I did. Strong 4/5.

[@janthran]

that's cool and all, but when dougie cursed him he definitely wished for asher's world to turn upside down. i'm not saying that's the actual cause but that's why he was saying he was sorry when asher fell

[@honeyjarboi]

So actually the reason Asher flies away is because before Dougie cursed him, he smacked Asher and when Asher asked why he said “Fly”

[@Trabendo_daze]

I like specifically how your hair bops like a character in Spyro the Dragon thank you

[@l.p.5703]

I had t picked up on Asher being his own baby. I more or less thought the baby was replacing any need Whitney had for Asher. Interesting. I loved this show as painful as it was to watch.

[@blondefisk]

The situation with the young girl is best served extremely deftly with minimal publicity, and most between the parties concerned. More publicity will encourage more people seeking the images of the young girl, and create disgusting discourae where she is blamed. I would believe this matter was handled more quietly at her families behest and with her wellbeing at the forefront. The grievous reflection of pur world is that seggualised abuse of girls and woman, when made public, brings that which is entirely antithetical to support, uplifting, and healing for woman and girls. World needs to change.

[@somnium5603]

This show feels alot to me like Twin Peaks for some reason. I like it alot!

[@dlwseattle]

I've never been able to get into any of the things that this Nathan has been a part of - maybe I'm not smart enough to get it.

[@chrismize2738]

Subscribed 👊🏻

[@toothbrushfromnisemonogatari]

This show was amazing. This has gotta be Emma Stones best performance.

[@katsudon3857]

My favorite analysis of the show so far, great work!

[@Wagonlit3000]

Great vid!

[@bascal133]

Thank you, not even 30 seconds in I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody else actually directly acknowledged that his shows premises are cruel and manipulative to people, it’s not clear that the people who are on these shows realize it’s a gag, and that they’re the butt of the joke.

[@killerdls]

Nathan is always pushing the limits of reality tv. Sometimes he may go too far. People are mad at him for in the rehearsal when a fatherless child starts to get confused that Nathan isn’t his real father. It can be hard to watch at times but I find it fascinating. No one is quite doing what Nathan is doing.

[@karmic-fleas]

I really don't think the `people' in N4U are the butt of the joke.

[@screaminjesus]

@@karmic-fleas yeah nathan's character is clearly the butt of the joke in N4U

[@MonolithFIJI]

Best breakdown of the show I've seen so far. Loved the series!

[@marina-jf4og]

Is there no way to engage with a piece of art or media without the meta analysis? What if I don’t care about Ben Sadie or even know who he is

[@killerdls]

He co wrote the show. He stars in the show. He’s all over the show in every way. Hes the one who does the q/a when they screen the show live. Benny Safdie rules. We’re also allowed to be a little disappointed in Benny.

[@marina-jf4og]

@@killerdls I get it . I just don’t care about the production or the way the personal lives of the people involved in the project relate to the story . I think it makes it so much smaller and when I think about my favourite movies books shows etc I don’t really know much about anything outside of it

[@killerdls]

@@marina-jf4og I see. That’s very valid. Maybe the curse isn’t as personal as this video is making it seem but not everyone will separate the art from the artist like yourself. But you make good points.

[@marina-jf4og]

@@nerdatheart seems like irrelevant gossip and speculation

[@idamay4590]

I mean there is but it’s less valuable

[@jackanghoff8320]

Connection to the random me too thing is pretty weak. I don't see any relevance whatsoever.

[@shushunk00]

9:52 there was a scene in one episode where seemingly people from outside the town(teenagers) were also taking the clothing articles. That whole part was confusing At first they seemed oblivious to such an "offer" of no consequence stealing (when they were on the road) , suddenly they were acting like ,that situation was normal ,it seemed like they stole before(when they were inside the boutique)

[@karmic-fleas]

Once inside the shop the storeperson almost immediately gave them permission, basically said to them its free.

[@edie5523]

This video was how I found out that there was an episode 10

[@AbrahamOfWorms]

This is one of those moments where the reviewers review of the show says more about them and their mindset than the show itself. So much in the show is left untouched for your own forced take on it. I don't disagree with everything here but its all very surface level and gave me zero insight into the show. Just more insight into your view on things. Think you may be kind of close to some of these characters in some ways 🤣

[@AbrahamOfWorms]

The last ep: Asher was marginalized in real time. He is treated the same way that he and Whitney have treated Espanola. They thought they were helping the community, the firefighters think they are helping Asher. Very simple and obvious observation that hammers the theme of the entire show home. I don't disagree with what you said about the last episode, but I feel you missed the glaring and largest point here.

[@mikylaj5564]

yes thank you! I was feeling this way, but didn't quite no how to put it into words.. Felt very white liberal man trying to be moralistic to subsidize his guilt about being a man, especially when he brought up the Good Times Controversy. Saying it was "too sensitive" to actually discuss, but brings it up anyway to critique benny for not publicly speaking on it, without actually trying to understand or talk about why that might be, felt very much like virtue signalling, which is exactly some of what this show is heavily focusing on and critiquing....

[@gibbions]

Immense soundtrack too! Including the sublime Alice Coltrane

[@kylelumpkin7517]

Maybe Nathan Fielder is a comedian who points his comedy at narcissism…

[@karmic-fleas]

Yeah, I really don't get some of his criticisms of Nathan. The antonym of narcist is not polyanna.

[@AcostaJason]

Exactly. Anyone that analyzes Fielder's work as actually being real is clearly missing the point. In NFY the business owners are not the butt of the joke. They are more in on it than we know. In The Rehearsal the boy doesn't actually get confused, that part is scripted and acting as well. The Curse is his 1st show where we are clearly told it isn't real, but his previous work should be analyzed in a similar context.

[@wetsock111]

i loved this show emma stone is insane

[@By_MichaelMcDevitt]

I love this video, except I would argue that the show is pretty explicitly taking aim at leftist politics - at least a kind that strips any agency from minority groups, views them as a monolith or imposes political beliefs on to them without asking them for their own thoughts. I say this because we are constantly given examples of the locals sharing opinions that are pro-gun, pro-cop, tax-concerned or crime-concerned for instance, and them not fitting into the view Whitney and Asher have of minorities as wholly and unrealistically noble. Their privilege allows them to hold more intellectualized and systemic views of crime, economics etc because they aren’t affected by it and thus can’t be the arbiters of Española’s “salvation” (if it even needs it)

[@idamay4590]

I think it’s taking aim at liberals, not leftists - given that the show’s creators are liberals it’s kind of a self critique

[@AcostaJason]

It is taking aim at white people who have a white savior complex and whose white guilt motivates them to "help" BIPOC. This is a subset of liberals, not all liberals. The show also points out that we can't reduce people to specific stereotypes based on ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and/or political beliefs. Both Asher and Whitney do this with the locals of Espanola, including the "right-wing" character played by Dean Cain. The critique is definitely a self-critique and not one that would land well from a conservative.

[@owenfelton]

glad you pointed out the influence of the events that took place on the set of Good Time on Dougie's character. i was also thinking it had inspired the character, although i didn't initially consider that it may partially be a jab at Josh, and not just Benny taking shots at himself and his producer. i think it's interesting how he reckons with that through his art, but i do agree that it's also pretty cowardly of him to not directly address it and apologize. also a good point that the finale is just like Part 8 of The Return since everyone just talks about that and lets it define the whole show rather than focusing on the rest. great video!

[@thesusanoox]

Josh is the executive producer on the show so I don't really get the point of it being a jab at him. It seems like at least that whole aspect of the character would've been discussed between the two and Josh wouldn't be oblivious to all the implications.

[@aWomanFreed]

I think the Kubrick parallel is apt. Good video.

[@Zecamilleo]

This was based on chip and Joanna Gaines from fixer upper?

[@TheoDoypMorris]

Amazing video. Subbed!!!!

[@flavorwise]

Nathan Fielding would be the perfect choice to play Richard Mayhew in Neil Gaiman's 'Neverwhere' and I am willing to repeat that in every comment section and court of law in which I am currently on trial.

[@loganturner2061]

I didn't know that about Benny Safdie, he's lost all my respect unfortunately

[@shushunk00]

Currently your video is the only one among several videos on the curse on yt , that gave context,analysis from a leftist pov (not from a liberal pov as in all of the videos available rn on yt ,I am sure they don't even know the difference between liberal and leftist/socialist, "scratch a liberal a fascist bleeds") and also from the ethical pov from the past works of benny brothers and Nathan.

[@Daniel_Jones]

lmfao

[@joeboonmusic4004]

Well that was something to read.

[@shushunk00]

​@@joeboonmusic4004 sorry I am an esl 😅

[@wholewheatstingray]

It's not the language, it's the delusion. ​@@shushunk00

[@TRKJSR]

What is with your head movements?

[@phaedrus7971]

That was a great point about “the curse” being the result of their own actions. You didn’t need to say “of course” though lol

[@afterdinnercreations936]

Heavy Spoilers... . . . . . Did... did Dougie's curse work? Dougie cursed Asher after a jab at Dougie killing his wife in a drunk-driving incident.

[@haroldjoseph8296]

Give it up bro you're not a critic and you'll never be a filmmaker 😅

[@jonathanobody]

Does he have something? or does he just talks with the head bounce?

[@sabydaby]

Yeah, you went from insightful (if not clearly plagiarizing others opinions) to focus on a topic -- even as a fan of both creators -- am barely aware of. It's not that you bring it up, but you do it in the exact same, "script reading smugness" cadence you kept in the first 6 min. Also, using the term "neo-" and "modernistic" -- can you tell me in any fewer words how little of an opinion you have on something?

[@karmic-fleas]

"(i had to watch it by) getting then cancelling a paramount plus subscription"... what is the point of telling us that?

[@TaylorJWilliams]

The show makes a point about streaming models and rotating bundle deals making shows more and more inconvenient to watch, which was reflected in my own experience watching the show

[@karmic-fleas]

@@TaylorJWilliams okay tnx

[@standardqueue]

Watching Emma Stone being interviewed for this show I couldn't help getting the same exact vibe of watching the characters in show being culturally unaware and grossly ignorant to the subjects they appropriate and treat, it was uncanny. I wonder if Fielder intended for this to be a mirror too real to walk away from, in character or not.

[@moonmonkey303]

I do admire the commitment to the 'broken' style and support their sharp cultural observations but dammit I just don't want to feel utterly terrible watching TV or films. It was all just too masochistic and cringe inducing. Ari Astor and A24 pretty much own this style but I also struggle with a lot of their 'darker' releases. I feel there's a younger generation so beaten down and confused by the modern world that a certain type of 'uneasiness/mild misery porn' really speaks to them. Saying all that, Beau Is Afraid really spoke to me, so my theory might be utter rubbish, I just want my torture to be more flamboyant.

[@jriverd7285]

Im gonna need you to chill with the constant flipping of your bangs while talking but really dig your content.

[@treeseer1573]

He is not a narcissist. He has narcissistic traits. Narcissists do the same thing to everyone they idealize- devalue- and discard. This is the abuse cycle and they need supply. He would’ve discarded Emma Stones character by the end of the series. And had another woman he was grooming. Look up and study wgat a narcissist is.

[@carlosb.gonzalezsoto8552]

¿Haces análisis o chisme?

[@crazziemonkke]

really great video, but why do you wiggle around so much

[@rootfish2671]

I noticed other youtubers do this too, some much worse. There must be some bad advice going around doing so increases viewer engagement or some other malarkey.

[@crazziemonkke]

@@rootfish2671 its like when tiktok people try to talk with their hands but are clearly trying way too hard to put it on

[@rachelr596]

Yeah I'm shocked at how dumb this take is lol

[@joshbisig]

Then you should watch the show again but this time pay attention

[@lysikasaito]

@@joshbisig He is making assumptions about Nathan Fielder, the person, based on the scripted characters he plays on TV. I think that's disgusting. I think the fact that Nathan Fielder has the self-awareness to write these characters means that he is not like them.

[@DanaJaneWriter]

Too moralistic, dude. The brothers got nothing to do with that thing. Didn't need to show your moral superiority here

[@futurereflections4097]

Nathan for you was genius but this show sucked.

[@SCL8294]

-Hollywood liberals/progressives making fun of their own seems to be a trend in recent years. It's an attempt at a broader critique of capitalism and humanity. I also think masochism plays a part. -This show's critique is so precise and ruthless just enough to the point that it almost feels like a Ben Shapiro-type wrote it, but I'm pretty sure neither Nathan Fielder nor Benny Safdie lean that way.

[@ZachAJ77]

You're too far leftist yourself to adequately review this show.

[@VoidedCreature]

what a terrible video

[@AaBb-pp9bd]

i feel bad for people like this that think they understood the show, but they just understood what they were mockingly mad like all other fielder shit

[@oncecursed1]

What is your read on the show then?

[@nalday2534]

you still alive?

[@joshbisig]

Stop projecting and dig deeper

[@AaBb-pp9bd]

@@joshbisig how deep daddy

[@mikedough7729]

This put me right to sleep