A Father's Love
There’s nothing like a father’s love for his child. Sometimes that love blinds the father from the hard truths about his son, about how he is not the child you imagined would be made in his image, and ignore the warning signs that the son may in fact, be very very defective.
Deep down, the father thinks that it is his fault his son is like this. That he didn’t do enough, or even worse, because he was made in the father’s image.
There’s nothing like a father’s love for his child. That love causes him to shield that child from any pain or ridicule. This means creating a world for the son in which he never feels pain, shame, or remorse.
The father pitches a show about his son. One that is categorized as reality, but he really knows it’s a fantasy. In it, the son is special and extraordinary. Those in the town crave his company, his approval, his presence, his affections. So much so that they fight over it. During filming, beautiful girls pursue him and the rest of the people surround him at his lavish house around the lavish pool. The others are paid to be filmed thinking about what he is doing, always asking each other about their relationships with the son.
The father works day and night and pays a large sum to keep his son from figuring out he is on a show. He saw the Truman Show but not the last fifteen minutes. He knows that this can work. He has he money, and money saves everything. He spends his nights worrying that the townspeople will give up the ruse. He begs and pleads with them to keep up the game.
The townspeople grow tired, grow bored of the son. The father must convince new women to come on the show to pursue the son. He is afraid of the moment when there are no more new girls, or he is not able to pay them enough for what he asks them to do.
If they do not pretend enough, the son will realize his own folly and thus the folly of the father. The lie must live on. The simulacra persists.
Meanwhile, the podcast lives! Patrick and I have managed to commit to this thing, so please come on the journey. We are gearing up to do an episode on Valerie Solanas, my queen.
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