great(ish) pt 33: MLM academia, Farewell Amor, the beauty industry
Hello! Is everyone hanging in there? This week, a bunch of things that I've enjoyed over the last month or so but didn't get around to writing up because I was busy staring at the ceiling, playing with my cat, working or trying to work, reading a romance novel about becoming a better, happier person by playing D&D... you know, the usual. Today: the similarities between academia and multi-level marketing; a double feature about migration and family; a novel about friendships, the beauty industry, privilege and the lack thereof; and the song I'll listen to when I get vaccinated (sob).
Article: Is everything an MLM? by Anne Helen Petersen, published in April 2019 in her newsletter, which is now a Substack (of course)
Without going into my personal biography, Petersen's piece about the construction of the contemporary academic system resonated strongly with me when I read it a few weeks ago and left me vibrating with anger and resentment. Luckily, I never attended an American university or pursued a PhD, but I am, let's just say, very familiar with the mindset of drawing young, hopeful candidates into a job system that will not actually reward them, and, in the case of academia, is more likely to leave them wrung out: 27 years old, with no money, no prospects, already a burden to their parents, like Charlotte in my favourite scene from Pride & Prejudice (2005). Other industries (culture, tech) operate in the same way (pyramid schemes, convincing workers that it's the only worthwhile way to earn money in a slightly less pernicious manner than academia). Even if you have no interest in academia, this is worth a read.
Film: Farewell Amor (2020), directed by Ekwa Msangi, and Farewell Meu Amor (2016), directed by Ekwa Msangi
At the beginning of Farewell Amor, a family meet at an American airport: Walter, who has been living in the US for 17 years, meets his wife Esther and teenage daughter Sylvia, who stayed behind, first in Angola and then in Tanzania. Farewell Meu Amor, a short film made four years earlier, investigates what Walter's life was like during that time; it's a bit of a spoiler for the feature film, so I won't go into it. Let's just say that the reunion is not easy in ways that Msangi explores slowly and carefully, with a section devoted to each character. Ultimately, this is a hopeful, nuanced double feature about the complexities of love, migration and loyalty. Great music and dancing, too. I watched both films in sequence, but they definitely work independently of each other.
Book: If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha (2020)
I picked this book up impulsively after a dentist appointment, fueled by resentment about my impending fate (spending an arm and a leg on braces in my mid-30s; not being able to bite into an apple for two years). A novel that is at least partially about the beauty industry seemed the right fit, but If I Had Your Face is more than that – it's a novel about class, privilege and materialism, in which four women who live in the same building navigate work, friendship, money and power in Seoul. I found it chatty and absorbing, and depressing in a different way from the other books I've read this year (has anyone read any cheerful literary fiction, like, ever?). I am also fascinated by the scale of things, beauty-related or otherwise, we think we have to do to feel comfortable in society because I am both naive and uninformed and only found out what fillers are when I read this Jia Tolentino article a year or so ago. Much to consider!
Other: Jensen McRae, Immune
This song started as a gentle send-up of what Jensen McRae imagined the opening track of a future Phoebe Bridgers album might sound like ("the opening track will be about hooking up in the car while waiting in line to get vaccinated at dodger stadium and it’s gonna make me cry") and is now a great vaccination anthem. "I'm not scared of dogs or getting vaccinated", either. In fact, I'd like more of both.
I'll leave you with this meme, mood, pandemic winter lifestyle:
Bye!