MovieChat Forums > The White Lotus (2021) Discussion > One of the criticisms of this series...

One of the criticisms of this series...


Is that it doesn't really feel like a satire and doesn't add up to much of anything other than a low-key celebration of the 1%. I don't think this series is especially great, but I like it. I'm not exactly sure about Mike White's overall agenda, but I do think he's going for a certain degree of realism and moral ambiguity.

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I guess he is just trying to show how the wealthy live and operate among themselves focused on cringy situations and dialogues NOT solely on what they own and splashing their wealth (like in shows like Bevery Hills housewives or something where they follow characters in their huge mansions and Ferraris and all that); here the only way we see them splash their wealth is simply the luxury resort where they spend their holidays and the content of their dialogues.

On a similar note there are shows and comedies which portray other categories of people and class like blacks from the ghetto, rednecks in trailer parks, etc...

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Look up Land of the Lotus Eaters.

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Who are the lotus-eaters and what are they known for?

The Odyssey: Book 9. Odysseus and his men land on an island inhabited by the Lotus Eaters, a gentle people who only consume the fruit of the lotus plant. Those who eat the lotus fruit forget about returning home, preferring instead to hang out on the lotus island and eat lotus fruit.
Odysseus' men feast with the lotus-eaters, ingesting the famed fruit and so beheld lose all their desires to go home. They were stripped of their goals, falling victim to the addictive fruit of the lotus. Just like the lotus-eaters, the men became sloths and desired nothing but the lotus fruit.

Basically crack, gambling in Vegas or any hardcore addiction.

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It also says this:

Figuratively, 'lotus-eater' denotes "a person who spends their time indulging in pleasure and luxury rather than dealing with practical concerns".


What's interesting to note is how the ship of Odysseus would also have been LOADED with the LOOT that they confiscated from winning the Battle of TROY.

So the LOTUS EATERS would also have had a MOTIVE to try and keep him & his men from going home again for that reason. And whereas the LOTUS EATERS didn't succeed, later on Calypso was able to detain him on her ISLAND for 7 YEARS:


Calypso (mythology) - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calypso_(mythology)

In Greek mythology, Calypso was a nymph who lived on the island of Ogygia, where, according to Homer's Odyssey, she detained Odysseus for seven years. She promised Odysseus immortality if he would stay with her

And the way that this might TIE IN with the story is how CAMERON is after ETHAN'S LOOT that he made by selling off his business. So Cameron's basically lured Ethan to this ISLAND for the same reason as Odysseus was detained, and then didn't make it back home again for 10 long years (and he was also FLAT BROKE, was wearing RAGS, & didn't have any of the LOOT left by the time that he got back home again).

And Odysseus was also able to resist the call of the SIRENS the same way as ETHAN resisted Mia.

But my guess is ETHAN will never make it back home again like Odysseus did (at least not alive), because he & Cameron will probably play another game of CHICKEN again on those JET SKI's.

Only the next time they play it neither one of them will give way to the other one & as a result of that they'll CRASH HEAD on into each other (which is probably also the reason why Daphne finds the DEAD BODY floating around at the start of the story when she goes into the ocean for her last swim).









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Pretty cool and very plausible theory! So many details, by any chance are you a close friend of Mike White? ha ha :-D

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No I don't know Mike White, but I do have a friend named Mike who looks a lot like him!!!

And if you check out the theories that were put forth in the previous season, then you'll probably also find MOST of them were WRONG (which should also prove that I don't have any kind of inside connections to what's happening).

All I have is a BA in LIT (which is why I know about Odysseus and what happened to him).

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Nice. Always fun to find literate people wherever they pop up.

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It would be nicer if one could be right once in a while about one's predictions.

But once again it looks like my theory about Lucia ending up being the relative of Bert & Albie & his father was WRONG.

Oh well.

Guess TIME was also a FACTOR at that point & there wasn't enough of it for the kind of a FAMILY REUNION that Bert was hoping for???

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The social commentary is too surface-level to be incisive.

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Super slow burn. I'm patiently waiting for the big payoff... oh and the s2 intro music is weird lol

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At one point the S2 INTRO MUSIC PARROTS the S1 Music.

Here's an interesting article that explains what the INTRO is about:

https://www.elledecor.com/life-culture/a41847528/white-lotus-season-2-credits/

β€œWe were told it was a β€˜bedroom farce with teeth,’”


At the 30 SECOND TIME MARK (in the VIDEO containing the INTRO MUSIC that's also provided in the link) you can hear it PARROTING the S1 OPENING MUSIC.

Here's a video of the S1 MUSIC so you can compare it to the S2 opening:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2wj6lJtg_8

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Interesting

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If it's a "BEDROOM FARCE with TEETH" ... wonder who's going to get BITTEN???

And WHO will BITE them???

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