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Tribal bonfire: "The white lotus" mimics the privilege - and also mocks it

HBO's new mini-series takes the luxury dramas of recent years, for all the features we've already learned to recognize by heart, and uses them for sarcastic and disturbing satire.

Is it possible to define a series that tries so hard to challenge its viewers as enjoyable?

In this case the answer is definitely yes

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• The white lotus

• HBO

Ilan Kaprov

Tuesday, 13 July 2021, 00:00 Updated: 11:19

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White Lotus (HBO) Trailer

One of the most prominent television trends of recent years is luxury dramas. We all already know how to easily identify the series from this genre by a number of characteristics: a cast of twinkling stars, spectacular views (usually of towns kissing the sea), a carefully selected quality soundtrack, and of course a plot that presents a big secret that hovers over what happens. Aside from the big buzz and the plethora of awards that have fallen into various "big little lies", there is something terribly elitist about them. Even if the problems presented in them are universal, it is difficult to err and think even for the moment that they really concern us as well. The wealth is eye-popping, the very specific human landscape - everything is designed to allow us to be guests for a moment in the suffering of the beautiful and the right. Trouble, but in style.

Although it ostensibly includes all the features of the genre, "The White Lotus," the new mini-series from HBO (which also aired Monday, Bite, Hot and Cellcom TV), is probably the first satire on it.

This understanding is not immediate, and apparently intentional.

The way the series develops, and especially the way it treats its protagonists, slowly reveals its attitude towards the troubles of the rich in general and issues of social classes in particular.

But unlike "heirs," for example, this shift in perspective from sympathy to disgust does not become a pleasure but a bothersome and unsettling buzz of discomfort.

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Constant tension between pastoralism and soundtrack.

"The White Lotus" (Photo: Mario Perez, HBO)

The plot of "The White Lotus," created by the talented Mike White ("Bright") - who also writes and directs all of its episodes - takes place over a week in a luxury hotel in Hawaii bearing the series' name. The spoiled son of the wealthy Shane (Jake Lacey, "The Office") and his new wife, Rachel (Alexandra Dadario, "The Bay Watch") arrive at the place at the same time; A lonely and depressed woman named Tania (Jennifer Coolidge, "American Pie"); And Nicole, the workaholic CEO of a giant company (Connie Britton, "Joe the Villain") who arrives on the island with her worn-out partner, Mark (Steve Zane, "Biting Reality," "Tremey"), her estranged son Kevin (Fred the Chinger ), Her stinging teenage daughter, (Sydney Sweeney, "Euphoria") and her friend Paula (Britney O'Grady, "Little Voice").A collection of underdogs who try their best to please the distinguished guests, while these are conducted from one crisis to another, and often reluctantly swept the employees to it as well.

Even before the plot itself, "The White Lotus" produces constant tension thanks to the gap between the spectacular pastoral, the clever use of the soundtrack.

Spanish composer Cristobal Tapia de Weir (who is well acquainted with the craft from his previous works in "Black Mirror" and "Euphoria") has created for the series aggressive tribal melodies, which accompany us from the opening to stormy arguments, sensational discoveries or moments of suspense.

This perpetual dissonance between soothing landscapes and ominous sounds, prevents the series from sinking into the same soap opera procrastination that characterizes the luxury drama genre.

This sense of discomfort or uneasiness is White's first triple finger towards the genre.

Instead of trying to shuffle the indie hit on duty, "The White Lotus" almost teases us to look away or fiddle with the phone.

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Its main power is the dynamics between the characters.

Jake Lacey, Alexandra Dadario, "The White Lotus" (Photo: Mario Perez, HBO)

His white and very affluent heroes, are for White a tool for witty, annoying (in the good sense of course) and especially effective class gaps.

At times this clash is blatant, petty and demonstrative, as in the case of a character who insists on abusing a hotel employee for a long time over a technical and unimportant matter.

But in other and no less pleasurable cases, it is completely devoid of self-awareness.

Thus, Paula, Olivia's teenage friend, has to deal time and time again with the feelings of a young black woman who has been taken on vacation by a rich white family, who is unable to see her privilege even when she looks at her in the mirror.

These first world problems are exactly the problems that produce the same glittering drama in the quality series from the field, whereas here one suddenly gets a different twist.

The more dramatic they are, the more insignificant, detached and spoiled they seem.

Although this is the paper in the comedy, it's hard to say that "White Lotus" is bursting with laughter.

She has quite a few flashes, some of which sneak up on us almost by surprise throughout the six episodes of the series (all sent in advance for review), but her main strength is the dynamics between the various characters.

Thankfully, the great casting provides a host of outstanding performances here.

At their head is the slippery Armand, who moves in art between glorious crashes and sweet revenge, all under the feigned smile of a skilled service provider.

The wonderful Sweeney, too, puts the full privilege and poison into the shoes of a typical New York teenager, who turns out to be some kind of villain.

The gameplay and tensions between the various characters are so effective that the big secret, the same gimmick that characterizes the quality series and is found here as well, occupies a marginal place in the overall happening.

As if to prove she could have done without him.

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Peeling layers from the capitalist dream.

Connie Baritone, "The White Lotus" (Photo: Mario Perez, HBO)

An equally important supporting actress in the plot is Hawaii herself.

Another smart decision when it comes to photography is not to “take advantage” of its stunning scenery to connect scenes in the way dramas do.

Instead, they are revealed to our eyes through the only character who manages to break away from the golden cage, go out to the beach and discover the world that awaits outside of him.

On the same beach, thanks to the Hawaiians who are suddenly injured, the more transparent moral of the series also takes place, about the difference between happiness and wealth.

Still, even this lesson manages to pass without causing a rolling eye.

Is it possible to enjoy a series that refuses to provide its viewers with peace and relaxation?

The "white lotus" proves that the answer is definitely yes.

With spectacular photography and great acting displays, a tribal atmosphere and tension that constantly rests beneath the surface - it turns this pastoral vacation into a real human jungle.

Betrayals, lies, exploitation, extortion - all of these mix together into a sweeping and entertaining plot.

And somehow, when it’s all over and the discomfort is finally unleashed, the feeling is that we’d like to stay a little longer in this photogenic jungle.

Peel a few more layers from the capitalist dream that sold us luxury soaps with twinkling stars.

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