I like the show Billions. I fervently hope that the series finale sees most of the main characters fed to the fucking guillotine, but for now, I have not become so blinded by hatred for our garbage economy that I can’t enjoy the antics of a bunch of rich sociopaths.
There are a few lessons one could take from the show, depending on the lens through which one views it. One is that being super rich is fucking great: the private helicopter rides! The obscene meals! The ability to buy your way out of almost every problem! (I find that I literally cannot imagine myself so rich, I instinctively start vomiting as soon as I try.) Another is that capital corrupts; capitalism corrupts absolutely.
These characters are monsters, but most of them didn’t start out that way. The arrival of staggering amounts of capital in their lives is really what did it. There’s even a character for whom this is their specific arc! (For Paul Giamatti’s AG Chuck Rhoades, he probably did start out that way, having come from generational wealth.)
But of course, there are plenty of people who don’t see these characters as monsters at all. Who see their cataclysmic wastes of money and constant tax-dodging as simply the actions of people who want to enjoy the wealth they worked so hard to earn.
HBO has given Lena Dunham the go-ahead to create a series that sounds, uh, somewhat similar to Billions. And I couldn’t help but think about who gets the opportunity to tell stories, and the stories that those people then choose to tell.
Stories set in the world of High Finance are inherently high-stakes, filled with inherently active characters. I get why such a setting would prove attractive. But at the end of the day, what lessons are people going to take from this show? Because as much as I like Billions showing that capital corrupts, when you’re talking to people with enough money to afford Showtime subscriptions that lesson tends to turn into sympathy for the rich, rather than a desire to part them from their money.
Anyway, go watch Lindsay Ellis’ video essay about Rent for a much more interesting discussion about how the art that makes it to mass audiences generally isn’t much for challenging entrenched systems.
Hugs and puppies,
Oriana