"But by weaving a tale as sprawling and complex as it does, 'Arrested' also can't help but rewire viewers' minds so that reality, barbecues and all, seems slightly grander."
— Kornhaber, Spencer
Author
Work Title
Date
May 29, 2013
Metaphor
"But by weaving a tale as sprawling and complex as it does, 'Arrested' also can't help but rewire viewers' minds so that reality, barbecues and all, seems slightly grander."
Metaphor in Context
But by weaving a tale as sprawling and complex as it does, Arrested also can't help but rewire viewers' minds so that reality, barbecues and all, seems slightly grander. Day to day, we can all be as solipsistic as the Bluths, living as though the things that exist in front of us exist just to to exist in front of us—as obstacles to be overcome, or tools to be used. Arrested, though, zooms out to remind that the world is bigger than that, everything is the end product of something that happened elsewhere, and that each person's life is made up of a zillion other lives criss-crossing through the frame. That's why for all its many bait-and-switches, Arrested's most impressive trick is a humanitarian one: caking itself in the makeup of narcissists to disguise the fact that it's a shaman, preaching the message that we're all in this together.
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Spencer Kornhaber, "Arrested Development's Crazy, Existential Message: We're All In This Together" The Atlantic (May 29, 2013). <Link to The Atlantic>
Date of Entry
05/30/2013
