It’s hard to talk about smartphones without falling into extremes. Either you sound like you’re part of a cult or you’re the classic Simpsons meme of “Old Man Yells at Cloud.” Yet there’s one show that’s managed to walk the lines of these two extremes. In its second season Close Enough peels back the layers of our smartphone addiction, criticizing our dependency on screens and social media without ever losing sight of the fact that it is borderline impossible to live in our current world without these tools.
Created by J. G. Quintel, the man behind Regular Show, the HBO Max original centers around a young married couple, their preschool-aged daughter, and the divorced couple they live with to save money. Much like with Regular Show, Quintel has managed to turn the most mundane plots into adrenaline-packed adventures. Going to a bar over the age of 30 becomes a Logan’s Run situation. Trying to make kids’ birthday parties fun for adults turns into hedonistic free-for-all followed by a mythical quest. It’s all very silly, but beneath that silliness there’s always an underlying nugget of truth.
That’s especially true of Close Enough‘s depiction of smartphones, which get a starring role in three of this season’s 16 episodes. “Cyber Matrix” starts off the trio with an episode where Alex (Jason Mantzoukas) is finally forced to give up his flip phone for a smartphone. Naturally in this insane universe, that device tries to steal his life force. Though “Cyber Matrix” seems to have an anti-technology premise, Alex isn’t presented as a wise god for refusing to get a smartphone. The episode’s first few minutes show him painstakingly painting a portrait of himself, using a map to drive, and getting paper cuts while looking at porn — three tasks that would be substantially easier with an internet-connected phone. Similarly, the realization that wakes him up from being controlled by the nefarious company Fractal is equally rooted in his flaws. “What good is a digital utopia if I can’t act smarter than my friends?” Alex screams before trying to disconnect from his smartphone. Yes, the fake company Fractal is inherently evil. But manipulating technology to boost his ego is all Alex. The selfish pettiness of the episode comes from Alex himself.
“Haunted Couch” takes a more emotional look at our dependency. What leads Bridgette (Kimiko Glenn) to date an honest-to-goodness ghost is her frustration over every other guy ghosting her. It’s only when she gets tired of her new ghost boyfriend that she understands the truth. All of the ghosting that’s happened in her life was justified. She pushed these men away, sabotaging these relationships to the point where they stopped responding. Her phone and dating apps have been used as an endless distraction allowing her to bounce from boyfriend to boyfriend without ever once taking any sort of responsibility in her own romantic failings.
But the most overt episode is by far “Where’d You Go, Bridgette?” After landing in jail yet again for failing to look up from her smartphone, Bridgette is put through a phone detox by her neighbor Pearl (Danielle Brooks). What follows is utter chaos. Bridgette’s symptoms mirror actual drug withdrawal symptoms as she nervously twitches her thumbs, pretends to use a candy bar to take pictures, and hallucinates nightmares about the Twitter bird and the Snapchat ghost. But there’s honesty lurking underneath this ridiculousness. Have you ever tried to fully disconnect from your phone for a weekend? Not a weekend when you’re busy but a normal, laying around the house, doing chores weekend? It’s maddening. Likewise Bridgette’s friends’ assumption that she’s dead doesn’t feel that far-fetched. It’s overblown but who hasn’t had a moment of panic when a friend you regularly text goes silent?These episodes harp on the same point: We have a problem with smartphones. But instead of putting the blame on these Google-friendly rectangles, Close Enough points its finger at us. These devices largely exist to make the mundanity of life easier. They’re tools. If we want to get sucked into endless pools of Twitter arguments and aspirational Instagram pics, that’s our fault.
Close Enough never offers a satisfying answer for how we should balance our real world with our digital one. That’s likely because that answer doesn’t exist. There’s something about this shrug emoji of a response that feels oddly comforting. The best we can do is find a balance that works for us while being unafraid to check in with ourselves once in a while. Oh, and stay away from any smart assistants that can think on their own.
"Smartphone" - Google News
March 10, 2021 at 10:00PM
https://ift.tt/3rzFWG9
'Close Enough' Captures Smartphone Addiction Better Than Any Other Show - Decider
"Smartphone" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2QXWyGT
https://ift.tt/2KSW0PQ
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "'Close Enough' Captures Smartphone Addiction Better Than Any Other Show - Decider"
Post a Comment