This article is exactly why I wanted to subscribe. These are shows I will never watch, but I'm still able to get all the valuable entertainment, and more importantly, the cultural and historical context. Thanks for the excellent read!
I haven't watched Southern Charm in probably 3 seasons, but I do find it acts as an interesting (albeit usually unintentional) microcosm of some of the seismic shifts in culture we've seen in the last few years (particularly perhaps the 2016 election, #MeToo and our current racial reckoning).
The first season painted Kathryn and T-Rav's relationship as slightly out-of-bounds but not out of the ordinary. His subsequent gaslighting and humiliating of her in later seasons (while continue to impregnate her not once but twice!) and basically ruining her appeared to be common practices. In later season (again, likely around the 2016 election and #MeToo movement) the women of Southern Charm realized the problem was not that Kathryn was "crazy" but that T-Rav was a serial predator with perhaps a lingering drug problem. Change, we love to see it!
Shep's womanizing was also put up for debate after a weird drunken encounter with....the hair stylist in an alley behind a bar and she was like, "you know what, this shit isn't ok anymore." I think. I stopped watching around then. Did anyone ever ask the eternally charming Shep if it bothered him that the reason he never had to work a real day in his life was because of slavery?
The arc of Kathryn as an ideal "southern belle" has been truly fascinating as it was all an attempt to mask her place in the South's actual history. She's a bit like a glossy new textbook that you read in class, only to discover later that the editors were telling half truths.
This article is exactly why I wanted to subscribe. These are shows I will never watch, but I'm still able to get all the valuable entertainment, and more importantly, the cultural and historical context. Thanks for the excellent read!
You’re probably better off. Thank you!
I haven't watched Southern Charm in probably 3 seasons, but I do find it acts as an interesting (albeit usually unintentional) microcosm of some of the seismic shifts in culture we've seen in the last few years (particularly perhaps the 2016 election, #MeToo and our current racial reckoning).
The first season painted Kathryn and T-Rav's relationship as slightly out-of-bounds but not out of the ordinary. His subsequent gaslighting and humiliating of her in later seasons (while continue to impregnate her not once but twice!) and basically ruining her appeared to be common practices. In later season (again, likely around the 2016 election and #MeToo movement) the women of Southern Charm realized the problem was not that Kathryn was "crazy" but that T-Rav was a serial predator with perhaps a lingering drug problem. Change, we love to see it!
Shep's womanizing was also put up for debate after a weird drunken encounter with....the hair stylist in an alley behind a bar and she was like, "you know what, this shit isn't ok anymore." I think. I stopped watching around then. Did anyone ever ask the eternally charming Shep if it bothered him that the reason he never had to work a real day in his life was because of slavery?
Thank you for this, Ira!
The arc of Kathryn as an ideal "southern belle" has been truly fascinating as it was all an attempt to mask her place in the South's actual history. She's a bit like a glossy new textbook that you read in class, only to discover later that the editors were telling half truths.