5 Things I learned from Marvelous Mrs Maisel
Amy Sherman- Palladino and her husband Dan had me obsessed with the first cup of coffee at Luke’s Dinner on the Gilmore Girls. The show had all of my teenage insecurities of a bookworm with a cooler single mother on stage was very familiar to me. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is like adult version of many women torn to have it all. This show couldn’t come at a better time. We’re all either a little nostalgic for the past or we’re like hurry up these two years.
Midge is saying what we all want to hear, but she wraps it up in a little package. This show has packed in a lot of great 1950s references and it’s great to see that all these “old shows” like Maisel and Riverdale have a multicultural cast. Maisel not as much, but I see black people a lot on the show.
Spoilers: If you haven’t watched the show get out of this blog post!
In the past two weeks I’ve overindulged into these episodes and the characters and gotten way too deep into understanding infidelity. Here are the five lessons I’ve learned in the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
1. When life gives you Lemons, it’s time to commence the Lemonading
When Joel Maisel cheated on his wife it was no surprise. In the 1950s there was a resurgence of affairs. The common theme of cheating on the wife with the secretary came into play. What made Mrs. Maisel show so compelling is she didn’t pretend that everything was okay she became a comedian and retaliated. A lot of good art comes out of pain. Thanks, Beyoncé
2. Infidelity is Tricky and we Should Read More About it
When I spent my summer in the Dominican Republic in my 20s, there used to be saying
El 99% de los hombres de trampa y el 1% son sacerdotes. Which means....
99% of men of cheat and the 1% are priest
People joke about cheating. People have been cheated on, but no one uncovers the why behind it. It’s often trauma and in a rare 1% sociopathic tendency (Not a real statistic). After watching this show I’ve been incredibly interested in Psychotherapist, Esther Perel podcast. The podcast records married couples therapy sessions after they have been cheated on. The dynamics of people before marriage and after marriage is quite interesting.
3. Privilege Changes People’s Perception of You
There’s this great scene when Mrs. Maisel isn’t dressed up in her bougie way and go on stage looking like a “regular” person and is treated like a regular person. She doesn’t get paid for the act and she must call her husband to get her money. It’s a perfect juxtaposition of class and gender. When one does not look the part, one does not receive the star treatment. It reminds me of Charlemagne the God book Black Privilege.
Love it or hate it, when you look like Beyoncé or Naomi you get treated differently. Not all the time, but the pretty people gene makes you think that Christian Bale isn’t as bad a sociopathic murder.
4. Stream of Consciousness is Amazing
Thank God for Streaming... The Palladino's have figured out to a tee how to have a conversation in stream of conscious, because after all that is how we talk!
5. You can’t have it all
The best part of the whole book is understanding that NO ONE can have it all. As I grow into my adulthood, I realized that live is about the Law of Pareto. How can I put 20 percent into something an receive 80 percent of the outcome? Giving up the dream: marriage, house, career, functional kids is hard. No one wants to admit that we all strive for a more perfect version of ourselves, but what if it’s not about that? What if we just except our flaws and who we are.