FYI or die

Malcolm Harris has written a really interesting reverie on the last season of Entourage at The New Inquiry. He manages to pinpoint some of the reasons I slowly edged away from the series over the years. His suggestion that the show is performing a meta reality check for its audience a la Milton’s Satan in Paradise Lost is, while p’haps a mere hopeful projection, a superb analysis of the role audience and narrative play in modern entertainment.

There’s something self-flagellating in Ari’s collapse; Piven’s foul-mouthed scrappiness has carried the show for years, but it is uncovered in the seventh season as what it always has been: harassment and abuse. While yelling at his wife’s sister, Ari threatens to hit her with a frying pan. His wife responds, “What’re you gonna do? You gonna call her a whore? Bully some more women? … Fuck you.” That’s not a line from Entourage, it’s a well-aimed critique of the show’s first six seasons! 

Bravo Malcolm, bravo.  Read the full article here.