Television
fromEsquire
1 week ago'Beef' Is, Hands Down, the Best TV Show of the Year
Beef season 2 transforms into an anthology, exploring complex relationships and existential themes through two sets of contrasting couples.
Existential dread is a deep sense of sadness and even terror that can arise when we struggle to understand our existence, such as our mortality, feelings of isolation, and a perceived lack of meaning in our lives. Because existential dread can be so intense, we may avoid or suppress our feelings, which often worsens rather than improves our dread. Further, we may be hesitant to seek support for fear of being stigmatized for struggling with our mental health.
It's the sort of party where attendees are drinking "all kinds of syrups" in their cocktails and "everyone gets to be themselves". On "God's A Raver", over jubilant, Scissor Sisters-lite piano, Nemo - born Nemo Mettler, in Biel, Switzerland - trills: "If there's a God, we just met at the gay bar. She is a raver just like me!" Partying is again a holy practice on the whimsical, glam-pop stomper "Ride My Baby": "The universe is a club, and I'm convinced that you're God."
His sentences can go on for hundreds of pages; his plots don't resolve, they dissolve; and his persistent mood is existential dread. But the Hungarian novelist's central theme is easily parsed and sadly evergreen. Krasznahorkai writes about the stultifying effects of political oppression, but he also writes in defiance of people's readiness to accept them. As a result, his work is equal parts depressing and invigorating.
"Ned, a successful demolition expert, feels his life collapsing while navigating complexities within his marriage and the absurdity of modern living on a site's past. He reflects, 'everything has its time,' indicating the transience of both life and structures."