Hi Folks! The video is back up but still demonetized due to a copyright claim. Special shoutout to MUBI for sponsoring the video mubi.com/thomasflight and to my Patrons for their support: www.patreon.com/thomasflight // These folks make this channel possible!

the walk scene was amazing, it kinda felt like a Whitney POV of her thinking of herself as a disney princess in a poor neighborhood (talking to everyone, saying hi to animals, etc)

NOBODY is better than Emma Stone at the "smile that slowly crumbles like wet sand on the beach".

One of my favorite parts of the show is Dougie’s past with drunk driving. In any other show, with how frequently that theme comes up, you’d expect it to pay off with a horrible car crash, but it never does. It’s just a device to build tension and anxiety and give you an insight into Dougie as a character.

I can’t think of anyone in Showbiz that are able to convey more uncomfortableness than the Safdies and nathan fielder. It’s like the avengers of anxiety. I think I need to build up courage to watch this show

the moment in the scene where whitney is walking to the neighbor's house, and she says hi to the dog and tries to have a conversation with the dogs owner while he's very clearly on the phone, is one that has stood out to me throughout the entire show. I think it's such a perfect encapsulation of who whitney is - She's trying to be a part of this community, she sincerely wants to, but she just doesn't know how.

While Fielders work becomes less 'laugh out loud' it is becoming more and more meaningful. There's nothing else like it.

Best essay on the Curse ive seen. It is miles ahead of what other videos have done in a rush to say something immediately after the finale in order to get clicks. This is well thought out and constructed and analyzed.

I feel like the camera is the POV of the curse. Like, we're watching these people from the curse's perspective. It's lurking in every corner and generating that feeling of uneasiness the characters refer to.

All three main characters in the show are people who essentially have no "real life" and struggle to create a reality they want to believe will be better for them. Whitney is trying to recreate herself to be TV friendly by erasing her past, Asher is so terrified of being abandoned he will become whatever Whitney and the show's producers want, and Dougie is so desperate to escape the responsibility for his wife's death that he roleplays the fantasy that he's in control of his drinking as he buries himself in his job. What's brilliant about this show is that how it's shot perfectly reflects this sense that the barrier between "real life" and fiction has collapsed. So many of the shots appear to be "in universe" (for instance the shot within the car following Whitney), that you spend much of the show waiting for the reveal on who has been secretly filming the whole time. The voyeuristic nature of the cinematography creates a tension where you're never even sure of what's "real" in the context of the show. Is the shot I'm currently seeing going to cut and reveal that it's the camera crew shooting? Is this shot from the actual camera crew of The Curse and what I'm seeing is "actually" Whitney and Asher and not their "fake" show? But this reveal never comes. Just as the characters struggle and fail to create a meaningful reality, we as viewers can't rationalize a perfect continuity for everything that happens in the show. The curse of the show's title is the characters' unwillingness to humble themselves and accept the reality that they live in. When you can't accept the fact that there are certain things in your life that you can't change and you chase the fantasy that you can be "anything" you want, you become capable of limitless evil and delusion. In the end, the characters really do get what they want: Whitney is free of Asher and has a child to dominate, Asher disappears like he promised he would, and Dougie films an event that will go down in television history. Yet what we want is usually what will destroy us, and at the end of the series everyone is even more lost than ever before. The show is ultimately about how disastrous the erasure between real life and fantasy is, and the discomfort we feel as viewers is largely created by how the show never gives us an answer about what is "real" or "fake."

This is an UNBELIEVABLY underrated show. I cannot get the finale, and the entire show for that matter, out of my head. I say this after much reflection; it might be one of the greatest pieces of existential art this century. No wonder; it's a project by Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie.

Nothing and nobody could ever prepare me for *that* finale

Making it seem like a simple parody at first and gradually getting more and more complex is Nathan’s MO. He’s the master of meta-satire. He loves having the arc be season or even series wide. Nathan for you got more and more about Nathan and the series finale was actually so difficult to see the line. The Rehearsal did the same thing!

In Nathan and Benny's convo with Chris Nolan, Nathan remarked that there are shows about literal murderers and heinous people who are revered (eg. Walter White), but people HATE asher, whitney and dougie with a palpable vitriol. And I really think it's because of this show's fantastic dedication to realism; is it so much that the characters are truly irredeemably despicable, or that they are so reminiscent of people who we know of and are annoyed by in real life, that we get a vicarious thrill from hating them? With shows like Breaking Bad, the "realism" is ultimately in service of escapism, building a mythology around Walt and his empire, while the realism in "The Curse" is about our own questioning of our values we perform in our day to day lives. Still trying to analyze the finale but damn this show is beautiful

The neighborhood walk scene stood out as a highlight, not only for the reasons you mentioned but also due to Emma Stone's impressive physicality. Amidst outstanding writing, striking cinematography, and impeccable audio, Stone's acting particularly elevated the show for me. In scenes where characters are allowed to simply be on screen without elaborate setups (before the final episode), the significance of their acting becomes more pronounced. And Emma Stone really delivered.

I thought every driving scene with Dougie was unbelievably intense. I was convinced a car crash was going to happen. The second person perspective watching Whitney then driving to Iosheka Jeans is fucking brilliant.

The commentary of the Curse goes beyond gentrification, and it fits the theme of the show that so many of the people that focus on gentrification are unable to see the rest. It's like Whitney showing the passive home to Mark Rose, she mentally cannot process what he's saying over what she's already decided about him.

I immediately noticed , and keep noticing, how shot after shot after shot places a layer or object we look at the characters through or past or around; a wall, door or window frame, other people, in the frame. This keeps emphasizing that sensation of voyeuristically observing the characters "real" moments and emotions.

Just like in Atlanta, when you reach a point of observing/experiencing absurdity without having the capacity to relate it to the world, you fall into surrealism to point out the absurdity of a certain reality In this case, the people of Española got to watch the surreal event of Asher flying away as a commentary on how him and Whitney are treating everybody they're helping.

The finale of this show has stuck with me more than any episode of TV in such a long time. This show is definitely not for everyone but if you can settle into the characters and the world, you are in for a treat

18:38 we need to make being bored ok again. I think that desperation to avoid introspection and reflection are attitudes forced onto us by a system that desperately needs us to believe that constant consumption is the only way to be happy, and keep us away from being ok with not

Great point on how the narrative is all about doing the opposite of how modern TV is. Same could be said for the overall look. The show does the complete opposite of the modern “Netflix” look where there’s hyper-shape resolution and clarity with dramatic lighting. Instead they shot it at a high ISO for crazy grain/gain levels, and lit every scene like a real life location would look like. I love everything about this series, and it was too damn funny

Love seeing all the best commentators contributing to the Curse dialog. Thanks for your articulation. A great perspective.

'Smokers Allowed' clearly shows the origin of Nathan's "The Rehearsal"

I have to say that Thomas' analysis of the ending is a bit reductive of what the show is trying to say, and the existential ideas it's exploring. It's way bigger than merely reality TV and "they did it because it was good TV". I'll elaborate a bit further without turning it into a 20 page essay, despite my tendency to do so: Throughout the entire show there has been this conflict of perspectives on "why bad things happen". Some explanations are more rational, and others, specifically Asher, has been ruminating that the reason these things are happening are because of The Curse that the girl inflicted on him - superstition if you will - and then after 9 episodes of tension and rumination, it finally results in the outburst and "realization" that Asher has at the end of episode 9; "It's not a stupid curse, it's me! I'm a bad person". Now, other writers and artists would have had this as the dramatic ending and the resolution to the entire curse question, but Fielder and Safdie do something so ingenious and out of left-field that it not only recontextualizes the show, but our understanding of reality itself: Asher just falls off the face of the earth - literally. After many episodes of realism and trying to ground a realistic meaning to every single thing that has happened, something completely and utterly inexplicable happens, and makes us question how much we truly understand of the world. Some viewers try to find a "logical" explanation to the ending, others will go back to The Curse being real, but once we take a step back we realize this might be the core existential message of the show: "How do we explain the inexplicable?" Final Note: I almost wish I turned this into an essay in itself, and I might if the concept/message of the show continues to haunt me.

Watched a number of solid videos on The Curse, but you really nailed everything here. 👍🏾

Really love all of the well thought analysis in explaining how the show's presentation subverts that of reality tv. Only thing I'd contest is the idea that Whitney walking through the neighborhood was a show of her true connection to the community, rather than a grasp at that connection or the attempt at being viewed as connected.

Ultimately, I think what the curse is trying us to ask is "What is reality in this contemporary world of so many appearances?" and another brilliant movie that I think tries to dig up this theme is Anatomy of a fall. Fantastic video!

thomas, you are always incredibly insightful and considerate with the stuff you analyze! appreciated very much, especially for a deep and layered show like the curse

I love how Witney is not in love with the community but her made up idea of the community, Asher is not in love with Witney but his made up idea of Witney. Dougie seems to be the only person to see the fantasy that the couple have for themselves and he manifests it in their show.

The camera POV is the curse, that was my take on it anyway... this can be seen in the final moments with the sweeping camera shots that weren't used prior.. almost showing the curse was now at ease and it's job was complete.

The way you write and present your essay videos is absolutely amazing to me I Always look forward to seeing another Great work

Whitney's walk to the neighbor's house reminded me of the brilliant car hood oner from Widows. That one's more formally audacious and in your face, but they both take that transitionary moment to reveal something about the characters and their relationship with their environments.

Brilliant analysis. I think what makes this show genius is, as you mentioned, the ability of the director to very sensibly abstract what makes things real and play with them.

Killer job. Thanks for making this!

I love your reading of the ending! It's an angle I didn't necessarily consider and I think it fits incredibly well

I'm so glad you're covering this brilliant show. It needs WAY more fans!

I love how it slowly builds tension for this outlandish pay off. Stone was putting on a masterclass.

THANK YOU! YES! I'm so so so glad to see more people talking about The Curse. Truly an art piece of a show with the way it handles it's subtle performances and cinematography. Truly an inspiration, as it tends to be, when Nathan is involved

I absolutely love your work. Love the observations and discussion around film.

Such a great video, you are really killing it

You've got a real talent, thanks for sharing!

Beautiful analysis. Makes me wanna rewatch.

beautiful analysis and editing my dude!

great essay, fr. thank you for sharing this, it really cleared a lot up for me

the show was so good im going out of my way to make a custom dvd for it. I need a physical copy!!

Great work Thomas! I was waiting for someone to deeply analyze some of the most complex aspects of this show and you knocked it out of the park... Thank you!

That's a really interesting interpretation of the final scene. I loved it.

Great video essay. I'll come back to this one, I need to think more about this.

this video is so easy to watch, i have a hard time sticking with videos/shows/movies because of auditory and other sensory issues, but this video is not only well made with quality content (obviously) but the audio is clean, even, and well mixed. so many youtubers turn me off from being able to enjoy their content simply because i have to fiddle with the volume every three seconds. thank you for letting my thumbs rest lol.... also funnily enough these same reasons are why I like Nathan Felder comedy, its very easy on my sense. to kind of juxtapose that, i also love I think you should leave BUT - it is not always doable for me. Felder.... Felder is always doable. heheh

I’ve rewatched Part III so many times, love this sm. ❤

My favorite video of yours yet!

Superb analysis. Love this and keep up the great work 👏

I was waiting for you to make a video on this!

This show was amazing

I’ve never cackled so hard at the ending of a show. Just incredible.

good video. this show made me laugh harder than anything i've seen in a long time. would've been funny to see you seriously analyze the micropenis scenes. loved the ace ventura impersonation and nathan coming into the room with a cowboy hat in that phone call scene. somehow this dark comedy satire was also hilarious. other than the unique premise, i think the show is compelling bc emma and nathan played characters that seem to be opposite to their real-life personalities or other characters they've portrayed. i couldn't wait to see what happened in each episode. their relationship and person selves seemed to both be deteriorating to the point i couldn't look away and yet still empathized with them. thanks for posting.

The best video that I've seen about 'The Curse'. The one thing which I have to critizise is just, that you didn't follow up on one of your other videos about 'Metamodernism', because in my opinion this show, even without the 'magical realism' last episode, embodies everything what metamodernism art is. Well, in my opionion, but I wanted you to connect the dots. Otherwiese superb as usual. Keep up the good work.

Curb Your Enthusiasm did this same type of concept first, but The Curse feels way more raw and real.

Once trauma becomes profitable, we all desire to be traumatized and/or traumatize others to then have content to exploit. As long as we are the ones to control the outcome of that trauma, through being disconnected from our emotions enough to be able to objectify the entire experience, we desire the perpetuation of trauma. By no means do we desire authenticity, if by that we mean the lack of the ability to exploit trauma. We desire "authenticity", by which we mean self-reflection through watching such shows as The Curse, in order to make us "more responsible" and therefore EVEN MORE CAPABLE of exploiting trauma. We're not like those unsophisticated people whose lack of cultural awareness leaves them vulnerable to succumbing to trauma and then being *made into content* instead of making content. What the show calls "The Curse" is what is presented in "Nope" through the alien creature - beings exploiting trauma for material and social gain. In other words, Benny Safdie and Nathan Fielder themselves (and Jordan Peele). There are many authentic people dying on the streets. We desire "authenticity", not authenticity. The artist isn't there to tell us the truth but to exploit the truth.

Glad a big KZfaqr giving this show attention. ❤

One of the most unnerving shots is at the end of the pilot where Asher is thinking deeply and the cameraman is zooming in and then Asher looks directly into the camera/

I am awestruck by your perspective.

This was outstanding! I really appreciate the time and thought going into this and will have to check more of you "Why Is___Like That videos, as I see there are a number of them here. Many concerning films I absolutely love. Have you done any videos on Burning (2018)? Would love to hear your thoughts on that. And since you do quite a few essays on series, curious if you've seen Deadwood or Halt and Catch Fire? Two of my favorites of the 21 century so far. Keep up the incredible work here as it is definitely appreciated. I know how much goes into these, so thank you.

Great analysis of the show. I appreciate your insight

Literally just finished the show before watching this, nice!

It is so avantgarde. Absolutely masterpiece of the format so far.

Thank you, this video is perfectly written

It's really hard to do a weird realism feel. Nathan as sure as hell knows how to do it, along with The Safdies Bros (mostly). Emma is just Emma (taking the best roles and turning them into gold). Thomas, sad Fallen Leaves weren't nominated in Oscars, but I have a question for you. There is this big painted animated Polish movie The Peasants and it recieved acclaim in Poland (my country) and I was curious if you had chance to see this film. If you had, could you tell your opinion on it in comments. Film revieved mixed reviews in USA because of its themes (BTW It's an adaptation of Nobel Winning famous writter). Thanks for a vid. Will wait for the next one. Have a nice day.

This is such a fantastic video!

i watch half of this in the morning, come home from work and now its unlisted rip

You got me so curious to watch this show!

Glad I added this to my watch later before it got removed.

You doing a video about this show is just the best thing. Wasnt sure if it was actually gonna happen

it's so evident that nathan and bennie make art for the people who love to understand people in a deeper, more profound way.

Omg! I live in on Finland and "Fallen Leaves" was a huge thing here when it was released. The director is very well known and all of his films are kind of that surrealist in-between experience. Fallen Leaves was excellent!

I never got the impression that the couple actually wanted to help anyone in New Mexico. I live in New Mexico, and any resident can tell you that gentrification here would be a major issue. They are pricing people out of their homes and building businesses the residents themselves can't afford to buy things from . She doesn't care that it's hurting the economy and displacing people; she only cares that it APPEARS that they are making things nicer. In reality, things were probably better for that community before they ever showed up. They ARE the curse.

Nathan Fielding was absolutely 100% born to play Richard Mayhew in a live adaptation of Neil Gaiman's 'Neverwhere'. I am begging the universe to make this happen.

When this channel (I hope soon) hits 1 million subscribers, it will be the most deserved event on KZfaq

its nice to see someone piece together the progression of representation of realism from smokers allowed and the rehearsal as well. fully love that it takes reality tv and makes it beautiful and artistic whilst still being funny and weird

Brilliant commentary on a brillant show

I loved the similarities between Asher flying away and the chiropractor scene

Had to stop watching when I saw the spoiler warning (thank you!!), but this video was insightful. I'm looking forward to watching the show. I was intrigued by the sneakpeek I saw, and love Fielder's work. Stone is always amazing as well. I'll come back later to watch the end of the critique!

I was on the fence about adding this show to my endless list. You convinced me

Yesss this show is amazing!!!!!

Thanks for this video, it is excellent onboarding for the show. I've not watched much new media in the last year, and this first 25% of this essay had me step away to binge The Curse and then come back to finish where you left off. What an excellent piece of work.

Did this get unlisted? I feel so lucky to have found and bookmarked this before - been specifically waiting for this vid from you.

Great analysis. I’ve seen so many people disappointed over the ending because “it didn’t make sense.” I think everyone was expecting that the show was building up to something major that would tie everything together. But that wasn’t the point, that’s not how life is. Each episode was a glimpse into these characters lives and I think it did a wonderful job at that.

this was compelling af. I have had to pee since a minute in and still wouldn't leave my PC. I didn't even want to interrupt it enough to switch to watching it on my phone.

Love your reading on the ending. Have already discussed it with friends and will be thinking about it for a while, and that being sort of the point is simultaneously hilarious and frustrating, a lot like Fielder himself.

The end blew my mind

You nailed it.

Nathan is a genius, not surprisingly he graduated from one of Canadas top universities with really good grades.

Yup. Watching this Good video Thomas

Excellent analysis, as always! I think the ending was inspired by the amazing movie "Something in the Dirt" (2021) by Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson. Even if that's not true, the message at the end of both movies is very similar. By the way, I'm surprised that there is not a single video about the works of these brilliant directors on the channel. Perhaps "Something in the Dirt" would be a great option to rectify this.

Finale just left me speechless… like.. what..?

Incredible video

16:19 up until "we might start to think that something might be wrong with our own lives because they're not as entertaining as the media we're consuming on a daily basis" (not exactly how he said it but that's the general idea) - that's a crazy interesting point that I bet very few people think about and is a little terrifying thinking about how it's going to get worse in the future.

This movie looks like I enjoyed listening to Thomas talking about it more than I would enjoy the actual movie

great video as always. this really was nothing we’ve seen on tv before truly brilliant finished last week and still thinking bout it