Awards Wrap Up: The Common Denominator in This Year's Emmy Contenders Is Fear No images? [Click here](
ID=167008;size=700x180;setID=527264;uid={EMAIL}5807390;click=template_daily_awards_wrap_up [Daily Awards Wrap Up] June 22, 2022
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The Common Denominator in This Year’s Emmy Contenders Is Fear From âOzarkâ to âBetter Call Saulâ to âAbbott Elementary,â the stories that have gripped audiences show individuals crushed by a system run amok
[- - -] By Libby Hill [Ozark] “Ozark” (Netflix) Awards shows can be frivolous, but the art that is celebrated at those shows ceremonies, including the Emmys, can be the furthest thing from frivolous. At their most essential, awards bodies can shine a light on the best of what the medium can offer, honoring shows that almost always reflect the times in which we live. That couldnât be more true looking at this yearâs TV contenders, which reveal that what Americans are feeling most keenly is fear. Specifically, fear of the failure of the American experiment. That fear is a recurring theme with varying degrees of subtlety in a wide variety of this yearâs potential nominees from comedy to drama to limited series. Even animated series arenât immune: After all, what is âBobâs Burgersâ if not a traditional sitcom about a family trying desperately to keep their failing restaurant afloat while living in an apartment upstairs? This conversation might most easily be started with 2020âs Outstanding Drama Series winner, âSuccession.â Focusing his HBO series on a bloodthirsty family of ultra-elites, the Roys, creator Jesse Armstrong never falters from an absolutely scathing point-of-view and never quails when it comes to holding the Roy family, if not responsible, then at least culpable in the downfall of modern society. As an interesting counterpoint, Netflix’s Korean survival drama âSquid Game” struck a chord with audiences around the world thanks in large part to its brutal depiction of marginalized individuals battling (literally) to live in a society that insists theyâd be better off dead. The watchful eye of creator Hwang Dong-hyuk makes it impossible to forget that capitalism and its callous inhumanity are the true villain of the series â and also makes it impossible to ignore the fact that the United States is far from the only country wracked by fears that its system isnât working for anybody not part of the elite. ID=167008;size=300x250;setID=523257;uid={EMAIL}5807390;click=template_daily_awards_wrap_up Then thereâs the subset of dramas which feature protagonists trying to game a broken system â ones who are breaking bad, if you will. AMC’s âBetter Call Saulâ details one lawyerâs spiral into amorality for the low, low price, while Netflix’s âOzark” shines a spotlight on a married coupleâs adventures in murder and money laundering. The paths might lead to a manner of success, but the cost of their efforts leave them something a little less than human. To that end, a show like Paramount’s âYellowstoneâ lands somewhere between these dramas and âSuccession,â where achieving the American dream comes at such a high cost that even heroes wonder if itâs worth it. Even comedies are exploring the darker side of the modern American Dream. While ABC’s âAbbott Elementaryâ and FX’s âReservation Dogsâ depict joyous and specific tales of communities not always shown in modern TV, both are far from sanitized for public consumption. The teachers in âAbbott Elementaryâ are all relentlessly focused on guiding their students, while in the background the struggle with severe education underfunding is inescapable. âReservation Dogsâ is a coming-of-age story centered on a group of young adults throwing themselves headlong into their future, all the while knowing that their options are limited given their home on an Oklahoma reservation. And in the limited-series categories, the stories are often rife with fears ripped straight from the headlines and adapted from print. Netflix’s âMaidâ tells the tale of a young mother escaping an abusive relationship and trying to support and protect her daughter and herself by cleaning houses, attempting to survive while the deck is stacked against her. Hulu’s âDopesick,â meanwhile, details the real-life horror that is Americaâs opioid crisis, an epidemic created by and monetized by pharmaceutical companies, in which those individuals most desperate for relief and protection are exploited and left for dead. These are the stories that have gripped audiences for the past year â tales that reveal the dark heart of a ruling class more focused on profit margins than people, in which more and more individuals are being crushed under the wheels of a system that has seemingly run amok. Television shows us who we are and the best of TV is telling us that we are afraid. Still, there is a comfort in these shows that at the very least allow us to be afraid together. Read more of TheWrap’s awards coverage [HERE.](
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