Meghan Markle's Christmas farce
The sheer volume of Christmas-themed cartoons flooding streaming platforms to sweeten the holidays is unbearable. It's the oversaturation of the theme, the sheer banality, the perpetuation of clichés, and the transmission of utterly saccharine values. But if there's one particularly egregious example that drives me crazy, it's the Christmas special. With love, Meghanwhere the Duchess of Sussex, wife of Prince Harry, shares her traditions and recipes.
As in her previous series, Meghan Markle hosts and shares all sorts of utterly useless crafts with her guests. This time, the actress tops it off with a farce of the Christmas spirit that could be spared. She goes to buy a Christmas tree grown in such an idyllic location that it's almost painful to see her take it. She decorates it, offering a brief explanation of the importance of garlands and family heritage. She then proceeds to shape a cake batter with her gold and diamond rings perfectly placed on her fingers and invites her friends to the nightmare of having to construct wreaths from fir branches while sipping cocktails. Markle wraps some fictitious Christmas presents using origami techniques. The moment when she wraps a bottle of champagne in a neckerchief is the ultimate absurdity. It's obvious that behind the camera there's some lackey executing the recipes, preparing the decorations, and crafting the decorations to make it seem like the Duchess is really doing it, only adding her hands and smile for the final touches.
The opulent surroundings and the messages of a warm, selfless teacher who lives devotedly to others are terrifying because they construct a disturbing aspirational life. They present an artificial happiness that achieves the opposite effect: everything seems like a cover to disguise a frivolous and materialistic life. If centuries ago it was court painters who idealized the monarchy in their paintings, now it's television that has the role of portraying the power of its descendants. Before, it was the Crown that commissioned official portraits, and now it's documentaries, the reality showsIt's the contests and interview programs that perpetuate their privileges. If before, works of art emphasized superiority and class difference, now they simulate the everyday to pretend they are ordinary people: they pretend they have no servants, that they cook, that they set the table, that they make the garlands themselves and wrap the gifts. They seek a reflection of the audience, which is a false normality, because the staging underscores privilege. They are characters who maintain their privilege by the grace of God and, therefore, require this frivolous and superficial pretense to represent their symbolic power. In the end, the husband, Enric, appears, a voyeur, oblivious to family duties, to savor the spoils. After watching this Christmas special, what you most want to do is look for a documentary about the French Revolution on Netflix.
