THE BEAR Video Essay Explains How The Show's "Tenderness" Helps to Subdue Stress
I’ve got a great video essay for you to watch today that puts a focus on the hit series The Bear, which is one of my favorite shows on TV right now. It’s just so damn good and I love the story it’s telling and the character’s that it’s introduced us to.
The video comes from Evan Puschak of The Nerdwriter who takes an analytical look at the FX series and focuses on the different forms of stress in the show that were driving the characters crazy, and how it was only after they learned to show tenderness that they were able to move forward with life and their goals. It’s explained:
“They all wanted so desperately to be listened to. Instead they inflicted stress on one another in a vicious cycle until it became pathological. …the real antidote to the turmoil of Carmi’s family is not more stress or better stress but tenderness a mutual kindness and gentleness in interpersonal relationships.”
He also explains how the series affected the audience watching, saying:
“The Bear is high anxiety entertainment taking us into the pressure cooker of commercial kitchens. The food service industry and the Barsato family. The show makes us feel the stress of those environments and in doing so thrills us in the way roller coasters do. By stimulating us physiologically in a controlled space where we’re not really in any danger.”
This is a wonderful observation, and if you’re a fan of The Bear, you have to watch this video!