\nThinking about Entourage. First off, how did I not notice it was transparently a male Sex and the City?
Probably cause I was working with Hollywood suits at the time and I was distracted with how it was like an editorial cartoon for that world, like with Penny Arcade and vidya
(The famous actor who had a weed connection when the city was dry was Harrison Ford! The female agent who stole clients by seducing them was a real person!)
Also just post-Weinstein and broader cultural stuff, how much it was a celebration of the asshole boss (Enduring phone-throwing principals was widely valorized as the filtering first step of your career. I was filtered out.)
And how this fit with broader neoliberal themes of the time, like Ari was a huge asshole \u2013 the kinda guy who’d barge in and interrupt High Holy Day services in front of everyone to make a deal \u2013 in a way that advanced himself, but it was ultimately okay because his assholeness fed into and his glory came out of his legitimate economic function of getting his clients’ movies made and promoting their careers.
Like for decades everyone knew Harvey was the biggest asshole. And that he had the benefit of female celebrity attention. But because this passed through the economic function of production it was thought okay \u2013 he’s a jerk\u2026 in service of producing award-winning films, and women attend him\u2026 instrumentally, because he makes award-winning films. It’s the sense his abuse was essentially sexual embezzlement that didn’t pass through legitimate ends that it can be so cleanly renounced now.
When all is said and done, Mark Wahlberg’s influence made Entourage a far more accurate depiction of LA and Hollywood industry than Candace Bushnell’s made Sex and the City of Manhattan and the publishing industry, tho
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