TNT's ANIMAL KINGDOM is a study in class and masculinity.
The series is loosely based on the 2010 film and revolves around the Cody crime family -- a group that carries off robberies. These aren't glamorous heists -- in fact, most recently, they robbed a food truck.
But these robberies are how brothers Baz (Scott Speedman), Pope (Shawn Hatosy), Craig (Ben Robson) and Deran (Jake Weary) define themselves.
Why?
Because that's the life their mother Smurff (Ellen Barkin) introduced them to, yes. But also because there are few other opportunities for them.
Consider it a sign of the economy.
Deran currently dreams of buying a restaurant with his take from the robberies.
Baz struggles to raise his daughter and Pope's usually the one pitching in when Baz's nerves are on edge.
Everyone's on edge.
And in times like that, the stories audiences hold onto are often gangster stories.
It was during The Great Depression, for example, that America embraces James Cagney -- first in THE PUBLIC ENEMY (1931).
The reasons for that are complex but the simplest explanation is that, as Americans see the system that's supposed to benefit them turn around and crush them, they root for those who find a way to overcome it.
In real life, some do.
But The Great Deception is so ingrained that even those whose actions buck the system still, like Deran, define 'success' by the end game the system has conditioned them to embrace.
Why have we allowed that?
There have been alternatives.
For example, Henri Storck made
THE STORY OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER (1932) during The Great Depression
But they don't seem to last.
More recently, for example, Steven Soderbergh kicked off a new wave of American film making in 1989 with SEX, LIES, AND VIDEOTAPE. The independent film scene was alive with features like GAS, FOOD AND LODGING, EL MARIACHI, GO FISH, CLERKS, DO THE RIGHT THING, RESERVOIR DOGS, DAZED AND CONFUSED, PRISON SONG, IN THE COMPANY OF MEN, PARTY GIRL, TO DIE FOR, THE LIVING END, HENRY FOOL, SLEEP WITH ME, WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE, SLACKER, MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO, THE HOUSE OF YES, THE USUAL SUSPECTS, DEAD MAN, PI, THE LAST SEDUCTION, GRACE OF MY HEART, BOUND, GOTTA HAVE IT, METROPOLITAN, BOYS N THE HOOD, BUFFALO '66, ARMY OF DARKNESS, BOTTLE ROCKET, SPANKING THE MONKEY, I LIKE IT LIKE THAT, SCHOOL DAZE, GEORGIA, THE OPPOSITE OF SEX, THE WATERDANCE, HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER, GEORGE WASHINGTON, SHIVERS, PRIMER, DRUGSTORE COWBOY, and BODIES, REST & ; MOTION.
Those films and many more from the period screwed with convention and narrative and what was acceptable.
That's all gone as students of Syd Field churn out one cookie cutter movie after another.
The 'independent' film scene today isn't independent and is really just a farm for the studios to make their low budget dramas even cheaper than they used to.
That which stands out is either beaten down or co-opted.
Ellen Barkin's Smurf does that with her children and her grandson J (Finn Cole). She's drugging her son Pope, for example. She pulls the strings. If she can't, she's plotting to take her own children down.
Of all the masculinity on display in ANIMAL KINGDOM, the most toxic is that exhibited by the matriarch Smurf.
