Inkoo Kang
Appearances
It's Been a Minute
Kill your daddies? TV's obsession with patricide
I have theories about this. I think that there are two main texts. I think if we're talking in a more macro scale, thinking about prestige TV as a whole, for me, it's about the anxiety of the world not changing. Because you have these old narratives destructive men who will not give up their power.
It's Been a Minute
Kill your daddies? TV's obsession with patricide
And so you're just sort of sitting around waiting for him to die so that something new can happen in the world. My example of this is always Logan Roy.
It's Been a Minute
Kill your daddies? TV's obsession with patricide
And so that's sort of like the more like political, socioeconomic answer. I think the other thing is that we really love looking at monsters. And I think a lot of the time parents are monsters. We are actually in this really weird period right now where people are talking about going no contact with their parents. I think oftentimes very much it's the dads, right?
It's Been a Minute
Kill your daddies? TV's obsession with patricide
And I think that we're just taking a lot more seriously the This idea of how much your parents can mess you up. We're on NPR, so I won't use the word I was going to use. And I think that, you know, this is like a really big question, like a big global question of like, when can our fathers vacate their positions so other people can rise up?
It's Been a Minute
Kill your daddies? TV's obsession with patricide
We're really interested in this... question of complicity. And I feel like part of that structure is you have sort of like a big bad who is usually the father. And then you have these people who are more in the gray area. And a lot of the question is, what are the people in the gray area going to do? Are they going to join the father or are they going to try to forge their own path?
It's Been a Minute
Kill your daddies? TV's obsession with patricide
Yeah, I mean, you can think about it in this sort of like, I think like really helpless macro sense. And I think that is something that like really bears out in the way that Roxanna was saying. Even if Logan really dies, like the only possible beneficiary to that death is going to be one of his extremely deep pocketed children. And ultimately, it's not really going to change very much.
It's Been a Minute
Kill your daddies? TV's obsession with patricide
I think that the stories that maybe feel more relatable and hopefully less nihilistic. are these much more relatable stories about cycles of abuse or cycles of coercion. And I think the patricide stuff is really relevant to that. But
It's Been a Minute
Kill your daddies? TV's obsession with patricide
Maybe like the best example that I can think of with this is actually Hacks, which is about two women who are sort of like a mother-daughter boss-mentee relationship.
It's Been a Minute
Kill your daddies? TV's obsession with patricide
Yes. I'm sorry, did I do something to offend you?
It's Been a Minute
Kill your daddies? TV's obsession with patricide
No. So much of the question of the show is really about how bad does the protege have to be in order for her mentor to take her seriously? And does she actually need to be as bad as her mentor in order to be taken seriously and in order to make her way in the world?