Movies

Ellen DeGeneres’ Unfunny Netflix Special Leaves So Much Unsaid

BBG News

Ellen DeGeneres’ Unfunny Netflix Special Leaves So Much Unsaid

As a woman who has spent my fair share of time navigating the treacherous waters of corporate America, I find Ellen DeGeneres’ recent “comedy special” to be a perfect example of the double standards women face when it comes to power and accountability.

Ellen DeGeneres, known for her extensive experience with managing public crises, came out as gay in 1997, a move that significantly impacted LGBTQ visibility in American mainstream culture despite causing controversy. Her sitcom, Ellen, suffered due to the backlash, but she eventually found success in a more accepting media environment with her talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show. However, allegations of a toxic workplace emerged in 2020, leading to the series’ end and DeGeneres’ absence from our TV screens. This occurred in the spring of 2022.

As a devoted movie enthusiast, I’ve just got to share my thoughts on Ellen DeGeneres’ latest Netflix offering: “Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval.” Contrary to popular belief, this isn’t a grand comeback for the 66-year-old comedian; instead, it’s more of a heartfelt farewell. In her Facebook announcement, she hinted at the topic on everyone’s minds: “Yes, I’ll talk about it. Yes, this is my last special. Yes, Portia really is that stunning in real life.

Ellen DeGeneres first gained recognition in the mid-80s with her lighthearted, non-political comedy style, similar to contemporaries Jerry Seinfeld and Ray Romano. Her endearing and down-to-earth persona as a talk-show host was evident from the start. Four decades later, she appears most at ease in this observational style, although, like Seinfeld, her affluence and fame sometimes make it challenging to find relatable topics. The new special includes extended jokes about car irritations (“Don’t get me started on dashboard lights”) and her well-known love for animals (“Everything in nature is living up to its full potential, but I am so disappointed in pigeons”). She spends a considerable amount of time contemplating the correct pronunciation of the adjective “legged” (one syllable or two?). Personal anecdotes include notable name-drops. It’s quite humbling to arrive early at Usher’s party and find oneself helping with setup! It’s very Ellen to miss dinner with Mick Jagger because she’s already switched to sweatpants for the night! I didn’t laugh out loud, but a line about her connection to chickens brought a smile (“They lay an egg every day. And as someone who once hosted a daily talk show, I can really appreciate that.”))

To be fair, I don’t believe many viewers will tune in primarily for the humor. Instead, they come for Ellen to discuss and share her thoughts on various topics. This is essentially the deal with such specials: while the performer receives a substantial fee and an opportunity to express their views directly to the audience, viewers get the sincerity or just the personal connection we seek. Of course, Netflix also benefits by acquiring content that is likely to generate interest. Chris Rock recently talked about it, sharing his genuine feelings about Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith in a special that tackled the infamous Oscars slap – one produced by Joel Gallen, who also directed For Your Approval. Similarly, Aziz Ansari discussed it in his first introspective stand-up special following an essay about an uncomfortable date where his advances made the author feel uneasy.

Performances of this type often carry a hint of insincerity; similar to DeGeneres, Ansari faced accusations of inappropriate behavior that didn’t reach the level of the atrocities for which some influential men were (at least temporarily) ousted by the #MeToo movement. His special attempted to balance expressions of concern for the woman he apparently harmed and promises of self-improvement, suggesting we are all more flawed than we care to admit. Ellen’s comeback, recorded at Minneapolis’ Orpheum Theatre in August, seems less about accountability and more focused on self-promotion. Fans seeking apologies or acknowledgment of wrongdoing may find themselves disappointed.

Ellen DeGeneres frequently discusses her predicament during the special, both directly and indirectly. She explains the situation in such a straightforward manner that it seems as if she’s speaking to children: “One day, people started calling me mean,” she says. “I’m a woman who always signs off with ‘be kind to each other.’ But apparently, you can’t be mean and stay in show business.” This might seem like a fair observation, but if one isn’t kind, it’s questionable to base an entire career on the image of kindness. However, did Ellen DeGeneres truly get ousted from show business? Despite the initial exposés about The Ellen DeGeneres Show’s workplace culture, her talk show continued for nearly two years after the first article was published. Furthermore, stars like Jennifer Aniston, Billie Eilish, and Pink were not deterred by the controversy surrounding the host to celebrate her on the series finale. And even two years later, she’s returned to our screens with a highly anticipated special filmed in front of an audience that seemed incredibly supportive, as if they’d each received their own cars just for attending.

So, what does DeGeneres have to say for herself? First of all, she wants us to know that the show’s staff were like family and that 16 of them who’d previously identified as straight came out as queer over the course of 19 seasons. (What are we supposed to do with that information?) Throughout For Your Approval, she offers excuses for what she never quite admits might’ve been chaos on her set, along with several disclosures that seem intended to evoke sympathy. Ellen has OCD and ADD, she tells us, along with the need to “heal childhood wounds” by earning the love of strangers. Also: “I was a very immature boss. Because I didn’t want to be a boss.” (Who was forcing her?) In her strangest yet, somehow, most direct response to the accusations, she explains that she enjoyed pranking not just guests, but also anxious underlings with, for instance, a button in her office that could trigger faux snakes to drop from the ceiling. “Scaring was just a big component of the show.”

Instead of shouldering much accountability for the alleged events during her tenure, Ellen DeGeneres seems to view the whole situation as an opportunity to learn not to worry about others’ opinions. Previously, she would get Botox and fillers, but now she’s embracing her natural self. This could be a sign that she is subtly framing her non-cancellation as a feminist matter. Later, she expresses regret that men can act harshly as bosses, while women supposedly cannot. (A society where all bosses, regardless of gender, are allowed to behave like autocrats might not have been what Simone de Beauvoir envisioned.) She comments, “We have unspoken rules based on gender regarding acceptable behavior.” Unusual behavior makes people uneasy, and when people feel uncomfortable, there can be repercussions. The piece culminates with DeGeneres admitting her satisfaction in no longer being a boss, a brand, or a billboard – just a complex individual. She then declares, “I’m a strong woman,” to a standing ovation. By the end of this section (which is not attempting humor), I found myself involuntarily imagining Katy Perry’s “Roar” as the soundtrack.

If you didn’t know about the disturbing allegations from ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ set, her behavior might seem innocuous, almost annoying. However, reports from BuzzFeed and later the New York Times painted a different picture – one of a toxic work environment filled with racism, fear, intimidation, harassment, sexual misconduct, and assault from top producers. In 2020, Ellen apologized to her staff in an email for any mistreatment they had experienced and promised improvement. Despite these incidents, Ellen claimed that she ended the show years ago, not because of the allegations.

It’s surprising that people didn’t anticipate Ellen DeGeneres addressing the exposés point by point in her comedy special. However, if comedy specials have taken over as a platform for personal confessions similar to magazine covers or Barbara Walters interviews, then the self-serving retelling in “For Your Approval” seems like an evasion. In this special, DeGeneres never clarifies what she means when she says she was kicked out of show business. She also fails to consider those who are less powerful and lower-paid than herself, whom she had previously acknowledged she’d let down. There’s no admission of deeper wrongdoings beyond minor mistakes from an inexperienced boss who is still a strong woman. Throughout the special, DeGeneres doesn’t seem to acknowledge that the turmoil at “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” is more than just a personal issue for her. Unlike Aziz Ansari, who may or may not have genuinely felt remorseful about his accuser’s experience, it seems that DeGeneres lacks self-awareness about the expectations of her audience for an apology or acknowledgement of wrongdoing.

If DeGeneres is right about one thing, it’s that many bad bosses—most of them male, many of them in the entertainment industry—face zero scrutiny for their misdeeds and escape with their legacies intact. No one should be equating the button in her office with the one in Matt Lauer’s, either. The problem with For Your Approval, aside from the fact that it is almost never funny, is that it feels so disingenuous, so calculated to rehabilitate an image and preserve that triumph for posterity. It’s less a comedy special, the best of which arrive at humor through honest insights, than a stump speech. 

For Ellen DeGeneres, it’s reassuring now that such opinions no longer hold significance for her. “It’s beneficial to care about others’ thoughts to some extent, but not when it jeopardizes your mental wellbeing,” she explains. “After a long life of caring, I simply can’t do it anymore. So I won’t.” However, one might wish she had reached this realization earlier, perhaps before penning and performing an extended infomercial aimed at rehabilitating her image.

Read More

2024-09-24 10:06

Previous post Kylie Jenner turns up the heat in skimpy skirt and heels as she promotes Khy’s new collaboration with French fashion house Atlein