Belinda, played by Natasha Rothwell.Īfter Tanya receives a spiritually transformative spa treatment from Belinda, she becomes obsessed with Belinda and urges her to start up her own wellness center.
Greg, a literally “care-free” older white man guest with an unnamed health condition, is Tanya’s love interest. Belinda is a Black woman and manager of the spa at The White Lotus. Tanya McQuoid (pronounced “Mic WAD”) is a disturbed, wealthy white woman who travels to The White Lotus to spread her dead mother’s ashes. In TWL, Black Lives Matter themes are most amplified via Tanya McQuoid ( Jennifer Coolidge), Belinda ( Natasha Rothwell) and Greg ( John Gries). What’s missing from previous critical reviews is how TWL explores themes related to Black Lives Matter, reparations and queer liberation-or how TWL offers useful lessons for white progressives.
(Meanwhile, virtual silence from all on how killing off Armond, the only gay character in the show, seemingly feeds the old “bury your gays” trope.) Twittersphere seemed focused on the gay sex themes of the show-especially the rimming scene between Armond, the resort manager, and Dillan, his subordinate. That’s the point.”Ĭritics did diverge somewhat in their perspectives: The New York Times lauded its satire of class conflict and power, while others critiqued the centering of wealthy whiteness, and for not diving deeper into colonialism and Hawaiian culture. In the words of one headline, “ Nothing changes on The White Lotus. Overall, critics cast the first season of TWL as an entertaining, if bleak, satire of wealthy whiteness. This summer’s finale of TWL garnered 1.9 million viewers and has been renewed by HBO for a second season (with a different cast and location). Quinn, whose gender-neutral name means “wise” or “counsel,” evolves from an obsessive technophile into someone dedicated to ocean life and a team of Hawaiian men paddlers training for a hokulea.Įxamining Quinn’s transformation in contrast to the storylines of other entitled resort guests can serve as constructive curriculum for white progressives.
Only one character achieves authentic freedom: Quinn Mossbacher ( Fred Hechinger), the 16-year-old white, upper class, sexually ambiguous and possibly neuro-divergent (aka “queer”) son of Nicole ( Connie Britton) and Mark ( Steve Zahn). But given their vastly unequal positionalities, strategies to resolve their problems diverge widely as do their outcomes. Through interlinked tragicomedic storylines, each central character is trapped by a particular problem or obstacle. The guests come to escape reality the employees facilitate the guests’ escape. In the fall of 2020, filmmaker Mike White wrote and directed The White Lotus ( TWL), a six-episode HBO miniseries focused on several VIP guests and few hapless employees at an exclusive (fictional) Hawaiian resort called The White Lotus.