How important is the portrayal of addiction and recovery in popular culture? The change in the way addicts are represented (remember Norm in Cheers), through to the plethora of representations (too many to list but special mention to Mae Martin – Feel Good) of the past few years suggests a real change (the end of stigma?) – whether this is truly useful, or just entertaining, I am loving The Flight Attendant – and The Dry both mentioned in this fascinating article from the Guardian UK which focuses on the depiction of women alcoholics, and female sobriety (I will definitely catch up with Single Drunk Female next).
My only gripe is with the title of the article. Sober curious is a thing – I think – , but not what Cassie (The Flight Attendant), Shiv (The Dry) and Sam (Single Drunk Female) are. These strong, and brilliantly played, complex female characters are not sober curious – in the case of Sam, “she moves home after assaulting her boss, losing her job and being court-mandated to attend AA”, these are women for whom “sobriety is precarious, strained, hanging by a thread”, (these quotes are all from the article).
Sober curious seems to me to be about a lifestyle choice, and definitely one that should be respected, but as the article points out, for Sam, “getting sober is deeply annoying, sometimes oppressive and often extremely boring; that’s before we get to the unjustly extortionate prices of non-alcoholic alternatives at the bar.” That though is hardly exclusive to women getting sober!
Christopher Polous recently posted on LinkedIn, “I had to repeat to my server four separate times that I didn’t want alcohol the other night. I’m strong in my recovery—but I do wish saying no once was enough and that turning down alcohol wasn’t met with bafflement and questions like, “Are you sure you don’t want even one glass?!” Now that is annoying, and boring but is the tip of the “cultural” iceberg.
Maybe popular culture can have a hand in making sober choices easier for everyone – but especially for women (and men) who really need to do it.
