A Portrait of a Sociopath (It's Not Barry) | Video Essay
Вставка
- Опубліковано 8 чер 2020
- In series full of murders, drug dealers, gangsters, and con men, the real villain can be hard to spot. This video explores who the real bad guy is in Bill Hader's hit HBO show looking at the nuances of morality.
Support me on Patreon: / arianaalexis
For more videos click here: / arianaalexis
Follow me on Social Media:
Instagram: @500DaysofAri
Twitter: @500DaysofAriana
End Screen Music:
| Title: Mob Battle
| Artist: Silent Partner
| • Mob Battle - Silent Pa...
I like the overarching theme of the video but there’s absolutely no way sally is the most morally reprehensible character in the show
Sally strikes me as someone who likes to be needed but who also doesn't like the long term leg work of actually helping someone.
Regarding the way Sally pushes Barry to the edge when she wants him to act dramatically, I feel like it's also important to remember that when we first met her, Cousineau did the same to her. He brought her down and humiliated her in front of everybody so that she could "perform better". So it kinda feels like she learned this pattern and thinks it's the best way to act
As Sarah Goldberg said in Gossamer last year "We’re all so ready to forget that Barry literally kills people for a living and still root for him, and yet we’re challenged by an ambitious woman who has some irritating personality traits."
If there’s anyone who could be considered a villain of the show it’s Fuches. He willingly took advantage of Barry’s PTSD and depression after the war, enabled his worst qualities, treated him like shit and constantly tries to undermine his new life. And he has a more emotional hold on Barry due to their past, and being a friend of the latter’s father. Fuches is the only “family” Barry has left, and he uses that to manipulate the latter into throwing away his humanity and be a ruthless killer for his own personal gain.
I think it’s fair to say Neither Sally or Barry are good for each other. But with the context of season 3 it’s also fair to say that Barry’s behaviour is WAY more damaging to people than Sally’s is! Even in s1 & s2 he’s a hit man. I think Barry as a show is more about toxic antagonistic leads in shows like Dexter, 24 etc. justifications aside Barry kills people, most of the time we don’t even know why. He might be relatable but his actions are pretty hard to forgive. Sally is selfish… Barry is a murderer
really nice essay, although i think youre giving sally a little bit too much credit. while shes an awful girlfriend and a very self centered person, i dont think she realises this, nor the fact that their relationship mimics the one she had with her ex. in hindsight, we can try to blame her for numerous things but honestly she couldnt have known within the show. plus blaming her for being gaslit by her ex is really weird.shes the victim here, not the perpetratror, she does want to leave the hotel! honestly shes no more flawed than the rest of the cast, and barry is far from a good person either, we just sympathise a lot with him and are able to make up excuses for him since hes the main character and we get to see what goes behind the scenes in his head. reminds me with how breaking bad fans hated skyler much more than walt. still a good video with an interesting take though, nice work. im glad more people talk about this show and your essays never disappoint.
Ok... Sure Sally is a toxic and a self absorbed person but you are forgetting she also survived an abusive relationship and probably also had PTSD, Barry was a victim of war which caused his PTSD and both of them have issues managing their anger. Sally wasn't a good person or a good girlfriend, I agree with that but you just can't compare that with murdering innocent people and destroying families out of convenience like Barry did. You tend to feel sympathy for Barry because he is trying to scape his life of violence but the fact is that he is a monster, weather he wants it or not, yes he is a victim of war and mental illness but he is also true evil. Sally is a really messed up person who hasn't been able to process her trauma and takes it out on weaker people but she is not a monster, it's not fair to make her the villain of the story just because she is unlikable, this shows you why gender biases are sooo dangerous.
I really like this! I definitely didn't see the depth of Sally's narcissism until now. And it's interesting how you pointed out the similarities between Barry's relationship with Fuches and his relationship with Sally. There's definitely some cool-I mean depressing parallels I never thought about. They're both abusing him for their own gain (although I'd argue manipulating someone to kill people and take a cut of the money is probably worse than emotionally abusing someone because of your own experiences). But Sally's situation is certainly more relatable. Everyone watching the show has definitely met a Sally. I really enjoy Sally as a character, even if she's pretty horrible to people a lot of times. But she is deeply human, like all the characters. And that's definitely one of the reasons I love this show so much. Anyway, great video!
Based on episode two of season 3, I don’t know. Barry seems pretty psycho.
I think a big reason Sally is so "compassionate " to her ex husband is out of fear. Most people have heard of "fight or flight", but there is also "freeze" and "tend and befriend". Many women do this when scared by someone as it is usually the safest option. Women in abusive relationships are often manipulated and gaslighted into thinking everything is their fault. Abusers often prey on people's insecurities anf exploit their perseved weaknesses. Women often return to abusers because they have been psychologically abused into feeling responsible for all of their abuser's issues. Guilt and fear can be powerful weapons that can defy logic. I also want to note that I'm only speaking of some women and this dynamic can most certainly happen to any gender. It tends to occur more frequently with female victims and male perpetrators, but it can happen to anyone in any relationship.
But the whole point is both of them aren't good for the other, they hooked up because Barry wanted an anchor to a normal life and Sally wanted a nice and non-violent guy to be close to, but they rushed into it. Sally's not good for Barry because she tries to be more controlling (her whole season 2 deal was trying to portray the truth of how she left her abusive husband and that no one in the real world is going to be able to give their abuser's a piece of their mind, but the loss of control in those situations makes the best solution to usually just be to quietly leave. She panics and changes the scene because she can't have that big of an audience see how weak she thinks she is, or else people would assume that victims of abuse will just go along with it). Barry is used to people being more controlling in relationships, so he hasn't seen yet that she does this stuff, and it's not good for him! And on Sally's side, she keeps mentioning that she'll never be with a violent man again, yet there have been so many times in the show where Barry's almost out of control with rage, and because he is Very bad with anger management and is VERY capable of killing, there's a big chance that he'll end up doing something to her (which thank god it hasn't happened yet but the show isn't finished). This was brought up in the video, but everyone in the show is a bad person, but just because Sally hasn't picked up how harmful she's been as of season 2, doesn't mean that she won't also have a realization later on, like how Gene realized that he was a bad father, and how Barry at least knows what he's been doing is bad (which is a whole other topic, but Barry just keeps digging himself into a whole by doing worse and worse things to prove he's a good person). I think it all goes back to a theme of the cycles of abuse that is prevalent during most of the show, both Barry and Sally have done bad things and are still doing bad things because of their circumstances. Anyways the main villain of the show is the US military no I will not take questions.
You just made a deep show even deeper. I just thought Sally was a bad girlfriend but it's much worse than just that. I need to rewatch this series.
I had a girlfriend just like sally. JUST like her. She was a failing actress who got kicked out of her program (even though she WAS quite talented) due to some really shitty behavior. She blamed her roommates. She slapped me in the face twice. She talked the same way, and she even had the same haircut. Barry is obviously a bit of an issue as a person, but I relate to his abuse very personally. She kept me around because I treated her like a movie star.
insanely on-point analysis. I love it. Also like that you pull no punches, Sally's character is extremely sympathetic, but you are not wrong, she's just vain at heart, and living through this experience for the first time.
What an amazing essay. With every episode, I found myself feeling more hate towards Sally. I was able to recognise a lot of these instances you mentioned but I never realised that she was pretty much gaslighting him! Also, it seems like Hank is the only person who actually cares about Barry. The scene where Barry shoots the brightest kid from the Chechnians was so well done. It really shows the dark, violent side that we saw back in his military days.
You like Barry because you like Bill Hader, they kinda work together. But he killed his friend (someone's husband and father) so he continue on with his faux life. And he killed the detective (his friend and mentor's love of his life). Barry is not as nice as you think. Definitely worse than his broken shallow, egotistic girlfriend.
Anyone who thinks Sally is worse than Barry...I just don't know what to say. Like Barry, Sally is a flawed complex character, but she is nowhere near the monster that Barry is. I keep seeing people say they're shocked at Barry's actions in season 3, but he's always been that guy. He will murder just to self preserve himself and his lifestyle. Sure, Sally can be self-absorbed, but she's never threatened a to kill a person's son and grandson like Barry has.
Barry is definitely a villian
"Gene, do you love Barry Berkman?"