A swipe at high society?

Decoupled (Miniseries; 2021)
Netflix

It used to be that the institution of marriage was held in such high esteem that all parties worked in tandem to ensure the continuity of this august partnership. This union is viewed as a necessary worldly duty and a mandatory duty for the continuation of species.
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In a family unit, in daily day to day living, frictions are bound to arise. The schism between fitting to fulfilling personal agendas and familial needs often clashes head-on. When the shove comes to the push, family requirements take precedence. People had no qualms putting aside private desires for collective upliftment.

Somewhere along the way, things changed. At the dawn of the 20th century, the century of self saw people taking more interest in personal development. The idea of giving life and soul to a community or clan did not fly. It became self-interest above the rest. We, a collective noun, became I, me and myself.

This miniseries piqued my interest so much. A sarcastic individual who has a caustic comment on everything that happens around him reminds me so much of myself. Quite often, this trait of his lands him in trouble. The protagonist, Arya Iyer, is a prolific writer, second on the bestseller list, is quite opinionated and has no qualms about airing his two-cents worth. In his eyes, modern society is self-centred and narcissistic. No matter what they say about inner beauty and external appearance being skin-deep, they are quick to pose to get that perfect angle of their best look. Herd mentality is deeply engrained, and a preset response is expected.

Despite his displeasure, Arya has to tolerate all these quirks about society as he lives on their goodwill. They have to like his books. It might be a paradox as they are the very observations that he is trying to poke fun at. 

The modern upper-middle class is a haughty, demanding lot that feels entitled and has no reservations about expressing what they think. They do not give a damn how the affected party would feel as it is well within their rights to articulate. At the same time, put in the same situation, they flip. They hyperventilate, scoff, quiver, feel tight-chested and cry invasion of personal space. It seems that everything in the modern world is defined.

It is a riot to watch Arya and his antics as he goes through a separation from his spouse of 10-over years. They, however, want to keep it hush until their daughter reaches high school. In the meantime, living in a gated community with the fellow middle-class western-educated crowd in a twitter-dominated world is no fun. Infiltrating into media with equally quirky members is no walk in the park. It is so easy to find love of the passionate kind in an open society. Is it the generation gap or just that Arya and his similar-minded friends are just a notch above the rest?

Reviews on this miniseries found online are mixed. They are either all too condemning or singing praises of it. This is to be expected. After all, writers, journalists and much of the English-consuming audience are the target group of the screenwriter's ridicule. It is deemed crass humour to mock sexual orientation, gender identity, body shapes and place the female gender as the butt of jokes. It is insensitive, it seems, to ridicule 'noble' deeds like switching all electrical devices for an hour on Earth Day but leaving the air-conditioning off for the rest of the year! On top of that, there are cancel culture and woke generation that one has to deal with! 4.5/5.

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