Sell Me Marriage
May 14, 2024
“Sell me marriage,” Ryan Bingham, played by George Clooney in the 2009 comedy-drama Up in the Air, challenges his young colleague, Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick). Natalie, struggling to counter Ryan’s anti-children and anti-marriage stances, finally responds with “love,” which he immediately scoffs at. When she suggests “stability,” Ryan points to the instability of most marriages they know of. Natalie then argues that marriage provides “somebody to talk to, someone to spend your life with.” Ryan remains unmoved, stating, “I’m surrounded by people to talk to. I doubt that’s gonna change.”
Fictional though he may be, Ryan’s views from Up in the Air permeate much of popular culture. This sentiment is evident in works such as Noah Baumbach’s Oscar-nominated films The Squid and the Whale and Marriage Story, both of which portray married life as impossibly difficult and divorce its likely ugly outcome. Instead of working on her first marriage, Elizabeth Gilbert’s bestselling-memoir-turned-hit-film, Eat, Pray, Love, celebrates her journey of self-discovery, self-sufficiency, and self-love. Most recently, in the summer blockbuster Barbie, Ken learns that he can find contentment in being alone, a concept summarized as “Kenough.” In many TV shows today, marriages are portrayed with unhappy spouses, insufferable children, and boring sex.
