Few things are more annoying than today’s urge (I think we can blame Lost for this) to decipher every television show as if it were a mystery to be solved rather than a story to be enjoyed. But sometimes careful reading is important. This is how YouTubers force their audience to sit down, put the phone aside, and focus on figuring out what’s going on. “The Curse” is a lean-in show if ever there was one.
Created by Benny Safdie (one half of the Uncut Gems filmmaking duo) and evil comedic genius Nathan Fielder, The Curse stars the inimitable Emma Stone. “The Curse” is…a drama? But also a comedy. And a sort of satirical take on HGTV-style house flipping shows, except it’s also about indigenous land rights in northern New Mexico, but also about gentrification and marriage. Squint and a few other things may crop up: Judaism, mysticism, ethics in documentaries, trendy environmentalism, guilty liberalism, and other truly indefinable twists that, after watching the entire series, I can’t stop thinking about. A colleague recently called me Vox’s “resident Nathan Fielder whisperer” — probably because I submitted around 6,000 words for “The Rehearsal,” his mysterious six-episode HBO miniseries that aired in summer 2022 — and even I was racking my brains over “The Curse.”
However, in a positive sense. I can’t or shouldn’t say much about the specifics of the series, which spans ten roughly hour-long episodes (and is released weekly). However, to fully enjoy it, it helps to know the different sandboxes in which the developers play.
Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie in The Curse. Richard Foreman Jr./A24/Paramount+ with SHOWTIME
The setting, for example, raises some interesting questions. Although the story is fictional, it is set in the northern town of Española, New Mexico, not far from Santa Fe, and was largely filmed there. While the latter is a tiny and more or less gentrified city, home to some of the richest people in the country, the former is more of a working-class, diverse city whose population includes both American Indians and descendants of Spanish settlers. It’s also worth noting that a major employer in Española is Los Alamos National Laboratory, where the Manhattan Project was developed – an interesting data point for a show coming out the same year as Oppenheimer.
The Española setting and the production’s decision to base the cast primarily in New Mexico suggest a number of themes around which “The Curse” revolves. There is the interaction between native pueblos and their land rights and the long history of encroachment on native rights, particularly by white Americans. In The Curse this becomes a telescopic metaphor; Gentrification, as the characters practice it, is only the final phase of a very old story.
The proximity to Los Alamos also raises the issue of nuclear energy, which can be environmentally friendly or destructive depending on its use. That’s an interesting layer in a show that examines how environmental consciousness can be directed – or misdirected – in ways that have profound unintended consequences for less affluent communities.
But the two main characters of the series are not lacking in money. Asher and Whitney Siegel (played by Fielder and Stone) are a married couple with deep pockets thanks to Whitney’s real estate baron parents (Corbin Bernsen and Constance Shulman). As the show begins, Asher and Whitney are filming a pilot for an HGTV show called Fliplanthropy, in which they build energy-efficient “passive houses” designed to attract wealthy buyers to Española. The couple are liberal-minded people and therefore understand what their project could mean for the city’s residents. To defend their work, they look for ways to improve living standards throughout the city. The producer of the Fliplanthropy show, Asher’s childhood friend Dougie Schecter (Safdie), is on board, but is less interested in philanthropy or the houses than in the Siegels’ marriage, in which he discovers some cracks.
There’s a certain amount of comedy built into the character names, if I’m not mistaken. Asher’s nickname is “Ash” and the name Whitney means “white island,” and they actually stand out in a sea of native, black and Latino residents. Their names evoke what they represent, a power that becomes particularly (and painfully) comical when they trip over themselves to maintain a good reputation while getting what they want, namely money and fame. Additionally, Dougie’s last name, Schecter, is an Ashkenazi Jewish name that means “ritual slaughterer” – a pretty good indication of his character.
Nathan Fielder and Emma Stone in The Curse. Richard Foreman Jr./A24/Paramount+ with SHOWTIME
And that points to something worth remembering when you watch The Curse. Both Safdie and Fielder are Jewish and both have engaged with Jewish ideas and culture in their work. Benny Safdie and his brother Josh, who wrote and directed 2019’s Uncut Gems, have said in interviews that it is their most Jewish film, with “explicitly Jewish” humor. And many (including me) have pointed out that Fielder’s careful construction of The Rehearsal appears expressly intended to examine concepts in Judaism as well as the experience of Judaism in a Christian world.
These themes emerge almost immediately in the pilot episode of “The Curse,” when Asher makes a “Jesus” appear on camera as a swear word, then takes a look at a crucifix on the wall of the house and asks about the footage being deleted. Later, Asher and Whitney (who has converted to her husband’s faith with characteristic enthusiasm) celebrate Shabbat with Whitney’s parents. Judaism and religion more broadly are recurring themes in the series – no surprise for a story that is essentially about generational damage, guilt and responsibility.
All of this, of course, leads to the title of the show, which I didn’t even think about until near the end. “The Curse” has a literal meaning that becomes clear in the first episode, an incident reportedly inspired by an experience Fielder had in real life.
But “the curse” is also shorthand for what happened in the biblical book of Genesis when Adam and Eve ate fruit that grew on a tree they were supposed to avoid and were banished from Paradise. God placed a curse on them that essentially said they would have to work to eat and that there would be strife in their marriage. This easily translates to what happens in The Curse, with the fun addition of Dougie as a snake who tempts her into it. If it is so textual and so strongly connected to the creators’ interests, it is no coincidence.
There is so much to explore in The Curse. It’s somewhat bizarre and confusing, anchored by the exceptional performances of the three leads and a sense of slightly menacing mystery (due in large part to the score, composed by avant-garde jazz legend John Medeski). For much of the show, you’re not entirely sure what you’re even watching, which somehow makes it even more compelling. But with Safdie and Fielder (who directed most of the episodes) behind it, there’s a sense of aiming for something. The fun of this is realizing what the bigger story really is.
“The Curse” premieres Friday, November 10th on Paramount+ with Showtime and airs Sunday, November 12th at 10pm ET on Showtime. Subsequent episodes will premiere weekly.
Most news organizations make money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to accomplish at Vox, there are several reasons why we can’t rely solely on ads and subscriptions to keep us running.
First, advertising spending rises and falls with the economy. We often only know in a few months what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it difficult to plan ahead.
Second, we are not in the subscription business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world – not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe this is an important part of building a more equal society. We can’t do that if we have a paywall.
That’s why we’re also turning to you, our readers, to help us keep Vox free. If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted, high-quality information, would you give Vox a gift today?
Yes, I give $5/month
Yes, I give $5/month
We accept credit cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay. You can also contribute via
