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Misogynoir, Montecito, and Meghan: “With Love, Meghan” Brought Out the Haters
But guess what fuels those negative reviews?
I watched Meghan Markle’s new Netlflix show, With Love, Meghan. It’s a lifestyle show where you’ll find Meghan whipping up frittatas for actress Mindy Kaling, baking cakes for her bestie/makeup artist, Daniel Martin, and making a garden fresh salad with farm-to-table pioneer Alice Waters.
Critics, mostly white, didn’t enjoy Markle’s show. They felt she wasn’t relatable. I mean, who does she think she is? People can’t afford eggs, and here she is, a Black woman, living in Montecito throwing tea parties with her homemade honey. I’m going to guess that everything in Montecito, from the flowers to the eggs (which Meghan gets from her own chickens), is more expensive than it is in most other places in the country. So what? Lifestyle shows and magazines are not meant to be relatable. I repeat — they are not meant to be relatable. You didn’t know? They’re meant to be aspirational and inspirational. Do you know how much time I spent in college and in my 20s watching these kinds of shows? Hours upon hours. I have an entire mental catalog, and I rarely cooked or decorated back then. Was Ina Garten or the Hamptons relatable? Giada De Laurentiis? Martha Stewart? Nope. And, they still aren’t. And, I still watch them from time to time.
If Meghan’s target audience is meant to be affluent white women, then this should be right up their alley. What’s the problem with Meghan? Why did they go beserk criticizing her show? Is it because she’s richer than they are? So is Gwyneth Paltrow (they claim Meghan copied Goop with The Tig). If out of touch was a person. Again, if they wanted someone relatable, they should pick a random white woman whose husband is a CFO and start filming in her kitchen. Oh, but then, there wouldn’t be a show because no one would watch. Feeling relatable to these celebrities with 100 million dollar Netflix contracts, and husbands who are royal (that man will never go hungry), is nothing more than a facade. They understand this. That’s how they get you to spend your money on their concert tickets, merchandise, and the products they endorse. Stop it with the relatability nonsense.
