The Morning Show

~ Live & Learn

The thing people don’t realize is that there is a cost to success and fame. There’s a story by Hans Christian Anderson. A young woman becomes enamored with these fabulous red shoes that are more attention-grabbing and exciting than the humble brown shoes she wears. In a moment of bad judgment, she succumbs to their charms and wears them to church. And lo and behold, her feet start moving and she is dancing, and she can’t stop. And she dances for hours and days and weeks until she is bloody and bruised from dancing like a whirling dervish through the countryside and towns unable to stop. She finally dances so much and so hard, faster and faster, that you know she’s going to bleed to death. So in a desperate attempt to stave off death, she finally implores a woodcutter to cut off her feet. And he does. Then she dies. Times were different back then. And I’m sure there’s some patriarchal message in this to women who wanted to step out of their role. However, I always took away from it as a kid — and it probably says something about me as a kid — is the idea that the world might have you running so hard that rather than running one step more, you would cut off your own feet. Never… And I never — I never forgot that image. I think success in the modern world demands a similar dance — soul sucking, grueling, never-ending. And I just wanted it to end. I wanted it to end so I could begin to live. I’ll let you know how it goes.

— Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston), The Morning Show (S2:E1). “My Least Favorite Year.”

Notes:

Photo: Hello Magazine – Jennifer Aniston Wows In First Look at Series Two of the Morning Show

27 thoughts on “The Morning Show”

  2. Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
    WOW!! … “I think success in the modern world demands a similar dance – soul sucking, grueling, never-ending. And I just wanted it to end. I wanted it to end so I could begin to live. I’ll let you know how it goes.” – Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston), The Morning Show (S2:E1). “My Least Favorite Year.”

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  4. I think that’s why I’ll never get very high in any company. I’m not willing to dance like that.
    I was considering that show… other than this brilliant quote, is it good?

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  7. I think there are many who have danced this dance and found themselves wishing they had started another dance or changed partners or stopped dancing. It happens in all forms of life but those who are famous usually everyone sees it happening. May we learn from what we see and know.

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  10. Has anyone here seen the old movie “The Red Shoes” about a ballet dancer with Moira Shearer? My mother insisted I see it when I was a child, and I never forgot it. It resonates to this Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale in which the beautiful red shoes have more power than the wearer or dancer. In all cases they lead to the death of the dancer (wearer). Those fairy tales are so fascinating…and full of wisdom.

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