So we binged through the series Beef by A24 a week ago. And I was not expecting some existential slap on the face by a series starring the comedian Ali Wong and the Walking Dead Actor Steven Yeun.
This 10-episode series of two Asian Americans whose road rage beef went out of hand is a bitter pill to swallow after laughing at the comic lengths each one takes to get back at the other.
Looking deeper into the series, here are 4 realities about working that the director Lee Sung Jin successfully wove into the lives of Amy Lau (played by Ali Wong) and Danny Cho (played by Steven Yeun) that may put our struggles of working for money into some perspective:
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
1. Rich or Struggling to Make Ends Meet—We Are All Stiving For Something from Our Work
Amy is already cashing in more money than her family needs. Coming from a small, middle-class home with an immigrant mom that allowed her to go to college, she has come far and is living luxuriously.
But even with all her money, luxury car, timeless kitchen, and a deal with the Beef universe’s own Target, there was a bigger goal in mind. She wanted to retire early and be a stay-at-home mom. Even if she was better off now than when she was a kid, it was not enough. She was tired of working, and so she worked harder.
Danny, on the other hand, had a failing handyman business and wished to get his parents back to the United States after mistakenly trusting a cousin bent on pulling him down with him. Danny tried to hold onto what he knew and take things back to how they were. He worked tirelessly, unknowingly digging his own grave with a “helping hand” from his cousin.
Two individuals. On different levels in the social ladder, both work toward a seemingly noble goal: The former to spend more time with her daughter and husband. The latter is to bring his parents back and provide them a home. Both are working hard and are struggling with their work.
We all work for something. But not only to make ends meet. We work to attain a goal we think is greater than us. To own a home, provide for family members, make a foundation, or help pay for someone’s medical bills. We would all want to believe we are working toward bigger, better things, something noble. But at the end of the day, we all work for money which never seems to be enough.
2. The Definition of Success
So Amy closes the deal and gets to retire early. And Danny builds the house for his parents, finds a new girlfriend, and has a booming handyman business.
They have achieved all they were working for, and you still have a few more episodes to go?
They are successful now. They came to terms with their beef, and life has worked in their favor. Isn’t this the point of their struggles? What more does this story have to offer?
But as these characters seem to not get enough of one-ing up each other with their beef, an unease lingers on the sidelines. They are living better lives, days they only aspired for months back, but the air is heavy, and success… comes at a price.
Danny had to go out of his way and insert himself once again into the life of Amy just to help him find his bearings in this world of success. Having been considerably successful for years and even more so after selling her plant business, she responds with this:
3. Everything Fades. Nothing Lasts
Life is a roller coaster of ups and downs.
Right when things seem to be going well for Amy and Danny, some tiny incident turns their life around once again. And the two antiheroes are back at each other’s throats even if they did not intend to.
Nothing lasts. A painful truth. Yes, both characters reached their aspirations. Amy closed the deal. She can now afford a vacation home and spend her days with her daughter and the new member of her family Luca, their dog.
Danny’s handyman business is flourishing, and a home has already been built. All he needs is his parents in the United States. His brother happily helps with their business and gets his own apartment. Not just that, but Danny took the position of worship leader in his Korean Church.
As the dust began to settle on his hard work and success, it burnt into flames—literally.
Just as Amy is rekindling her relationship with her family, the foundation of her marriage crumbles.
Highs from promotions, new chapters, places, jobs, and relationships fade. We relish the high to eventually watch it all slip away.
And we have to just keep going. As Amy put it, we are all snakes eating their own tail. We will keep going, accept the downs and the dullness of the mundane Monday mornings and hectic Tuesdays until we return.
No wonder Amy and Danny felt more alive as they found creative, devious ways to one-up each other. A break from a life that was beginning to be monochromatic. Another avenue to escape the monotonous routine their success offered on a silver platter.
4. We Just All Want to be Seen
At the end of the day, the struggles of Amy and Danny all boil down to this. We all want to be seen. The strive of working and finding a place as a successful handyman or a successful mother able to provide for her family all sums up with them uncovering their true self.
Amy has a troubled past and a troubled self-view. She lives with guilt and shame but strives harder to cover up with a picturesque home and luxurious living. Deep inside, she wants her shame to be accepted, but the acceptance may jeopardize all she has worked for.
Danny struggles to see his worth in the world and only finds meaning in things he already knows. Things he believes he can control. He also doesn’t want to be alone. He wants people to be by his side and does so in ways that put the people he loves in danger.
To conceal their fears and insecurities, they hide behind work, busybodies slaving for money. Their hustle becomes their identity, a mask to hide the underlying issues behind closed doors—until all the ugliness is pried open and presented to the world.
We all do the same. We glorify our efforts, admire other people’s success, and associate that with their being. We want to define our being with greater, prettier things. We all want to be accepted, we strive and chase to be seen and heard. Understood. But societal validation does not seem to accept us for the good and the ugly.
The more we conform to the demands of society, the more we need to hide the parts of us that may totally define us.
So we work to adapt to the waning and waxing of this world. As we try to fit in, we feel lost in the sea of the norm. Trapped, we begin to feel invisible, with little to no avenues for our authentic, unapologetic selves.
Although Amy and Danny recognized some kind of freedom in their beef to truly let out all that was pent up inside, they also had to lose everything to realize what they wanted in the end.
Busyzi 