The show explores the phenomenon Lauren Berlant called “cruel optimism,” where “objects you desire are obstacles to your flourishing.”

Elizabeth Alsop
Elizabeth Alsop is an assistant professor at the City University of New York School of Professional Studies. She is the author of Making Conversation in Modernist Fiction (Ohio State University Press, 2019), and her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Millions, the LA Review of Books, and the New York Times Magazine, among other places. She is currently writing a book on the films of Elaine May.