Cain and Able
Families of Romeo and Juliet
Jack O'Dwyer and the PRSA
Harry/Meghan and The Firm
And, the Farrow Clan and Woody Allen.
Feuds are a mainstay of civilization. In difficult times they are solid platforms for gossip. Nice distraction.
In this era of COVID-19, we need lots more of that. Less Netflix. Less following the news and emails from marketers about the pandemic. Less losing trust in leadership (with the exception of Andrew Cuomo and where is Joe Biden).
Along the way, feuds can provide lucrative work for those in public relations and law. Those sectors, just like most of professional services during the pandemic, need the business. The Ford mechanic in my residential complex is among the very few currently making a good living. (I have been saved by those taking out sponsored content on my three syndicated blogs.)
What is most titillating about feuds is this: Entities such as the New York Post take sides, with great passion. That's lots of fun. I had enjoyed supporting O'Dwyer against the PRSA. Most of us who drift into the loop have fairly boring lives.
Usually both those sides claim they have the upper hand.
But in the latest round between the Farrows and Allen, the latter might be winning. Not only did he get his memoir "Apropos of Nothing" published. Most know the story of how Hachette backed out and Arcade rode to the rescue.
In addition, the book is doing well. On Amazon, it ranks a wonderful high: #529. Of the 66 reviews, 76% give it a 5. Only 4% give it a 1.
Most importantly, it allows Allen to raise questions about Saint Mia, supposedly Mother Earth and Global Do-Gooder.
That mirrors how Christopher Hitchens was able to raise questions about Mother Teresa. Many recall his iconoclastic book "The Missionary Position."
No, that didn't destroy Mother Teresa. But it performed enough brand deflation that when she died, around the same time as Princess Diana, the world didn't kick into universal mourning. Interestingly, when Hitchens himself died there was universal mourning.
In the U.S., Allen might be, to borrow that term from "John Wick 3," excommunicado.
But his work is doing well enough in Europe.
He did extricate himself from Mia. Anyone from what might be a dysfunctional family system understands how difficult that is. I broke away twice, only to go back, with great regrets. The bonds can be the jaws of spiritual death.
His marriage seems stable.
He can continue to do what he loves: Make films.
And, he made it to age 85. No self-destruction through the usual suspects.
The peril to the new front line of the Farrow faction - investigative reporter Ronan Farrow - is that the dynamics can become all-too-consuming.
The attention shifts from work per se to maintaining the feud.
The branding becomes cartoonish as it tends to do in so many human conflicts. Think about one-time superlawyers Alan Dershowitz and David Boies. They duke it out like out-of-shape former prize fighters.
Sad, also.
Talented Ronan can wind up that way.
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