What Netflix’s ‘Beef’ teaches us about inside rage in 2023
Everybody experiences battle or has “beef” with one other particular person occasionally. However what occurs once we let our feelings get the very best of us?
Netflix’s new road-rage dramedy, “Beef” – named after the slang for having an issue with one other particular person; not the meat – is about the lengths people will go to when angry. Within the age of distressing political arguments, viral Karen movies and ongoing mental health crises, it feels all too acquainted.
Although characters in “Beef” typically take issues to violent or prison extremes, the messaging of the present resonates with audiences. In 2023, persons are offended, fed up and in search of an outlet to let that every one go.
Creator Lee Sung Jin previously told USA TODAY that rage is “the Computer virus to discover this existential void that’s in a whole lot of us, and in me. I proceed to battle with this hole feeling. Within the present, we repeat the road, ‘Nothing lasts, every part fades, we’re only a snake consuming its personal tail.’ Solely in the previous couple of years have I come to phrases with the truth that this sense could by no means go away.”
How can we work out these sophisticated emotions with out hurting these round us?
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The premise of “Beef” was impressed by Lee’s personal expertise with a highway rage incident – though his did not go to any of the incendiary, violent and unlawful lengths “Beef” does.
Nonetheless, the present displays a actuality for a lot of. Main points together with COVID-19, racial trauma and job loss in the previous couple of years have expedited stress, left individuals feeling threatened and additional incited conflicts.
“When individuals do not understand how to deal with their stuff in a wholesome method … they are going to take out their feelings in unhealthy methods,” says licensed marriage and household therapist Angela Wu. “Think about not feeling protected psychologically or emotionally: You are going to see each little factor as a menace and really feel the necessity to defend and defend your self, and that is when a whole lot of anger can come out.”
Why that viral, emotional church scene feels so cathartic

Star Steven Yeun (Danny) has earned reward since “Beef”s debut for his emotional performance in a scene from episode 3 set in church. His character faces critical life psychological well being points and life challenges, and is apprehensive about returning to a spot of worship. However he joins a service throughout a efficiency of a up to date worship music and begins sobbing. Exhausting.
“This particular person has gone by means of a lot,” Wu says of the character. “You see how tough his life is … after which lastly he has an area that’s fully totally different, the place there isn’t any menace, it feels protected, persons are welcoming. … The hot button is security: Feeling such as you’re not having to scan the room for any threats or have to carry all of it collectively.”
Lee mentioned he hadn’t seen Korean church buildings represented as a neighborhood hub in Western media, however felt it was the suitable setting for Danny to retreat to “in a time of want.” Discovering methods to attach positively with others is a vital step in emotional therapeutic, consultants say.
“One of many key signs of melancholy is isolation,” Wu provides. “If it isn’t a complete group or neighborhood, begin with one particular person you are feeling protected with. Once you’re alone, you are going to begin to solidify these beliefs about your self that simply might not be true. And it may be harmful if you begin to isolate your self much more.”
The best way to work with large feelings

Ideally, the time to work out internalized trauma, rage or different points is earlier than an individual is compelled to behave out in a method which may hurt others.
However for those who do end up in an incident like on “Beef” – possibly some honking, yelling or in any other case unkind ideas towards a fellow driver – Wu provides the following tips for de-escalating your personal feelings within the second:
- Take deep breaths. “If we’re not respiratory, our physique will assume we’re at risk.”
- Join with a trusted confidant. “Possibly cellphone a good friend to distract your self, particularly if you recognize that you’ve got the impulsiveness to do one thing. Relying in your assist system by means of this time is essential.”
- Select an train to calm your self. “Park someplace and take a stroll to chill down. And if you cannot do this, depend to 10 breaths till you are feeling such as you’re extra regulated.”
Extra on ‘Beef,’ psychological well being and leisure
Overview:Netflix’s unhinged road rage drama ‘Beef’ is the best show to represent 2023
Spoilers! Got a ‘Beef’? Ali Wong, Steven Yeun on how Netflix series explores road rage-fueled obsession
Extra:Hollywood has a sordid history with portrayals of mental illness. It’s trying to do better.
And:Why that sudden ‘Succession’ death may have felt like real trauma
Contributing: Marco della Cava