Day: August 15, 2019

Television adaptation: ‘The Family’ by Jeff Sharlet

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The Family is now streaming on Netflix. Photo: google

Jeff Sharlet is an American journalist, author and contributing editor for Harper’s, Virginia Quarterly Review and Rolling Stone. His work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times Magazine, GQ, Esquire and The Washington Post and he has written the books “The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power” “C Street” and “Sweet Heaven When I Die.” “The Family” investigates the political power of The Family or The Fellowship, a secretive fundamentalist Christian association led by Douglas Coe. It was developed into a documentary web television miniseries that premiered on Netflix on August 9.

According to Amazon, in “The Family,” the group insists that they are just a group of friends, yet they funnel millions of dollars through tax-free corporations. They claim to disdain politics, but congressmen of both parties describe them as the most influential religious organization in Washington. They say they are not Christians, but simply believers. Behind the scenes at every National Prayer Breakfast since 1953 has been the Family, an elite network dedicated to a religion of power for the powerful. Their goal is “Jesus plus nothing.” Their method is backroom diplomacy. “The Family” is the startling story of how their faith, part free-market fundamentalism, part imperial ambition, has come to be interwoven with the affairs of nations around the world.

Movie adaptation: ‘Where’d You Go, Bernadette’ by Maria Semple

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The movie adaptation of Maria Semple’s best selling novel opens in theaters this Friday August 16. Photo: google

Maria Semple is an American novelist and screenwriter best known for the novels “This One Is Mine,” “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” and “Today Will Be Different.” Her television credits include Beverly Hills, 90210, Mad About You, Saturday Night Live, Arrested Development, Suddenly Susan and Ellen. “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” spent a year on The New York Times’ bestseller list, won the American Library Association’s Alex Award and was shortlisted for Women’s Prize for Fiction. It centers around an agoraphobic architect, mother and wife who is struggling to adjust to life in Seattle and goes missing just before a family trip to Antarctica. The movie adaptation starring Cate Blanchette will be in theaters starting this Friday August 16.

In “Where’d You Go, Bernadette,” everyone has their thoughts about Bernadette Fox. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she is a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she is a disgrace; to design mavens, she is a revolutionary architect; and to 15-year-old Bee, she is her best friend and, simply, Mom. Then Bernadette vanishes. It all began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette is so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic. To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents and secret correspondence.