In case you missed it, High Fidelity made a short-lived transition to a Hulu series this year! The idea was cute enough to replace John Cusack’s Rob with Zoey Kravitz’s Rob because it is clear that gender identity is not the most important identity we have. Even though Kravitz does a great job embodying the painfully neurotic Rob who overthinks too much to the point of being funny, the gender/race switch doesn’t really work for this story.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the show even though it was cancelled after one season. Both renditions of Nick Hornby’s main character are quite self-deprecating and use ‘lists’ as substitutions for opinions. Every other scene, the fourth wall is broken to let the audience have some insight to Rob’s ‘Top Five’. The original movie depicted a white man living in New York who is sour because he’s unloved and he’s unloved because he’s sour. Sure, the protagonist seems lovable but let’s not disregard how he harasses his ex with his phone calls berates her into taking him back. He obsesses over his ex to the point that her new boo Ian had to intervene to get him to chill. It promotes the idea that boys and men have a kind of ownership over the women in their lives. He’s convinced because he is a ‘nice guy’ he deserves a date. This type of behavior makes sense coming from a man in our society. Most men feel that they receive love therefore know what it feels like to be loved. But it’s obviously he is clueless like most of his male counterparts.
To see this trait present in a black woman that own her own record store in Brooklyn was a bit of a disconnect. Women often feel we are in constant state of yearning, wanting love but not receiving it. Kravitz rendition of the character does a good job at showing her vulnerable side while being hung up over her ex. She doesn’t come off as desperate as the original character.
All in all, it’s disappointing that the show didn’t have a chance to develop the colorful characters we were introduced to. It’s good comedic writing but we, as the audience are left with so many unanswered questions like, why exactly is Rob so miserable?
Have you checked out the show, movie, or book? Let us know your thoughts.
