Jennifer Aniston's new Apple TV + show sheds new light on the Me Too movement

The Morning Show is seeing some iconic names in the form of Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Steve Carrell and an extensive list of familiar faces, coming together to tell the story of what happens when you scratch the surface of the age-old battle of the sexes. Are men really over-bearing, sexist monsters? Are women really giving their all to one-another to empower their gender? Or, are we all just serving ourselves while adhering to the ideals that we think society wants?

The #MeToo movement has seen millions of men and women coming forward about their experiences with sexual abuse. Since its birth in 2017, there has been an outpouring of reports of sexual misconduct directed towards people who are in the spotlight as well as those who are not. Statistically, the number of offenders is predominantly men.

Naturally, the narrative of film, TV, books and the media in recent years has been focused on these cases – with the victims being at the forefront.

But, what happens when you look at the flip-side, and focus on the accused? The Morning Show depicts a beloved national treasure in the form of Mitch Kessler (Carrell) and shows his fall from grace after he is accused of sexual assault. Perfectly casted considering Carrell is one of our very own treasures. Kessler maintains his innocence but after the news broke, his reputation had already been tarnished. The story follows him as he attempts to defend himself. The issue? No one will let him. This raises questions of whether or not, we, as a society, are yearning for the truth or if we’re all, inadvertently looking for someone to blame. Surely if we accept one account of a story as “fact,” we’re purposely closing our eyes to the possibility that we could be being lied to. Is it easier to believe that someone is capable of heinousness than it is to believe that another is being untruthful? Surely there’s two sides to every story, why do we only want one? Instead, Kessler’s expected to take his punishment “like a man.”

Throughout the story, there are multiple mentions of Kessler’s closest colleagues and friends being “unaware” of the alleged sexual abuse he committed, however, rather than hearing the story of someone they know, they unwittingly side with someone they know significantly less. What is it about sexual abuse that makes us willingly give up logic, reason and what we really know? Perhaps the sensitivity of the subject makes us overly cautious to the point that our ability to consider inaccuracies diminishes.

The fact is, people are angry, women are hurting, and when we are angry and hurt, we look for an outlet or a cause for our pain in the hopes that finding the root of it all will ease the agony. In doing so, we’ve created the idea that because some men have hurt us, we must punish them all. But, the gender is not responsible – the individual is. And, we should be treating every case as such.

Throughout this back-and-forth of Kessler attempting to regain control of his life, his ex co-host Alex Levy (Aniston) is seizing the opportunity of control herself. Aniston plays the unbelievably believable no-nonsense force, who, surprisingly, gets dubbed a “b*tch” by her coworkers. With Kessler off the air, she’s become an even more valuable asset to the network (predominantly male-run) and she’s determined to secure her standing. The arrival of a straight-talking Bradley Jackson (Witherspoon) proves just the tool that she needs to breathe life into a dying network. Among Kessler’s sexual assault allegations, this all-female anchoring proves perfect for the show’s producers and they begin moulding a narrative around Alex’s initially self-satisfying plot to boost her career to enhance their standing as empathetic and female-driven.

Bradley, not used to the fast-paced, cut-throat world of show business, does her best to fight the new position thrust at her, but ultimately succumbs to the idea when she realises that her career would be taking a massive leap. Bradley’s female producer also appoints herself in front of her male boss, to attempt to propel her own career. What we are left with are a handful of women, standing together to serve their own individual agendas, is that what you call a “movement?” You figure it out.