A Happy Woman...

Or an unhappy man?

“Did I not warn you? People hate a happy woman.” — “The Idea of You”

***

Something that has puzzled me this election season is the criticism of Kamala Harris’s giggle, and how it seemingly turns some people off more than Donald Trump’s hideous scowl. Why is this?

Recently, I may have found the answer to that question in, of all places, a sweet little film called “The Idea of You,” in which a 40ish divorced mother named Solène (Anne Hathaway) falls in love with a much younger pop singer named Hayes (Nicholas Galitzine).

Like most good Hollywood romances, the storyline of the movie is certainly improbable. The two meet by accident backstage before a concert and their mutual attraction is immediately obvious to both of them and to us.

When Hayes pursues her with a boyishly awkward seduction attempt, against her better instincts Solène allows herself to be drawn into this impossible affair, which leads to an erotic rendezvous in New York followed by an extended magical mystery tour with Hayes’ band in Europe. The couple believe their relationship will stay secret, but in several reckless moments at a beach and in a cafe they are surreptitiously photographed, and those photographs will soon surface on the Internet.

All hell breaks loose when they do, ultimately dooming any small chance their relationship ever had in the first place and they sadly must part ways.

“If the roles were reversed, do you think anyone else would give a shit?” Hayes asks, quasi-rhetorically at one point in the film. Solène later utters the key line in what was reportedly an improv that Hathaway came up with on set: “I didn’t know my being happy would piss so many people off.”

And that in a nutshell may be part of the dilemma facing Kamala Harris and her team — how to let her show off her natural self, which includes the giggle and lots of smiles, without triggering what is quite clearly a deep-set impulse among members of the public to mistrust female joy.

One of the most useful things I have learned over a long lifetime of trying to overcome my own internalized biases, such as sexism, racism or homophobia, is that we first have to become conscious we have them, then strive purposely to move forward leaving them behind.

That is one of the major challenges now facing those Americans resistant to electing our first female president. The contrast between Harris and her opponent couldn’t be greater on many, many levels, but the contrasting emotions they elicit — of joy/hope/positivity vs. hate/fear/anger — is contributing to a gender gap among voters.

And that gap appears to be reaching historic proportions this election cycle.

Of course, when it comes to this type of political drama, we’ve all seen the movie before, in 2016, when Hillary Clinton played the lead role against the same bad guy. That movie had an unhappy ending, so can this one turn out differently?

Well, sometimes in life, as in movies, when enough time has passed and we are lucky, we get another chance at happiness or love or to just to do the right damn thing, like vote into office our first woman president.

And as to what happens at the conclusion of “The Idea of You,” you’ll just have to watch the movie.

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HEADLINES:

• Trump rallies in Aurora — a city he has demonized as overrun by migrant crime (NPR)

• Harris campaign spotlights Trump's jab at Detroit in new ad (Detroit News)

• A quick guide to swing state Pennsylvania (BBC)

• In appeal to Latino voters, Harris warns of the danger of Trump’s dictator vow (WP)

• Kamala Harris Surges Ahead of Donald Trump in New National Poll (Newsweek)

• Republicans Appear Poised to Take Control of Senate, New Poll Shows (NYT)

• The Trumpification of American policy (Economist)

• Back-to-back hurricanes reshape the final stretch of the Presidential election campaign (AP)

• Social media platform TikTok is laying off hundreds of employeesfrom its global workforce, including a large number of staff in Malaysia, as it shifts focus towards a greater use of artificial intelligence in content moderation. (Reuters)

• Voters Expect Trump to Deny Defeat — and Many Don’t Mind (New York)

• Is Donald Trump the greatest grifter of them all? Melania is giving him a run for his money (Guardian)

• Harris viewed more positively by Hispanic women than by Hispanic men: AP-NORC poll (AP)

• Eight years ago, Trump vowed to ‘drain the swamp.’ Now he swims in it. (WP)

• The Supreme Court Has Grown Too Powerful. Congress Must Intervene. (NYT)

• Hezbollah is preparing for a long war of attrition in south Lebanon, after Israel wiped out its top leadership, with a new military command directing rocket fire and the ground conflict, two sources familiar with its operations said. (Reuters)

• War Comes to Beirut (New Yorker)

• Elon Musk’s Beer-Pouring Optimus Robots Are Not Autonomous (Gizmodo)

• Robot Vacuums Hacked to Shout Slurs at Their Owners (Vice)

• Silicon Valley is debating if AI weapons should be allowed to decide to kill (TechCrunch)

• Conspiracy Theorists Claim Hurricanes Man-Made (The Onion)