The Big Shot with Bethenny represents the final stage of girlboss culture

The Muse

Bethenny Frankel's new HBO Max business reality competition is faux-feminist torture porn, says Joan Summers. "Really, The Big Shot represents the final stage of girlboss culture, in which the definition of 'female empowerment' is the subjugation of others in the pursuit of wealth and individual ascension," she says. "It’s no shock, really, that the first two contestants to endure her wrath were women of color (and successful ones at that). But most harrowing of all her theatrics onscreen is how closely the contestants’ experiences seem to mirror those of Bethenny’s employees. Or, more broadly, how often she telegraphs that the job waiting for them at the end of the tunnel will be punishing, isolating, and torturous."