A Queen's Gambit - McCall Manning

 This month I watched a new show on Netflix called The Queen’s Gambit. The show was released October 23, 2020. While I was trying to think of what current event I should find in the news to write about, I remembered this show I finished the week earlier. I decided it was a perfect blog topic because of the contents of the show. 

            

This show is a fictional story that follows the life of Beth Harmon, a chess prodigy. Beth was orphaned as a young girl. This puts her on a path of emotional issues and drug and alcohol dependency that she works through as the show goes on. This show while fictional sheds some light on real world issues. Such as how orphanages used to give kids tranquilizer pills to keep them calm, which in the show is where Beth’s drug problem started. Which I did not know and that to me was insane that they would basically just drug kids. 

    This show also shows the life of a functioning alcoholic. Which is a very overlooked topic most people don't consider themselves or others alcoholics as long as they can get up and go to work the next morning or show up at their kids sporting event. In reality Alcoholism is the inability to control drinking due to both a physical and emotional dependence on alcohol. So just because you can function still in your day to day life doesn't mean you don’t still struggle from this alcohol use disorder. I feel as if this is a topic that many people fail to notice. The show presents this through Beth herself and her adoptive mother. 

Finally the show represents women empowerment. Beth in the show is a role model for so many people. Becoming the best in the world she stood for the minority, she stood for women, which in most cases in her chess matches she was usually the only woman. She also stood for orphans and the unpopular underprivileged kid. That anything is possible if you put your mind to it no matter the walk of life you come from.