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‘Hustlers’ Is Right, America Is A Strip Club

Jennifer Lopez’s new crime drama is about more than strippers striking back

Zaron Burnett III
Humungus
Published in
5 min readSep 24, 2019

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I’d gone to the movies to forget about America. This country had been getting the better of me and I was feeling beaten down. My brain, body, and soul all equally craved distraction. I wanted, no, I needed to go sit in a darkened theater and watch women of color get even. I wanted to see these women drug and rob the Masters of the Universe, aka the bankers of Wall Street.

When I walked out of Hustlers, I did feel better. Much better, in fact. And ironically, I’d also gained a far better understanding of America and why it had been beating me down. Jennifer Lopez summed it up for me: America is a strip club. And my body was sore from all the dancing.

Henry Miller called America an air-conditioned nightmare. I’d often compared America to a casino. The games are rigged, the food is crap, but it’s cheap, and there’s plenty of it. It’s a place that promises a good time but where there are few winners. I changed my mind about America thanks to Hustlers.

When Jennifer Lopez’s character said, “This whole country is a strip club. You’ve got people throwing the money and you’ve got people doing the dance,” I felt that. Because I knew she was right. A strip club is the most apt…

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Zaron Burnett III
Zaron Burnett III

Written by Zaron Burnett III

writer, story editor, essays & short stories at Medium, and always in the mood for donuts

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