If you think about it, it’s a bit odd that people value happiness so much, elevating it to this almost mythical status — “The pursuit of happiness;” “I just want you to be happy;” “Don’t worry, be happy.” This is bizarre and paradoxically unhealthy for a variety of reasons. While words are semantically subjective, ‘happiness’ is an emotion, and emotions are essentially ephemeral. Rooting for one above all the others creates a life out of balance, to somehow reference both Pixar’s Inside Out and the film Koyaanisqatsi.
Happiness runs contrary to contemporary society and existence as a whole on this autophagous world. We have hedonic adaptation, meaning that we get used to good things but not to bad things, which is hopelessly depressing when you really think about it. Modern culture has also numbed us to most of the things which have historically brought happiness and meaning to individuals (art, faith, community, extended family, working with the land). The fact of postmodernism’s relationship with happiness is simple these days — we have never before yearned for something more impossible to acquire.
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So it’s either trite and narcissistic or profound and universal to focus a mainstream series on one person’s exploration of the idea of happiness and its subjective cultural and historical meanings. Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss is a bit of all these things. A visually luxurious, lightly fun, and quirky new series on Peacock, The Geography of Bliss fights the losing battle of trying to pin down happiness and wrestle some meaning out of it. The result is very pleasant, but not enlightening enough to be anything more than a charming summer travel show. But, like life itself, maybe we shouldn’t ask anything more out of it than that.
Rainn Wilson’s Ideal Project
Most people recognize Rainn Wilson as the eccentric Dwight Schrute from The Office, which was obviously an iconic television character, but Wilson has a lot more depth than many people realize. His hilarious but heartbreaking performance in James Gunn’s nasty little classic, Super, for instance, is revelatory, and he stole almost every scene of HBO’s doomed Utopia remake. He was phenomenal in the underrated movie The Boy and manages to be memorable in small, humorous parts in films like The Meg, Juno, and Baadasssss! Unfortunately, he’s never really landed a successful project that puts him front and center, and the two big ones he attempted (The Rocker and Backstrom) did poorly and were quickly forgotten.
Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss might be the perfect project for him, though. It tamps down his over-the-top and comically overconfident persona and lets Wilson kind of be himself (charismatic, relatable in his anxiousness, kind, warmly funny, admittedly awkward). It also doesn’t entirely focus on him, and allows him to peripherally shine as he travels the world interviewing people about their lives, what makes them happy (and what doesn’t), and how their specific culture and history play a part in their joy.
Wilson wants to be a deep thinker, and maybe he is (though this series isn’t much deeper than a standard self-help book). His books, The Bassoon King: Art, Idiocy, and Other Sordid Tales from the Band Room and the very recent Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution, indicate a very ruminative and thoughtful person. The Geography of Bliss allows him to tap into that part of himself, and it’s very authentic as a result.
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However, it’s another book that the Peacock series draws from — Eric Weiner’s New York Times bestselling The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World, which must have interested Wilson enough to follow in Weiner’s footsteps around the world and take part here. The actor has been candid about his childhood trauma, anxieties, and depression, which makes his search for happiness more understandable, realistic, and sad. He doesn’t seem to be faking it at all here, unlike many travel shows and reality TV hosts; he really does seem interested in the people he’s speaking with, the places he’s visiting, and the ideas he’s exploring. He’s a charismatic tour guide, and he takes viewers to some interesting places.
Happiness Around the World
Peacock
The Geography of Bliss begins in Iceland, a fitting stop considering it’s frequently near the top of the so-called ‘happiest countries in the world,’ though why Finland wasn’t visited is a mystery, as it has topped the list of happiest countries for six years in a row by a pretty wide margin. This list is an interesting companion to the Peacock series, as it is similarly subjective and attempts to define happiness in literal, statistical ways (“healthy life expectancy, GDP per capita, social support, low corruption, generosity in a community where people look after each other, and freedom to make key life decisions,” as CNN reports).
Wilson speaks with a variety of people (an American immigrant from Brooklyn, an Icelandic actor he’s worked with, comedian-turned-politician Jón Gnarr, a punk band) as he travels the gorgeous and evolving landscape visiting farms, hot springs, and townships. The consistent phrase he hears is “þetta reddast,” which translates to something like, “It’ll all work out in the end.” Viewers may think, if they were wealthy and able to travel the world like Wilson, maybe they’d feel the same way. That’s the kind of depressing wish fulfillment The Geography of Bliss validates, journeying the world without responsibility, visiting beautiful places. Actual workers who watch the series may either experience a vicarious delight or be a little pissed off that they pay people to do this.
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To his and the show’s credit, Wilson immediately follows that episode up with a trip to Bulgaria, which has been described as one of the unhappiest places in the world. He meets a variety of vibrant individuals and explores both the countryside and the capitol city, Sofia. Again, Wilson explores the relationship of happiness to culture and history, looking at Bulgaria’s history from being a part of the Ottoman Empire to the Soviet Union.
In a way, this episode and portions of the next two (in Ghana and Thailand, before returning to Los Angeles), operate as a kind of antidote to that wish fulfillment. Sure, there are still beautiful places and people in these countries, but they aren’t the easy-going, gorgeous, feel-good locales of the Iceland episode.These middle three episodes are more interesting historically and culturally, and balance out the series’ sentimental bookends.
The Geography of Bliss Is Relative
Peacock
So, as a travel show, it’s frequently delightful and educational; it’s pleasant enough and a visually sprightly five hours. In a weird way, though, Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss recognizes its own inability to be anything more or deeper than that, and seemingly admits its own pointlessness. Barely three minutes into the first episode, Wilson says, “It’s been said that the search for happiness is the chief source of unhappiness,” which is an honest but troubling way to begin a series exploring happiness. 25 minutes in, someone tells Wilson, “It’s very difficult to be a human being. It doesn’t really matter where on earth you live. There is no formula to be happy or successful in life. If you’re lucky enough to have people around you, to help you, that’s the key thing.” There’s an abundance of truth to this simple statement, and it kind of makes the remaining four and a half hours of the show seem pointless.
Yes, Wilson is pretty perfect for this kind of thing, and it all definitely works as a travel show, but it’s surprisingly empty considering its grand pursuit. In the second episode, Wilson asks a cab driver in English, “So, are you happy?” The driver responds in Bulgarian, “Happy is a relative term.” Wilson nods along, but he probably didn’t understand.
Produced by RadicalMedia, all five episodes of Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss will be available to stream on Peacock beginning May 18th, 2023.
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