Fran Lebowitz: A Relieving Icon

It’s rare for a celebrity to stay relevant from one generation to the next, and especially rare if that celebrity has a bent, acidic, relentless personality. Despite this, Fran Lebowitz has reawakened her fame with a new audience of both astounding impulsivity and hopelessness. In the midst of fad culture, Lebowitz has created an island around herself and her work. Standing firm and solitary, Lebowitz’s humor has persisted against the waves of cancel culture, seemingly against all odds. While strange and unlikely, Lebowitz’s enduring relevance not only as a commentator but also as a pop culture icon cements another aspect of American society. While engulfed in doom-scrolling and slippery trends, the public still yearns for what today would be tagged “authenticity”, but which really manifests as a kind of naked self-awareness. In the current labyrinth of tech culture, Lebowitz provides us with a figure of clarity and autonomy. No excuses or apologies, Lebowitz feeds the other side of consumerist culture, the starving need for unbridled and unfearing expression.