Mark Mossbacher quotes from The White Lotus

Mark Mossbacher

You know, I think... it's like every kid... like, growing up, wants to be the hero of the story. And in the end... you know, you're just happy you're not the villain.

Mark Mossbacher

Never take anything for granted. It's also a reminder to look at things in a new way, and if you do, then, like, every day can be a new day, right? And if it is... it's like you're... you're always being born into life... like, all the time. You're not stuck... decaying or dying. Anyway, that's just what I was thinking about.

Mark Mossbacher

Being a man, being a young man... in this time right now, can't be easy.

Quinn Mossbacher

Why? 'Cause we can't harass girls anymore?

Mark Mossbacher

No. Well, yeah.

Nicole Mossbacher

I just think it's funny that I'm a role model to strangers. But...

Olivia Mossbacher

But what?

Nicole Mossbacher

Most people admire people who achieve things, but you somehow look at it as if it's a personality disorder.

Olivia Mossbacher

Making shit happen all the time is a compulsion. It staves off feelings of emptiness. Or whatever. Ok, the real question is, what exactly are you getting done? Putin is an overachiever. He's impressive, also evil.

Mark Mossbacher

Liv, your mother is not Putin.

Olivia Mossbacher

Dad, what's wrong with you?

Nicole Mossbacher

Your father got some very upsetting news last night.

Olivia Mossbacher

He does have cancer?

Nicole Mossbacher

No. He doesn't have cancer. He found out something about his father that he never knew before.

Olivia Mossbacher

I'm listening.

Nicole Mossbacher

Your grandfather died of AIDS.

Paula

How did he get AIDS?

Nicole Mossbacher

Apparently, Paula, he was having sex with other men.

Quinn Mossbacher

Who was?

Nicole Mossbacher

Your dad's dad.

Quinn Mossbacher

Why?

Olivia Mossbacher

Because he liked it. Why else? He was probably closeted.

Paula

Or bisexual.

Olivia Mossbacher

Dad, why are you so upset, though? You're like catatonic.

Nicole Mossbacher

Well, it was a secret that was kept from him his entire life, Liv. So now, whatever image he had of his father, of his childhood, has been pulverized.

Olivia Mossbacher

You know, he was probably a bottom. That's how you mostly get it. Receiving. Dad, do you feel like your father was less of a man or something?

Paula

He might have not been gay. A lot of straight guys like ass-play.

Olivia Mossbacher

Yeah! Maybe he was just too embarrassed to ask Grandma to use a dildo on him.

Quinn Mossbacher

Oh, Jesus!

Mark Mossbacher

Can we not, please? Uh...

Olivia Mossbacher

Even if he wasn't a top, it doesn't mean he was femme. He could've still been butch, Dad.

Paula

Maybe he was a bossy bottom.

Olivia Mossbacher

Yeah, maybe Grandpa was a power bottom. [to her dad] Does that make you feel better?

Mark Mossbacher

No. That makes me wanna throw up.

Mark Mossbacher

Are you gay?

Quinn Mossbacher

No.

Mark Mossbacher

Hey. 'Cause if you are, it's okay. Just, like, be real.

Quinn Mossbacher

I am being real.

Mark Mossbacher

What's real is... like, gay, straight, whatever, we're just monkeys, we're just fucking monkeys.

Quinn Mossbacher

Yeah?

Mark Mossbacher

Yeah. Yeah, we're just animals. I mean, you know, we wanna be, like... superheroes and respectable fathers and pillars in our communities, whatever, but, but in fact, we're just monkeys... living in our own little monkey pods, driven by base instincts to create these hierarchies and hump each other. I thought I knew my father, you know? I only knew the part that he wanted me to see. He hid the monkey, and that screwed me up, Quinn.

Quinn Mossbacher

You think that's what did it?

Mark Mossbacher

Yeah, definitely. Hey, I thought... My whole life, I thought I was the flawed child of an icon. Like, I put him on this, like, enormous pedestal. Meanwhile, like, he's off in some bathhouse on the DL, getting manhandled by some... like, random dudes. Wow. Oh, I wish I had known.

Quinn Mossbacher

I'm sorry.

Mark Mossbacher

Yeah. But I get it. I mean, you know, you don't want your kid thinking you're some sex-crazed lunatic.

Olivia Mossbacher

Mom, good news. I'm looking around the hotel, and it seems like all of the white, straight men are doing just fine. They're still thriving.

Nicole Mossbacher

Point taken. I just think it's funny that now it's okay to reduce everybody to their race and gender, but isn't that the kind of thinking that we've been fighting against all these years?

Mark Mossbacher

I agree. I mean, for years, I was the good guy, you know? I was the one in the room, saying, like, "Hey, that's not cool," to all the chauvinists and bigots. But now I'm the bad guy, or at least, I shouldn't say anything on account of my inherited traits. I mean, why do I need to prove my anti-racist bona fides? It seems wrong.

Paula

It's someone else's turn to eat.

Olivia Mossbacher

Yeah. It's not all about you, Dad. It's time to recenter the narrative.

Mark Mossbacher

That's fine by me. I don't wanna be the center of the narrative. Believe me. Let's center the narrative around, uh, Paula.

Olivia Mossbacher

Okay. Yeah. What do you know about her?

Mark Mossbacher

What do you mean?

Olivia Mossbacher

Do you know anything about Paula?

Mark Mossbacher

I know that she goes to college with you. And that she's a very intelligent and appealing young woman.

Olivia Mossbacher

But you've never really asked her one thing about herself.

Mark Mossbacher

Well, we're not on a job interview. We're on vacation. So... I mean, besides, what do- What does Paula know about me?

Nicole Mossbacher

Paula, are you feeling better? Your migraine?

Paula

Yeah. Much better. Thanks.

Nicole Mossbacher

Is that why you couldn't stay for dinner last night?

Olivia Mossbacher

Paula was disturbed by the entertainment.

Nicole Mossbacher

The hula dancing?

Mark Mossbacher

Oh, you're, you're allergic to fire?

Olivia Mossbacher

It bothers her to watch Hawaiians have to dance for a bunch of white people.

Nicole Mossbacher

Oh. I think it's just a way for them to honor their culture. And they seemed to be having a really good time.

Mark Mossbacher

Look, obviously, imperialism was bad. Shouldn't kill people, steal their land, and then make them dance. Everybody knows that. But it's humanity. Welcome to history. Welcome to America. I mean, what are we gonna do, huh? Really. Nobody cedes their privilege. That's absurd. And it goes against human nature. We're all just trying to win the game of life. How are we, how are we gonna make it right? Hmm? Should we give away all our money? Would you like that, Liv? Hmm? Yeah, that's what I thought. Mm-hmm. Maybe we should just feel shitty about ourselves all the time for the crimes of the past? Wear a hair shirt and not go on vacation?

Nicole Mossbacher

Mark, your truth changes from minute to minute. You're up, you're down. One minute, you're dying. The next minute... it's a wonderful life.

Mark Mossbacher

Okay. Well, maybe I should be more like you then. But even if I could be some self-protective corporate robot out in the world, I still couldn't pull it off at home.

Nicole Mossbacher

Do you ever edit yourself at all? Even when you're apologizing, you're so insulting.