ABSTRACT
This article highlights the importance of media representations in the construction of contemporary notions of intimacy by exploring the treatment of five central topics in Aziz Ansari’s Master of None (Netflix, 2015–). These are: the cynical disbelief in traditional romantic myths such as “the One” or of “happily ever after”, which – paradoxically – does not deter individuals from their relentless quests to fulfill these myths; the FOBO (“fear of better options”) syndrome caused by an excess of romantic options, which may lead to paralysis and inaction; the infiltration of the neoliberal ethos into the intimate realm, which leads to the governance of consumer market dynamics in romantic relationships; the contemporary tendency to elongate the “emerging adulthood” stage in the name of self-realization; and finally the acute self-centeredness and individualization often attributed to the millennial generation, and which habitually pit the individual interests of the self against the shared goals of the couple.
