Does Amy Lau in 'Beef' have hoplophilia? Netflix's dark-comedy explores her fetish for guns
Spoilers ahead for Netflix's 'Beef'. The following content might be sensitive for some readers.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Netflix has released the dark-comedy drama of the year with its original series 'Beef'. With a plot that revolves around the consequences of a road rage incident between Amy Lau (Ali Wong) and Danny Cho (Steven Yeun). This road rage is expressed by Amy, who has bottled up all of her emotions. However, that is not the only time Amy has let out her anger on the show. Her irrational behaviors were seen throughout the show, including the surprising connection that Amy has with her gun in the series.
'Beef' has been straightforward with every character's behavior and did not find the need to justify it. When Amy is confronted by her husband, George Nakai (Joseph Lee) for taking the gun out of a locker, fearing that she took it to harm herself, Amy screams out her love for guns and how she gets off with it. This incident led to the rise of one question- does Amy Lau have hoplophilia? Let us take a look at it,
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Amy's behaviour
Throughout 'Beef', we were able to see Amy going through an array of intense emotions. And for the most part, Amy intentionally hinders herself from expressing her real feelings to anyone, including her husband and her therapist. Amy was traumatized as a child when she overheard her parents arguing over having her. Amy hides the biscuits that she took from the kitchen after this and hides them under her bed. Suddenly she starts to see a ghost that tells her This leads Amy to suppress her emotions, and she starts to hide her mistakes. She resolves to be a successful person when she grows up. On a separate occasion, Amy catches her father cheating on her mother. All of these childhood traumas led her to keep secrets and put on strong and impenetrable armor over her. As Amy acknowledges her vulnerability during the therapy, it is revealed that she is aware of her condition. But all the pressure around her, including being a perfect mom, wife, and successful businesswoman, is just too much for anyone to handle, let alone Amy. And all of these small events throughout her life culminated in one huge moment, which drew Amy towards her like a gun. And this gun plays a significant part in Amy's expressing her emotions.
Does Amy Lau have hoplophilia?
Hoplophilia is defined as a person's irrational love or fetish for weapons, particularly guns and other firearms. And in 'Beef', though George hides the gun in a safe and changes the lock password so Amy wouldn't touch the gun, Amy frantically figures out the password and takes out the gun. It has been subtly implied that Amy has had a few incidents with the gun before. After taking the gun out, she pleasures herself with it and likes the feeling of holding it in her hand. It gives Amy a sense of power, control, and a feeling of protection. Though Amy admits to not wanting a gun in the first place, she is the one to use it multiple times. Her constant urge to exert anger or any extreme emotions and her fear of being vulnerable and empty brings us to the conclusion that Amy Lau is in desperate need of holding on to something that she can control, and the gun was her answer to it. This proves that Amy might have a case of hoplophilia in Netflix's 'Beef'.
All ten episodes of 'Beef' are streaming exclusively on Netflix.