The Link Between Self-Reliance and Well-Being
“How to Build a Life” is a weekly column by Arthur Brooks, tackling questions of meaning and happiness.
The 2021 Academy Award for Best Picture—covering the prior year, when many of us were stuck at home—was awarded, ironically, to Nomadland, a film about a woman who has no permanent home. The movie follows Fern (Frances McDormand), a 60-something widow who lives in her van, working itinerantly and resisting invitations to settle down with family or friends. Many critics interpreted Nomadland as an “indictment of America”; an article in this magazine lauded its treatment of “the wreckage of American promise.”
[Read: ‘Nomadland’ is a gorgeous journey through the wreckage of American promise]
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