Back To Bennifer: Jennifer Lopez And Ben Affleck Rise From The Ashes Of Cultural Decay – The Federalist

America is captivated by the recent recoupling of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, whose tabloid romance crashed and burned in the early days of this century. After splitting up with other high-profile celebrities, most recently Alex Rodriguez and Ana de Armas, theyre back together, almost 20 years later, having weathered the highs and lows of adult life.

Emily Jashinsky:Madeline, is nostalgia alone responsible for the level of excitement here? Affleck is sort of famously troubled and Jennifer just got out of an engagement with A-Rod. It seems on paper like they might not be making the best decision but I honestly cant get enough of it.

Madeline Osburn:In light of this news, I just revisitedJ.Los Jenny from the Block music video featuring Ben Affleck and it not only holds up, but makes me long for the simpler times of the early 2000s. In the same way that people freak out any time Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt are even in the same room, there is something we love about Bennifer and the relationships that kicked off an era of paparazzi and celebrity culture.

Oddly enough, the Jenny from the Block video uses her fling with Ben to send a message about her own fame coinciding with the birth of the modern tabloid by using stalking paparazzi angles for all the shots of the couple around town. I think we crave the less polarized, slower pace of the days before iPhones and social media, as well as the type of celebrity coverage that was all about who is dating who, not who is protesting what or making this or that political statement.

EJ: What an iconic video. I think theres always been something amusingly strange about this pairing, which fueled the tabloid intrigue. It wasnt just that both of them were A-listers. They seem so different, shes a put-together queen of pop and hes brooding and troubled and cinematic. To your point, now that theyre together, its interesting to take stock of how theyve grown separately and how weve grown as a culture. J-Lo is like one half of the country whos done really well, and Ben is like the other half thats had a really tough millennium. Shes been through some stuff, but is ageless as ever. Hes weathered.

Our collective intrigue seems kinder now, but its like we had to go through the jungle of the Perez Hilton era to get there. I dont know if thats better or worse.

MO:The overall tone does seem kinder, even though we are getting the exact same kind of intrusive paparazzi shots of Ben ripping cigs that we were 20 years ago. But I dont think its actually kinder as much as it is that we are just better at framing our celebrities as heroes and villains. This is 100 percent thanks to our fawning entertainment media industry, which I know we both always blame for all of our pop culture media problems, buts true here too.

The media loves J-Lo and so collectively, we love J-Lo. In a ranking of untouchable or uncancelable celebrities, I would put her up there with Beyonce. The same is true for Ben Affleck. His horrible and very public divorce with Jennifer Garner, who is also beloved, solidified his casting in the media as a brooding and troubled antagonist. Its why hes such a great meme. Now that they are an item, it will be interesting to watch the media coverage that follows.

I like your metaphor that half the country is J-Lo and the other half is Ben, but they are back together, and I dont see the same happening for the two very different Americas that have emerged from the last 20 years.

EJ:I feel like people actually dont like Ben? His relationship with Ana de Armas was the subject of endless mockery. It really annoyed some people. He also seems to have badly hurt Jennifer Garner, which was tragic to watch unfold in public. But, then again, everyone loves his back tattoo. Maybe America is Ben Afflecks back phoenix.

Were torturing the metaphor. I guess its just been interesting to watch these two capitalize on the internets ability to facilitate collective nostalgia. People love to do the back when I was young thing, but now millennials get to do it together on social media, enjoying their new status as the grizzled veterans of pop culture while Gen Z charts its own, weird path. Id probably rather go back to the days when these two were first together than keep slogging through the smartphone era, but for them, its probably wonderful to rekindle their romance through the lens of a much gentler press.

MO: Yeah, I didnt mean to say the same is true that Ben is universally loved, but that the same is true that the media doesnt like Ben and so we dont like Ben. I think thats all I have to say. Except I cant believe he kept the blingy watch she gave him 20 years ago and IMMEDIATELY busted that thing out for his Miami sleepover.

EJ:We should get back to work.

Emily Jashinsky is Culture Editor at The Federalist. Madeline Osburn is Staff Editor at The Federalist and Producer of the Federalist Radio Hour.

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Back To Bennifer: Jennifer Lopez And Ben Affleck Rise From The Ashes Of Cultural Decay - The Federalist