Netflix's Wellmania: A humorous dive into the world of wellnessGreen juice, microdosing, cupping and cocaine? Netflix's new show wellmania encounters all manner of wellness tropes.
by The Conversation
29-03-2023 15:42
in Entertainment
Quick fixes for our health don't exist.
Image by Netflix
Review: Wellmania, Netflix.
--
What does it mean to be well? Wellmania, inspired by Brigid Delaney's book of the same name, attempts to answer this question.
Liv (Celeste Barber) is stranded in Australia after losing her green card, desperate to return to her job in the United States. After failing the necessary medical exam to apply for a new card, Liv embarks on a journey to get well .
And she's going to do it in four weeks.
--
The show dives into the world of overconsumption of all kinds: food, drugs, sex and, eventually, wellness. Wellmania is a show where a glass of orange juice can't be presented without a comment about the vitamin C content.
ALSO READ: Stylish and healthy homes: Wellness design trends for 2023
Liv's health (or apparent lack thereof) is never presented in terms of her weight; instead, her have it all lifestyle is constantly critiqued by her friends and family.
--
You cannot, it turns out, have it all - if the all is a functioning career, family life, and copious amounts of cocaine and alcohol.
Throughout the eight episodes of this mini-series, Liv encounters all manner of wellness tropes, from green juices to vaginal crystal eggs. We are taken on a journey with her to cupping massages, watching intensely attractive people glistening on exercise bikes, to a nude session with a sex therapist.
Her journey is never presented as the clean, soft and beautiful acts of wellness we see on our Instagram feeds. Instead, it is hilarious, sweaty, vomit-covered, and has fallen so far off the wagon we are left wondering if she ever actually got on.
In the words of Liv: Fuck diet, fuck exercise. All I need to do is starve myself and have my colon rinsed out.
Quick fixes for our health don't exist. Netflix Wellmania shows us in no uncertain terms that while many of us crave quick fixes for our health, no such thing exists. It is quickly apparent Liv's wellness extends beyond what she puts in her body (or up her nose). We see a complex relationship between friends, family and coming home.
This is, of course, coupled with all the humour of returning home and turning into an adolescent version of yourself when you are around your adult sibling. There is nothing quite like being 39 and flipping off your younger brother behind your mum's back.
ALSO READ: 7 wellness tourism hotspots to experience in KwaZulu-Natal
WHAT WE MEAN WHEN WE TALK ABOUT WELLNESS Wellness is a part of our everyday vernacular. We see it on our Instagram feeds, in news headlines and in a recent trend in publishing.
Self-help books, keto diets, green juices and ways to get well are promoted everywhere.
Wellness meant something distinctly different when the word first became commonplace. The history of the word wellness dates back to 1961, with medical doctor Halbert Dunn's book High Level Wellness.
Dunn's definition of wellness relies on an individual's ability to function to their maximum potential physically, mentally and emotionally.
Today, wellness' is a multi-billion dollar industry. Netflix Dunn's work inspired physician John W. Travis to create the world's first wellness centre. Travis believed health is not the absence of disease, but an ongoing dynamic state of growth .
His centre did not claim to treat or diagnose patients, but to help them understand why they are sick.
Since then, wellness has transformed from an ideology of self-examination used to describe relaxation, meditation and managed nutrition, to its current medicalisation alleged to treat health issues. Today, wellness is an unregulated word. With the popularisation of social media platforms and the commodification of bodies and health, wellness can be bought and sold online.
In Wellmania, we see Liv enter multiple wellness spaces.
ALSO READ: Stuck in a mental health rut? 5 Ways wellness' travel can fix that
Some of these spaces endeavour to help Liv understand her mind and body, like her very concerned and unbelievably patient GP. Others indirectly assist Liv to explore her past and relationship with her body: she hitchhikes to Canberra with a death doula; she sees a tarot card reader while microdosing on LSD.
It's not all health and wellness. The show includes a significant amount of drug use and shows the dangers and dark side of the wellness industry, and of Liv. Liv's self-destructive behaviour is mixed in a dangerous cocktail with fasting, bloodletting cupping and an inability to confront the past.
A HOLISTIC JOURNEY Health is not linear. A consistent theme running through wellness discourse for the past 60 years is that to be completely well requires a holistic approach - not holistic as in the bastardisation of the word by the multibillion-dollar industry of juice cleanses and essential oils, but holistic as in the sense of the whole body.
Wellness is about the whole body - not just your physical self. Netflix Wellness is the physical body, yes, but also emotional, mental, sexual and spiritual health. Each episode of Wellmania shows us this, woven throughout a story of family, home, flourishing careers and the downfalls of them all.
ALSO READ: These wellness design trends make for a stylish AND healthy home
Alongside its wonderful, crude humour (necessary in a show featuring colonics), Wellmania unexpectedly tells the story of grief and how uniquely it penetrates and devastates our bodies.
This series shows us one woman's world of wellness. But, more than that, it reminds us how closely wellness is tied to our lives,
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
05/03/2026
Quality control (QC) has long been a gatekeeper of technical fidelity. Editors and technicians have adhered to a simple, disciplined checklist: bitrate, resolut...
05/03/2026
Leading video software provider Synamedia today announced it has partnered with Swiss sports technology specialist, Asport to deliver global live streaming for ...
05/03/2026
Advanced Systems Group, LLC (ASG), a technology and services provider for media creatives and content owners, announced the promotion of Gretchen Taipale to Vic...
05/03/2026
Clear-Com has provided Gen-IC virtual intercom, its cloud-based voice communications system for SaxaVord Spaceport, the first fully licensed vertical launch s...
05/03/2026
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) concluded the 2026 HPA Tech Retreat, convening more than 800 industry leaders, technologists, creatives and executi...
05/03/2026
LynTec, a leading manufacturer of electrical power control solutions for professional audio, video, and lighting systems, today announced that its new Dual DMX ...
05/03/2026
Snicket Labs is pleased to announce a new distribution partnership with ES Broadcast for its award winning solutions, Match and Enrich.
Under the agreement, ES...
05/03/2026
LiveU today announced the first large-scale deployment of its AI-driven LiveU IQ (LIQ ) technology at a global, multi-venue sporting event, setting a new benchm...
05/03/2026
Back to All News
Innovation for Filmmaking, By Filmmakers: Why InterPositive Is Joining Netflix
Business
05 March 2026
Global
Link copied to clipboard
Dow...
05/03/2026
New LinkedIn Data Shows Women's Path to Senior Leadership Is Narrowing Published on Mar 5, 2026 Categories: Data and insights
LinkedIn Corporate Commun...
05/03/2026
SAN JOSE, Calif. - March 5, 2026 - At the 2026 NAB Show, Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT)...
05/03/2026
Comscore and Yahoo DSP Partner to Advance CTV Political Advertising with Proximi...
05/03/2026
March is in full bloom, and that means a fresh wave of games heading to the cloud. 15 new titles are joining the GeForce NOW library this month.
Leading the Ma...
04/03/2026
Lega Basket Serie A (LBA), the governing body for Italy's premier basketball...
04/03/2026
Wrexham AFC co-chairmen Rob Mac and Ryan Reynolds will host a first-of-its-kind ...
04/03/2026
The countdown is underway and with just 100 days to go until the world's greatest sporting event begins on Thurs., June 11, FOX Sports, America's Englis...
04/03/2026
No matter where they are in the world, service members and veterans can stream N...
04/03/2026
Telemundo officially releases Somos M s, the anthem for the network's cove...
04/03/2026
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) concluded the 2026 HPA Tech Retreat, convening more than 800 industry leaders, technologists, creatives, and execut...
04/03/2026
Smith Entertainment Group transformed how local sports are consumed by creating ...
04/03/2026
The production method, which spans a distance of 36.2 miles, was designed and im...
04/03/2026
Haivision, a global provider of mission-critical, real-time video networking and...
04/03/2026
When Hugues Meyrath came out of retirement to take the helm as CEO of Quantum, i...
04/03/2026
Last week's launch of Banana Ball Championship League has spurred a significant upgrade of production facilities
The Savannah Bananas, arguably the hottest...
04/03/2026
sldkfjsdlfkjsldkfjsldkjfslkdjfslkdjfsl
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus...
04/03/2026
For many fans, a song's backstory can be just as compelling as the final pro...
04/03/2026
In 2006, Spotify was founded on the belief that technology could bring artists a...
04/03/2026
Spotify is back on the ground for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and we&#...
04/03/2026
Spotify had an energizing week in Sydney, Australia, filled with powerful conver...
04/03/2026
Earlier this year, we launched Directed By, a documentary-style series that pull...
04/03/2026
100 Days to Go: SBS Unveils World Class Team for The Greatest Show on Earth -The...
04/03/2026
KT and Rohde & Schwarz to showcase AI-enhanced radio transmission performance In a joint 6G AI proof-of-concept demonstration, the CMX500 one-box tester from ...
04/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/03/2026
Luxembourg, 3 March 2026 - SES S.A. has today published its 2025 Annual Report, following the announcement of the company's full year financial results for ...
04/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/03/2026
Luxembourg, March 3, 2026 - SES, a leading space solutions company, along with I...
04/03/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the Trailer of Made In Korea', a Cross Cu...
04/03/2026
Back to All News
Netflix's Hit Courtroom Comedy Maamla Legal Hai' Arri...
04/03/2026
04 Mar 2026
VEON Partners with GSMA Innovation Fund to Accelerate Digital Innov...
04/03/2026
04 Mar 2026
VEON's Beeline Uzbekistan and Rakuten Symphony Partner for Open...
04/03/2026
Wednesday 4 March 2026
Sky Sports unveils plans for 2026 Formula 1 coverage
Sky Sports is preparing for one of the most highly anticipated F1 seasons in recen...
04/03/2026
Back to All News
Bloodhounds' Season 2 Gears Up for April 3 Premiere with ...
04/03/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Ads Suite Expands Capabilities
Business
04 March 2026
GlobalUnited States
Link copied to clipboard
After launching the Netflix Ad...
Netflix's Wellmania: A humorous dive into the world of wellnessGreen juice, microdosing, cupping and cocaine? Netflix's new show wellmania encounters all manner of wellness tropes.
