I Can’t Revel in J. Lo’s Fall From Grace

Jennifer Lopez has been hailed as a trailblazer: a Latina from the Bronx who transcended her humble origins to become a global superstar. She made the green dress she wore to the Grammy Awards in 2000 so famous that it led Google to create a separate image search function, Google Images.

J. Lo’s romantic life has been as closely followed as her artistic life. She and Ben Affleck got engaged in 2002 and later broke up, but they reunited in 2021. Their marriage the following year was her fourth and his second.

In February, she released “This Is Me … Now,” a self-funded multimedia project inspired by their love story that includes an album, a movie and a behind-the-scenes documentary titled “The Greatest Love Story Never Told.”

The internet has not been kind. The movie has been widely panned as nonsensical, corny, belabored and just plain weird, while the documentary is so unflattering it’s hard to believe she greenlighted it. She has been accused of being a narcissist and a phony, among other things. The tour Ms. Lopez announced shortly after the album’s release has since been canceled.

Throughout the documentary, friends and family members question her need to shine the spotlight on her new marriage, but she insisted that she wanted to share her journey to self-acceptance and true love.

For someone who’s reached the pinnacle of fame and wealth but struggled romantically, this might be meaningful. But for the rest of us — amid wars, post-pandemic inequalities, inflation, civil rights erosion and a terrifying election — a millionaire’s personal quest to find love just doesn’t inspire. This is especially true for young people of color. The notion that you, too, can rise from the barrio to Hollywood through sheer grit doesn’t speak toa generation disillusioned with the myth of meritocracy.