A few minutes ago I was watching an episode from the new series of 'Dr Who'. For those not familiar Dr Who, it is possibly the cheesiest bit of sci-fi ever to hit television screens. Everything from aliens to special effects is super-low-budget and looks it, and the acting is kitsch standard at best. And yet, somehow, I was drawn in. Yes, I admit it, I wanted to know what was going to happen next when watching Dr Who of all things. I was able to suspend my disbelief even in face of glaring . . . err . . . cheesiness that was practically shouting out This is fake! My mom, on the other hand, quickly dismissed the whole thing as silly nonsense (which it is really) and wanted to switch to a documentary. If it's not happening to real people then Mom doesn't want to know about it. It makes a great difference to her whether the person actually did this or that. Whereas if someone can (even for the smallest moment) make me believe that they did such and such, or that this or the other thing happened, then I'll buy it. That's why I don't like biographies Okay, it really happened, but who cares? Couldn't you have told the story better? and she doesn't like fantasy It's not real - everybody knows there's no such thing as elves! And (I have to admit) we need both types. There is an important place for plain-vanilla realists - society would still be in the stone age without those kind of thinkers. They probably invented the wheel while my sort were daydreaming about heroes, gods and monsters. There is something to be said for the 'gods and monsters brigade' though. The work we appreciate (and produce) may have no 'living value' (i.e. it doesn't clothe, feed or shelter us) but I submit that good stories (and good Art as a whole) are one of the things that give value to living. Sure, we don't need Art - physically at least. We could get along just fine, but we'd be functioning on one level - seeing things in black and white instead of colour. Of all the futuristic dystopias I've read of, it's the robotic utilitarian ones that scare me the most.
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