I'm psyched about the royal wedding,
and I'm not ashamed to admit it.
A lot of people in my social circle are complaining about the media's fetishizing of royalty and about how pathetic it is, especially for Americans, to fantasize about becoming a princess. To them, I respond: Perfectly relevant points, but I'm still getting up to watch the coverage tomorrow morning.
I can't speak for anyone else, but for me, the appeal of the royal wedding has nothing to do with fantasizing about being a princess. It has to do with fantasizing about being British. And despite all the silliness and hysteria, there's nothing more quintessentially British than a royal wedding.
Of course I wish Kate Middleton and Prince William the best, but really what I'm celebrating by watching their wedding coverage is not them, but the nation that they represent. The nation that gave us the Beatles, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, the Lord of the Rings, Sherlock Holmes, Downton Abbey, Stonehenge, William Shakespeare, men in kilts, the Magna Carta, pipe 'n' drum bands, a model of single payer health care, castles, thatched roof farmhouses, flocks of sheep on misty hillsides, tea time, fish 'n' chips, crumpets, Monty Python, Thoroughbred horses, Shetland ponies, Welsh ponies... And so on.
So even if I hated the royal family (in truth, I feel ambivalent about them), I would still relish the occasion to have a live stream of British culture beaming into my house. And I would still encourage my anti-royalist friends to sit back and take in the circus with me.
Now, to find my feathery hat and prep the tea set.
A lot of people in my social circle are complaining about the media's fetishizing of royalty and about how pathetic it is, especially for Americans, to fantasize about becoming a princess. To them, I respond: Perfectly relevant points, but I'm still getting up to watch the coverage tomorrow morning.
I can't speak for anyone else, but for me, the appeal of the royal wedding has nothing to do with fantasizing about being a princess. It has to do with fantasizing about being British. And despite all the silliness and hysteria, there's nothing more quintessentially British than a royal wedding.
Of course I wish Kate Middleton and Prince William the best, but really what I'm celebrating by watching their wedding coverage is not them, but the nation that they represent. The nation that gave us the Beatles, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, the Lord of the Rings, Sherlock Holmes, Downton Abbey, Stonehenge, William Shakespeare, men in kilts, the Magna Carta, pipe 'n' drum bands, a model of single payer health care, castles, thatched roof farmhouses, flocks of sheep on misty hillsides, tea time, fish 'n' chips, crumpets, Monty Python, Thoroughbred horses, Shetland ponies, Welsh ponies... And so on.
So even if I hated the royal family (in truth, I feel ambivalent about them), I would still relish the occasion to have a live stream of British culture beaming into my house. And I would still encourage my anti-royalist friends to sit back and take in the circus with me.
Now, to find my feathery hat and prep the tea set.