Thanks. At the moment I'm sorting through the "I have a dozen different ideas about how this could go. Which do I choose?" It's usually one of the steps that stymies me for a little while, so I'm hoping that a particular direction strikes my fancy in a relatively short period of time.
Yeah, the dramatic example of healing was pretty pathetic. Now, if the woman had begun to jump or dance, that would have been dramatic. Of course, we can't have it be *too* dramatic, because--of course--this kid's a hoax. *eye roll*
I'm bored to death with the aversion to mysticism in American society. Steve Martin was a faith healer (read: con man) in a recent film--then hurried out of town when a true miracle occurred. The Jordan one didn't bother me as much because the woman herself insisted that she hadn't brought that guy back to life. I respect honesty, particularly when it isn't the most popular opinion. House is so... he's a control freak. And Wilson was right, House *is* scared to live in a world where there aren't rules he can learn and then exploit. Most people are. *shakes her head* It's just so popular a theme right now that I'm really tired of it. Miracles do happen. The choice is in whether or not we want to/actually do see it.
Wilson was right, House *is* scared to live in a world where there aren't rules he can learn and then exploit. Most people are.
I think that's part of why tv shows don't let mystical things be true in their shows. People want things they can explain -- and I suspect that's a large part of the appeal of procedural dramas. Shows like Ghost Whisperer and Touched by an Angel and even The X-Files can get away with it because people can compartmentalize it. In shows like House, the whole premise is very much grounded in the rational/scientific world, so people are going to be upset by what they see as the scientific world saying this stuff really does happen. Plus of course there's the issue of the fact that any mystical/miraculous occurrence is going to be contextualized, so people are going to get upset at one belief system being privileged -- Christianity, the occult, whatever -- whereas if science doesn't say "Yes, this thing happened by powers we cannot comprehend" then they can maintain their comfortable boundary of religious/spiritual beliefs being a private thing. I think the House episode had room for more "Sometimes remissions just happen, and we can't explain it; call it faith, call it psychosomatic, call it science we haven't mastered yet, but we don't have all the answers" than it actually utilized, but I do understand their hesitancy to appear to say there are Higher Powers etc. Of course, that then begs the question of why bother doing episodes dealing with apparently mystical stuff anyway since everyone knows it's not gonna turn out to be real and the show is thus kind of going out of its way to marginalize belief and privilege science/rationalism.
Yeah, the dramatic example of healing was pretty pathetic. Now, if the woman had begun to jump or dance, that would have been dramatic. Of course, we can't have it be *too* dramatic, because--of course--this kid's a hoax. *eye roll*
I'm bored to death with the aversion to mysticism in American society. Steve Martin was a faith healer (read: con man) in a recent film--then hurried out of town when a true miracle occurred. The Jordan one didn't bother me as much because the woman herself insisted that she hadn't brought that guy back to life. I respect honesty, particularly when it isn't the most popular opinion. House is so... he's a control freak. And Wilson was right, House *is* scared to live in a world where there aren't rules he can learn and then exploit. Most people are.
*shakes her head* It's just so popular a theme right now that I'm really tired of it. Miracles do happen. The choice is in whether or not we want to/actually do see it.
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I think that's part of why tv shows don't let mystical things be true in their shows. People want things they can explain -- and I suspect that's a large part of the appeal of procedural dramas. Shows like Ghost Whisperer and Touched by an Angel and even The X-Files can get away with it because people can compartmentalize it. In shows like House, the whole premise is very much grounded in the rational/scientific world, so people are going to be upset by what they see as the scientific world saying this stuff really does happen. Plus of course there's the issue of the fact that any mystical/miraculous occurrence is going to be contextualized, so people are going to get upset at one belief system being privileged -- Christianity, the occult, whatever -- whereas if science doesn't say "Yes, this thing happened by powers we cannot comprehend" then they can maintain their comfortable boundary of religious/spiritual beliefs being a private thing. I think the House episode had room for more "Sometimes remissions just happen, and we can't explain it; call it faith, call it psychosomatic, call it science we haven't mastered yet, but we don't have all the answers" than it actually utilized, but I do understand their hesitancy to appear to say there are Higher Powers etc. Of course, that then begs the question of why bother doing episodes dealing with apparently mystical stuff anyway since everyone knows it's not gonna turn out to be real and the show is thus kind of going out of its way to marginalize belief and privilege science/rationalism.
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