Amusing myself to LIFE!
Yesterday I went back to work, which was a blessing a curse. It was a blessing, because my job is actually one of my favorite aspects of my current life, and a curse because I am not entirely recovered from having an organ removed. Being on my feet for eight plus hours has left a pain that I suspect will linger.
It was also a curse because I missed Mad Men and I am addicted.
I've noticed in the past couple years my approach to TV shows has changed considerably. I'm less obsessive then I used to be, which can only be a good thing, but it's more then that. I used to focus on one aspect of a show, almost to the exclusion of all the other elements. Usually it was a character or a couple, and my obsessive devotion to this aspect caused me to miss the wider show in general. Usually I didn't even stop to think about whether or not it was any good.
If I'm not mentioning specific examples, that is because they are generally too embarrassing to repeat, although I will say The X-files was probably a fine example of this phenomenon. I was particularly obsessed with Fox Mulder, and it wasn't until I started revisiting the show in the past few years that I really come to understand exactly how much gobbleygook that series really consisted of. I admired Mulder because of what I thought of as his crusade for truth (although, honestly, it probably had more to do with my vested interest in romanticizing obsession), but of course, the great let down was that he was never going to find this truth, because Chris Carter himself clearly had no idea what it was. If a creator of fictional characters is a god to those characters, Carter was (and recent evidence proves still remains) pretty shit at it.
Anyway, these days, I tend to take a show as a whole. I invest more equally in every character, and as a result, less obsessively overall. I think more about the writing and the structure and (something that is extremely important to me) whether or not I can sense that the writers are invested in the lives of the characters. The big turning point was probably Buffy. I got into the show for a narrow, obsessive reason, namely the character of Spike (and this was back when that was a narrow interest indeed, before he was in every episode, ever). However, as I watched and absorbed more of the show, I became more interested in the broader story, what Joss Whedon and the writers were trying to say and both the good and bad ways which they approached the narratives. So Buffy grew me up as a television watcher, weirdly enough.
I'm glad for all this, because I wouldn't be able to appreciate Mad Men without it. There's no one I identify with nor any couples I care one way or another about, but I am still absorbed by it. All the characters need untangling and I'm enjoying the process of watching it happen.
Although, if you love obsessives (and I still do), I highly recommend reading or listening to an interview with creator Matt Weiner. As even a glance at the show would probably reveal, the man loves his details. I once heard him say that the fact that the shots of the office show the ceiling, and that the ceiling is the same kind of ceiling still used in office buildings, is the thing that makes the entire office set, and therefore the show, work. Amazing! Chris Carter never thought about ceilings, I'm sure.
It was also a curse because I missed Mad Men and I am addicted.
I've noticed in the past couple years my approach to TV shows has changed considerably. I'm less obsessive then I used to be, which can only be a good thing, but it's more then that. I used to focus on one aspect of a show, almost to the exclusion of all the other elements. Usually it was a character or a couple, and my obsessive devotion to this aspect caused me to miss the wider show in general. Usually I didn't even stop to think about whether or not it was any good.
If I'm not mentioning specific examples, that is because they are generally too embarrassing to repeat, although I will say The X-files was probably a fine example of this phenomenon. I was particularly obsessed with Fox Mulder, and it wasn't until I started revisiting the show in the past few years that I really come to understand exactly how much gobbleygook that series really consisted of. I admired Mulder because of what I thought of as his crusade for truth (although, honestly, it probably had more to do with my vested interest in romanticizing obsession), but of course, the great let down was that he was never going to find this truth, because Chris Carter himself clearly had no idea what it was. If a creator of fictional characters is a god to those characters, Carter was (and recent evidence proves still remains) pretty shit at it.
Anyway, these days, I tend to take a show as a whole. I invest more equally in every character, and as a result, less obsessively overall. I think more about the writing and the structure and (something that is extremely important to me) whether or not I can sense that the writers are invested in the lives of the characters. The big turning point was probably Buffy. I got into the show for a narrow, obsessive reason, namely the character of Spike (and this was back when that was a narrow interest indeed, before he was in every episode, ever). However, as I watched and absorbed more of the show, I became more interested in the broader story, what Joss Whedon and the writers were trying to say and both the good and bad ways which they approached the narratives. So Buffy grew me up as a television watcher, weirdly enough.
I'm glad for all this, because I wouldn't be able to appreciate Mad Men without it. There's no one I identify with nor any couples I care one way or another about, but I am still absorbed by it. All the characters need untangling and I'm enjoying the process of watching it happen.
Although, if you love obsessives (and I still do), I highly recommend reading or listening to an interview with creator Matt Weiner. As even a glance at the show would probably reveal, the man loves his details. I once heard him say that the fact that the shots of the office show the ceiling, and that the ceiling is the same kind of ceiling still used in office buildings, is the thing that makes the entire office set, and therefore the show, work. Amazing! Chris Carter never thought about ceilings, I'm sure.