Don't Look Back in Anger (said the Suck Fairy)
There's a lot to be said for self delusionment when it comes to matters of the heart
-Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider, Northern Exposure
The idea for this week's installment was lifted directly from the Entertainment Weekly website, where it appeared under the unglamorous title “A visit from the Suck Fairy”. The premise is, what book/movie/television program which you used to love, now, in retrospect, doesn't hold up to the test of time. Or, to put it bluntly, SUCKS.
I liked this question, because at first it seemed obvious, and yet the more I thought about it the less simple it became. Many people who commented at the website mentioned shows that had “gone downhill” or been cancelled prematurely, which just proves for the umpteenth time my theory that “most people don’t get it.” The question doesn’t measure the objective quality of the book/movie/show in question, but rather our personal, emotional, visceral response to it. So, all of you jumping up in your chair, waving your hands with “I know the answer! Prison Break, right?” sit back down a minute and hear me out. Your chance to chime in is coming very soon, I promise.
Because I am less than enthralled with most current television programming, and because I’m working on the 30 (-60-90) day television meme (truly, I am) I’ve had occasion to revisit many of my old favorite tv shows. As a whole, I have to say they hold up very well, possibly because I have always had impeccable taste, or more likely because I’ve conveniently forgotten the bad stuff, much like I’ve banished my old prom photos to the bottom of the “to be scanned” pile. (In the event these pictures ever do surface, I’d just like to say right now that the peasant dress look was VERY IN STYLE in it’s day.) But what's important isn't whether Remington Steele was quality entertainment or not, as long as I enjoyed it then, and when I run across the re-runs from time to time it still holds up. The "suck fairy" has eluded Laura Holt and her bumbling sidekick. (Or just re-invented them and called it "Castle". Whatever.)
Still, I’ve been mulling over some past favorites, and here’s a few choice picks. For the winners (losers?) I factored in the level of my past obsession, as well as my present feelings of “meh”, along with enough passage of time to gain objectivity. Read on, and then share yours. If you dare!
Book - Would love to choose Twilight here, except I never did like it. I’m going way back to choose the phony memoir Go Ask Alice. If you don’t know, this is a young adult novel from the 70s. It was purported to be the diary of a teenage girl circle 1967, who gets into drugs, runs away to San Francisco to be a hippie freak, spirals downward and (we find out in the epilogue) dies of an overdose. I read this book in middle school and COMPLETELY bought into the premise. I read it dozens of times, sadly, even ironically, thinking it was the most “real” thing I had ever encountered. Ooops. I literally did not know until I was an adult that it was fiction. That’s not why it’s included here, however. My own daughter brought the book home from the library and I flipped through it to see how it held up. What leapt our at me was how it should have been so obvious; the language, the improbable way the “diary” was compiled from loose notebook pages and paper towels (!), it was all there. It’s just not that good.
Movie - Odd choice, maybe, but I’m going to go with the romantic comedy “Green Card” from 1990, with Gérard Depardieu and Andie McDowell. At the time this movie struck a huge chord with me and merited many rewatches, and I always cried buckets at the ending. How this could have happened I cannot say, because when I caught it on late night television recently all I could see was two people with no chemistry, a very pretty New York City setting, and Andie McDowell’s awful, monotone acting. Ugh.
Televison show - Northern Exposure. It used to air Monday nights, and on Tuesday morning I’d be on the phone with my friend Mary Ellen for hours, analyzing every scene, every look between Joel and Maggie, speculating and anticipating, and sometimes just making stuff up. If only I’d had Livejournal in those days. Maybe if I’d written some of it down, I’d remember what I ever saw in this dull, self-consciously precious, bore. I do still like Rob Morrow, though.
Music- I’m choosing U2 for this one, guys. Let the brick throwing begin!
As I said, mulling over former favorites I found it very difficult to feel dislike for the vast majority them. There is a corollary for the “suck fairy” (someone think of a better name, PLEASE), and that would be something you loved, then rejected, then came to love again later. (Hanson fangirls, you know what I’m talking about.) The nostalgia factor overrides the suck factor in many cases, which is only right. The art and entertainment that enriches us on the journey should hold a special place in our soul, even if our former fondness baffles us a bit.
-Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider, Northern Exposure
The idea for this week's installment was lifted directly from the Entertainment Weekly website, where it appeared under the unglamorous title “A visit from the Suck Fairy”. The premise is, what book/movie/television program which you used to love, now, in retrospect, doesn't hold up to the test of time. Or, to put it bluntly, SUCKS.
I liked this question, because at first it seemed obvious, and yet the more I thought about it the less simple it became. Many people who commented at the website mentioned shows that had “gone downhill” or been cancelled prematurely, which just proves for the umpteenth time my theory that “most people don’t get it.” The question doesn’t measure the objective quality of the book/movie/show in question, but rather our personal, emotional, visceral response to it. So, all of you jumping up in your chair, waving your hands with “I know the answer! Prison Break, right?” sit back down a minute and hear me out. Your chance to chime in is coming very soon, I promise.
Because I am less than enthralled with most current television programming, and because I’m working on the 30 (-60-90) day television meme (truly, I am) I’ve had occasion to revisit many of my old favorite tv shows. As a whole, I have to say they hold up very well, possibly because I have always had impeccable taste, or more likely because I’ve conveniently forgotten the bad stuff, much like I’ve banished my old prom photos to the bottom of the “to be scanned” pile. (In the event these pictures ever do surface, I’d just like to say right now that the peasant dress look was VERY IN STYLE in it’s day.) But what's important isn't whether Remington Steele was quality entertainment or not, as long as I enjoyed it then, and when I run across the re-runs from time to time it still holds up. The "suck fairy" has eluded Laura Holt and her bumbling sidekick. (Or just re-invented them and called it "Castle". Whatever.)
Still, I’ve been mulling over some past favorites, and here’s a few choice picks. For the winners (losers?) I factored in the level of my past obsession, as well as my present feelings of “meh”, along with enough passage of time to gain objectivity. Read on, and then share yours. If you dare!
Book - Would love to choose Twilight here, except I never did like it. I’m going way back to choose the phony memoir Go Ask Alice. If you don’t know, this is a young adult novel from the 70s. It was purported to be the diary of a teenage girl circle 1967, who gets into drugs, runs away to San Francisco to be a hippie freak, spirals downward and (we find out in the epilogue) dies of an overdose. I read this book in middle school and COMPLETELY bought into the premise. I read it dozens of times, sadly, even ironically, thinking it was the most “real” thing I had ever encountered. Ooops. I literally did not know until I was an adult that it was fiction. That’s not why it’s included here, however. My own daughter brought the book home from the library and I flipped through it to see how it held up. What leapt our at me was how it should have been so obvious; the language, the improbable way the “diary” was compiled from loose notebook pages and paper towels (!), it was all there. It’s just not that good.
Movie - Odd choice, maybe, but I’m going to go with the romantic comedy “Green Card” from 1990, with Gérard Depardieu and Andie McDowell. At the time this movie struck a huge chord with me and merited many rewatches, and I always cried buckets at the ending. How this could have happened I cannot say, because when I caught it on late night television recently all I could see was two people with no chemistry, a very pretty New York City setting, and Andie McDowell’s awful, monotone acting. Ugh.
Televison show - Northern Exposure. It used to air Monday nights, and on Tuesday morning I’d be on the phone with my friend Mary Ellen for hours, analyzing every scene, every look between Joel and Maggie, speculating and anticipating, and sometimes just making stuff up. If only I’d had Livejournal in those days. Maybe if I’d written some of it down, I’d remember what I ever saw in this dull, self-consciously precious, bore. I do still like Rob Morrow, though.
Music- I’m choosing U2 for this one, guys. Let the brick throwing begin!
As I said, mulling over former favorites I found it very difficult to feel dislike for the vast majority them. There is a corollary for the “suck fairy” (someone think of a better name, PLEASE), and that would be something you loved, then rejected, then came to love again later. (Hanson fangirls, you know what I’m talking about.) The nostalgia factor overrides the suck factor in many cases, which is only right. The art and entertainment that enriches us on the journey should hold a special place in our soul, even if our former fondness baffles us a bit.