C'mon People!
Jan. 25th, 2005 02:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lillibetIt's late and I should be in bed, but I had this thought tonight and felt the need to share it. The problem (let's just assume for a moment that there is one, okay?) with our media isn't too much sex and violence, it's too little communication, too few healthy responses.
Someone once related to me a conversation they'd had with a television writer who explained that the secret to keeping soap operas (I think this person wrote for Dynasty...one of the prime time soaps) going is that no one can ever have a healthy response. As I've been catching up with TV over the weekend, it's been piling up until I found myself screaming at Starbuck "JUST FUCKING TELL THE MAN...HOW MUCH WORSE COULD THAT POSSIBLY BE?!" It's not just her. It's every character on Lost, most of the ones on the O.C....they aren't allowed to have healthy responses, to trust each other, to communicate openly and honestly.
And that got me thinking, no wonder people do it so badly in real life! What models do we have of healthy responses? Even on the super-saturated sitcoms with the oh-so-tidy resolutions in the last five minutes in which we all learn valuable lessons about honesty and responsibility...the whole reason for the resolution is because the rest of the show has been spent with people being idiots, trying to get away with their lies and their bullshit and their stupid plans. How on earth can we learn any better? Yeah, pain and lots of it--I'll drink to that.
I'm hearing the argument that it's the unhealthy responses that generate plot, but come on...are we that uncreative? Can there be no drama in resolution, in honesty, in compassion? Can't Starbuck just tell Apollo she's in love with him and see what happens? Does it make it any easier for everyone on Lost to bear their secrets alone? Can't we risk a little vulnerability, a little humiliation, for the possible reward of understanding, connection, communication? Isn't that dramatic?
Someone once related to me a conversation they'd had with a television writer who explained that the secret to keeping soap operas (I think this person wrote for Dynasty...one of the prime time soaps) going is that no one can ever have a healthy response. As I've been catching up with TV over the weekend, it's been piling up until I found myself screaming at Starbuck "JUST FUCKING TELL THE MAN...HOW MUCH WORSE COULD THAT POSSIBLY BE?!" It's not just her. It's every character on Lost, most of the ones on the O.C....they aren't allowed to have healthy responses, to trust each other, to communicate openly and honestly.
And that got me thinking, no wonder people do it so badly in real life! What models do we have of healthy responses? Even on the super-saturated sitcoms with the oh-so-tidy resolutions in the last five minutes in which we all learn valuable lessons about honesty and responsibility...the whole reason for the resolution is because the rest of the show has been spent with people being idiots, trying to get away with their lies and their bullshit and their stupid plans. How on earth can we learn any better? Yeah, pain and lots of it--I'll drink to that.
I'm hearing the argument that it's the unhealthy responses that generate plot, but come on...are we that uncreative? Can there be no drama in resolution, in honesty, in compassion? Can't Starbuck just tell Apollo she's in love with him and see what happens? Does it make it any easier for everyone on Lost to bear their secrets alone? Can't we risk a little vulnerability, a little humiliation, for the possible reward of understanding, connection, communication? Isn't that dramatic?
