Saturday, February 10, 2007

just me tv


i have an overactive imagination.

so when i see a washington state ferry wrecked and burning in elliott bay, it's a small leap for me to picture myself and my family in the scene.

understand, this ferry was a computer-generated image on a tv screen. it was a scene out of someone else's imagination in a show called 'grey's anatomy.' and as conscious as i am of manipulative plotlines and dialogue, i still got swept up in this one.

the faux ferry had collided with a container ship, and carnage was everywhere at our familiar ferry terminal. people were bleeding, dying, covered with tarps. a badly injured woman called for her young son. a little girl wandered amidst the chaos, speechless, looking for someone to help her. that was the part that about pushed me over. too close to home.

it could've been anywhere, i suppose. images of crying, injured children elicit a visceral response, whether they're in baghdad, new orleans or on a soundstage in seattle. i imagine most people silently transport themselves into such situations, and feel the pain of the moment.

this is true, isn't it? don't most people identify with and personlize the dramatic and the traumatic?

or are we all just abstractions? are people in iraq just radical islamists, folks on the gulf coast just poverty-stricken negroes, people in san francisco just liberal queers?

the answers to these questions are fairly important. if a person is nothing more than a caricature, they're much easier to ignore. or to kill.

or so i would imagine.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you watch the show, b/c it is mildly entertaining, but with the setting in your backyard, you can't resist it?

My wife watches it every week and I think it's horrible. But she's my wife, so often times I'm watching it.

How many episodes do we have to suffer through where Burke and Sandra Oh blame each other for something?

As I write this, I just figured it out... For you, it is Addison. Yes. A worthy cause, that cheating, lying, sultry, lusty lost kitten.

Must it always be redheads with you?

-golfernc (not anonymous, just computer dumb)

spaceneedl said...

the "backyard" element is not enough to make me watch. i'm not really in the market for new shows.

apparently i'm still bitter over the abrupt cencellation of "thirtysomething."

"Must it always be redheads with you?"

yes.

Anonymous said...

Sweet Jesus...
"Thirtysomething"?!?!?! With Family Ties, Cheers, Seinfeld, old Cosby shows, hell even Silver Spoons to pine over, you lament Thirtysomething. Are you crying about the Wonder Years too?

Here's what you do. Get a DVR and record The Office, and Aqua Teen Hunger Force. The 2 combined will equate to 30 minutes of viewing time

The Office is during prime family time and ATHF is too late. Watch it on your own time and only use the TV for sporting events otherwise.

spaceneedl said...

one day they'll abruptly cancel "aqua teen hunger force."

then you'll understand.

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised Bush hasn't already had ATHF cancelled based on the Boston terrorism fiasco.

That show has some funny stuff.