Thursday, April 27, 2006
You're not supposed to come, and sit and watch
Funny how the last few days before leaving are always the busiest. Have I already said that? I can't remember. If I have, it wasn't this week, so I can say it again. Tomorrow, I've got a "short" day, since I pick Lourenzo up at 2:50 instead of 5:00, so I'm not in the office at all. I've still got a ton of stuff to pick up before I leave, so tomorrow's going to be a major (major) shopping day. I seriously can't believe how much I have to bring with me--I went to a card store the other day to pick up some birthday cards and so on, and left with about 10 cards! It's insanity, I tell you!
Anyways... Saturday during the day is my usual Lourenzo stuff, and then Saturday evening, Naomi and I are going to do something for her birthday (well, kind of both combined, since we didn't do anything for mine), because hers is on May 3. Sunday, I've got church, and I'm in the nursery, and then I'm going to Jersey for the afternoon/evening to hang out with Adina. Monday is a normal Lourenzo/office day, and then Tuesday morning, I fly out at 8, which means leaving for the airport really early. How early depends on whether I want to spring for a car or take the subway.
You know, for all the wonderful things about NYC's public transport, getting to the airport isn't the easiest. Not to JFK, anyways.
Somewhere in there, I've got to do laundry, pack, clean the bathroom and my bedroom, and make sure all the little stuff is in order, too. Ah, but it's fun. I complain about the minutae, but I love travelling.
Two things to post about, but I think I'll only get to one tonight--it's late, and I need sleep.
It's amazing how much the internet and technology has changed entertainment, and, in some ways, made it much more difficult for show creators.
I was thinking about this a few weeks ago, when I was on the Gilmore Girls chat boards, analyzing an episode to death, talking about the very specific details of the characters, their personalities, the continuity of tiny details that are mentioned in the show, the things that don't jive with a throwaway comment from 5 years ago... and I realized that this is a relatively new issue for show creators to have to deal with. Before the advent of VCR's, even, when people could watch a show over and over, it was a "watch it once, enjoy it (or don't), and wait for a re-run". That's it. People didn't know episode titles, couldn't really cross-reference the show with previous episodes, and certainly didn't have the same forums for discussion.
Contrast that to now, when we have every episode on dvd, we can access transcripts online, there are screencaps to analyze very specific details, and we have hundreds of people, from all over the world, dissecting these characters and this show. Nothing--and I mean nothing--happens without someone having a say in it. A character has a specific intonation of a line? It's picked apart. There's a new outfit? It means something. They mention something that contradicts a fact we were given in season 1? Everyone notices.
In many ways, the experience of being slightly fanatical about a TV show is a cumulative experience, much more than it ever has been before. We don't watch the episode and move on to the next one; we watch it and it builds onto a base of what we know and have in front of us all the time. It's constantly in the "now," and it differs from real life in that we're able to watch the present alongside the past, and see the vivid examples of change, in ways that are impossible to do in real life, where time goes on, and we don't have the ability to see it all side-by-side like that.
I think it makes it harder on show creators--I think that it means that the expectations are much higher now than they've ever been. It's expected that the universe they create will always be consistent with itself and consistent with the world around it, and when they slip up, it's not shaken off or forgotten. Ever. It may be overlooked; it may be "unimportant," but it's noticed.
And as for the community... the "watercooler" to discuss shows around has become so much larger than the few people at the office who watch the same things. It's worldwide; it includes people who are watching for the first time, and people who have been following since day one. It has every opinion under the sun, and every love or hate of any given character.
And yet, when you find the right one, it provides intelligent discussion, the opportunity to examine human nature and relationships more deeply, and a true community that becomes supportive of so much more than just a TV show.
It's just interesting, that's all. Sure, I watch more shows than I dissect that thoroughly, but the ones I enjoy the most are the ones I'm most invested in. The ones I watch with an eye for more than being entertained are the ones that tend to really touch me and make me think--and it's a symbiotic relationship. I get invested because they touch me on some level; and because I'm invested and devote more time to it, it continues to touch me on a deeper level and I always get more out of it... which will lead nicely into the second thing I wanted to talk about, but that's for tomorrow.
1 Comments:
I agree, Alida. Without the internet (and you), I would not be as obsessed with GG. It is now so much easier to get the information necessary to follow, as opposed to watch, a show.
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