[lit-ideas] Re: The Swan and my gendered writing...
- From: David Ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:02:48 -0700
On Apr 16, 2009, at 8:56 AM, Judith Evans wrote:
(*it's my impression many people who know more about the programme
-- Digital Spy helps out here... -- were genuinely moved.)
The Guardian piece is right to point out that we see a wider range of
people in real life than we do on television, but its author skips
over the fact that we develop personal ideals of beauty independent
of those offered by media--one person's skinny ideal might be my idea
of horror; we live and work among the wide range of normal people, or
at least I do. The singer actually reminded me of one of my aunts, a
lady who was once considered beautiful enough to have her image
painted on the nose of a Flying Fortress. Thus I saw the build-up as
a theatre con--move awkwardly, dress awkwardly, stress your age so
that the audience will be gobsmacked by the beauty of your voice.
But as with any such con--we all know how Shakespeare is going to
turn out--execution is all; the fact that we know we are being set up
doesn't rob us of catharsis. That said, I was surprised to be in the
group moved to tears. With one or two exceptions--and the Miserables
isn't among these-- I hate musical theater. So when she said she was
going to give us the Miserables, I almost stopped the clip. And then
I tumbled into the group defined by Chris' first excerpt. Weird.
David Ritchie,
preparing a cardboard sign, "will work for catharsis" in
Portland, Oregon
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