I guess it is generation thing, resistant to
rational argument, that we now see the urge to emote overwhelm so many
in the public eye. Brits of 1940/50s vintage and beyond were inculcated with
the merits of the “stiff upper lip”, a certain sang-froid in the face of
serious adversity or disappointment – e.g. the death of Nelson, disaster at
Dunkirk, test cricket defeat in Australia. We now have the “wobbly lower lip” par
excellence – everyone tears up, shoulder-shakes, blubs and sobs at the
slightest provocation. I enjoy the Nate and Jeremiah show on HGTV, as the two
gay-married presenters work their interior design magic to transform some lucky
candidate’s home. Very often there is a hard-luck story attached - a premature
death, a messy divorce or a dire misfortune – which sharpens the narrative.
Jeremiah is always first to go, his face ashen, his tear-ducts in overdrive as
he acknowledges the tribulations of the back-story. Pass the sick-bag, Alice,
as Private Eye used to say!
Nate and Jeremiah,
House transformers
Worse, this emotive impulse has strayed into
the sacred arena of newscasting, not just in the US but also in the BBC.
Frankly, the world news has been bad enough, without being augmented by
contributions from the messenger. Recently various anchormen/women have creased
up at the sorrow of the news they were imparting, and have been reduced to
gibbering wrecks – not much use to the viewers. I believe past newscasters –
say, Alvar Lidell, Geoffrey Sumner, Moira Stuart or Robert Dougall – would
consider emotive distractions of any kind, decidedly unprofessional. So, we
advise – get a grip on yourselves, blow your noses and simply give us the news
in your usual reassuringly educated tones!
……………………………………………..
The US invented the word “woke” and the
US is the home of BLM, so expect the worst. Yet, principled opposition from
conservative electors is much in evidence, even if the American Right harbours
some decidedly unattractive characters. On the US media we have much the same
woke claptrap as we suffer in the UK – every advert or plot involves a black or
Indian character often supplemented by a token gay, handicapped or mentally
challenged supporter. But the American public would surely not tolerate the
abject spinelessness of Police Scotland who, under SNP pressure, recently
refused to use the term “paedophile” in a report but instead talked neutrally
about MAP (“Minority attracted people”). God help us!
Returning to the world of Woke, I recently sat
through a TV showing of Matilda the Musical. The 1996 US original film
of Roald Dahl’s Matilda was great fun with Danny DeVito in good form
supporting Mara Wilson and Pam Ferris as Miss Trunchbull. Matilda the
Musical was made in the UK and was released in October 2022. I thought it
was dire, with a tedious new story-line involving Miss Honey (black here, of
course) and her acrobatic parents. The school-children were unappealing, the
music banal, the lyrics preachy, and the key role of Miss Trunchbull was
stridently unfunny as played by woke Emma Thompson, who should have known
better. All the comedy had been squeezed out of the original – it felt somehow
dourly Stalinist to me. One to avoid!
……………………………………
Much, much better to revel in the goings-on in The
White Lotus, a US HBOTV serial about a fictitious hotel chain. The story
has had 2 series of 6-7 one-hour-episodes. The first was based in Hawaii
(intrigue, betrayal and passion down among the sheltering palms) with high
production values. The second series was set in gorgeously sinister Sicily
following the fortunes of mainly American visitors, all rich, sex-mad and given
to all manner of weird behaviour and nameless vices. We have had infidelity,
drug abuse, lesbianism, prostitution, explicit male homosexuality, drunkenness,
swindling, theft and murder – all in a rich, spicy, macho American cocktail –
compulsive viewing! Names involved in this confection include Jennifer Coolidge
(the blowsy manicurist in Legally Blonde), F. Murray Abraham (obsessed
Salieri in Amadeus) and Tom Hollander (simpering Reverend Mr. Collins in
2005 Pride and Prejudice). Don’t miss it!
The scandalously lurid
White Lotus
As you will have gathered, in my decrepitude I
watch far too much TV. By Christmas I had seen lots of World Cup football and I
am delighted that Arsenal tops the Premiership, Norrie beat Nadal and England
thrashed Pakistan. I played Handel, Bach and Pergolesi, dutifully devout, but
the cultural level took a wee dip as an American friend’s father in retirement
is a DJ on a DooWop (sic) radio station and I jived happily, if creakily, with
her to Sh-Boom and At the Hop. . Keep Rocking!
SMD
5.01.23
Text copyright © Sidney
Donald 2023
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