Sorry folks...looks like it wouldn’t be a good idea for me to murder anyone; not because the dial on my moral barometer would plummet dramatically. It would, but that’s not it.
According to the savvy dressed characters on CSI, they’ll link me to the murder with something as little as a minuscule fiber, or one, out of place, drop of mud left on the parking lot pavement. Truth is: I don’t watch those shows. I find no enjoyment in watching brutal crimes, one after the other. In that respect, I think I was born in the wrong generation.
I don’t mind when a television drama consists solely of someone dropping to the ground from one bullet, shot from a gun held by a fashionably dressed woman holding a handbag. I like the ridiculousness of it. Often, I’ll watch a rerun of Charlie’s Angels rather than a show where someone’s mangled, raped body is discovered in a dark alley. I don’t want my shows to be taken straight from the headlines. I want my shows to take me away from the headlines. Furthermore, I also won’t watch hospital dramas. I lived that drama, I find no amusement in reliving it, even if only vicariously.
I don’t like dumb comedies, so my choices are few, and I often have to rely upon a show in which rusty antiques are unearthed from the bushes and bought after ample dickering.
What I find most interesting is: the shows I can’t bear to watch, aren’t on because they have no viewers. The media machine will only invest in shows that have a proven audience. Therefore, these shows, are an indicator of our society, or more accurately - that which is of interest to our society. With that thought, I have to wonder why we, Americans, are so interested in watching the bloated lifestyles of celebrities. I’m not interested in their troubles, or their purchases. I’m really not. But from what I can tell, many of us are. I’m not interested in watching people die from fictional injuries, tumors or diseases. It appears however, that many of us do. I wouldn’t mind watching a show where dreams come true; without Santa’s help, of course.
I think the shows that amaze me the most are the one’s in which the viewer watches the life of a serial murderer or rapist; as seen on the biography channel. I would rather watch the biography of a celebrity who is only a celebrity because of their family name, or the fact that they fell haphazardly into a reality show, than watch a person’s life glorified because of their heinous acts.
The problem, you see, rests more with me than anything else. With every passing day, I'm a bit more discouraged with the world. There's beauty in this world, but that beauty is often overshadowed by something grimy, empty and dark. And good people, well, they’re getting harder to find. All of which makes me feel glum, cynical and a wee bit depressed. Good shows are out there, but like good people, it takes searching to find them. I don’t like that our entertainment mirrors that of our society - but it does.
As I stop on a show wherein a bevy of young women vie for the chance to sleep with a bandana’d or bejeweled musician, I realize those insecure women were much like the ones that gave me the once-over while standing in the grocery store today. And as I stop on the legal show wherein the court system is a machine of hypocrisy, I realize the show hits too close to home for enjoyment. As you watch actors digging deep to portray someone who's life has been nearly destroyed by injury, disease, or someone's hatred and a legal system that is faulty beyond measure - know that many of us have lived that, our tears were real. I've been the one the actor worked hard to portray - many of us have.
I’ve never been one for savagery: fictional or otherwise. Maybe what I’m wanting is so utopian it would interest no one - except me. But I wouldn't mind giving it a try.
Sane
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