(Warning: Spoilers for HBO's The Wire.)
I haven't watched a movie recently. I watched Animal Kingdom a week ago, and what an amazing film it is. Go see it if you haven't already. But since then I have have watched nothing but Veronica Mars. For those playing the home game, Veronica Mars is a teen soap opera about a girl who solves mysteries. Think Chinatown meets One Tree Hill. At first it didn't seem as bad as all that. The first season had an overarching murder mystery that had defined the status quo of the show. Each episode had its own 'mini-mystery' and the overarching plot was prodded along little by little, keeping me interested like an animal following a trail of crumbs. Only this trail of crumbs led to an addiction to a soap opera. Now, in the second season, the big mystery of the first season has been solved and the show just seems to manufacture new connections between characters and creates convoluted and dubious storyline arcs for the sake of maintaining high drama. Virtually every character, besides the eponymous Ms. Mars, is flat and uninteresting. New characters spring up every episode just to fill the the template of 'new stupid mystery.' Old characters that were seemingly throwaways come back just to fill ridiculous plot holes. And yet I cannot stop watching. Although I must say the character of Veronica Mars is interesting. She's snarky and capable, and Kristen Bell is a good actress. It reminds me of Dexter in that way: there's a character who is interesting, facing conflict, moving forward, being human and then the world around them is populated simply to make it seem like they live in a real world. If people were really this vapid...wait maybe people really are this vapid.
I'm veering off course here. My point is that I Am Hooked. I see all of these ridiculous and contrived plots, these flat and also ridiculously contrived characters and yet I can't get enough. I won't stop until I've watched all 64 episodes. That's right, 64! I'm up to the 34th and it won't stop. It really doesn't help that Netflix has all episodes on Instant Watch. Recently, Netflix compressed all their television shows into single entries. So every season of Veronica Mars can be found under Veronica Mars. No longer is it separated by season. Now that I think about it this is really Netflix's fault. How can I be expected to stop watching just because I finish a season. Every episode is listed 1-64. I have to finish what I started. Thanks Netflix.
I finally understand the soap opera phenomenon. Watch one episode and it's silly drama, but watch everyday and you get sucked in. You see the seams and cracks in the facade but you stay around. I stay around for the comfort. I know these characters. I know what to expect from the show in general. They won't pull any punches on me. Stringer Bell won't be killed to serve the plot. Serve me dammit!
Oh and the way I started watching this show is because it has the same creator as Starz's amazing, underrated and hysterical show Party Down. Watch Party Down!
So the real question here that you seem to be skirting - what does this teach us about art and entertainment and our current cultural acceptances?
ReplyDeleteSome would say that entertainment is just that and nothing more - but there are many people trying to carve out their artistry in this medium of film/television - can television be art or is that an oxymoron? Or is it all a "service" - an escape? a change of reality? turn my brain off? turn off my emotions - but some of those are being expressed and targeted. Perhaps in the course of our days we spend so much time being sensually stimulated but emotionally muted that entertainment must do the opposite - not make me think but please touch my heart, arouse me, make me laugh and cry because the world has taught me not-to-feel.
What is the difference between pretending to be happy and actually being happy? How do I know when I actually feel human emotions and when I think I should so I do? What if you never even thought about it until one day something made you feel for real? Or one day you stopped feeling anything at all?
OR is it all just the power of the brain and the answer to all these questions is Yes and No - depends on who you are and what you want out of life.
Now I get it - Veronica makes me feel simple emotions without having to think about it, philosophize it or feel a need to be attached to my emotions. Thanks Veronica!
As far as 'TV as art' goes, TV is just a medium for storytelling. TV allows us to tell the serial story, visually. Dickens published his novels serially in his newspapers. TV is not more or less an art form than is film or record or canvas or subway wall. It's a tool, an implement, a means to an end, and is imbued with artistic meaning by the content it conveys. Just as a blank canvas, it has no preset.
ReplyDeleteVeronica Mars goes straight to the emotional center, like all soap operas I suppose. It doesn't waste time, straight for the jugular.