Did somebody take this blog off its feeding tube? In what is perhaps a misguided attempt to revive it, let me ask a question or a series of interrelated questions:
When not sculpting an exact scale model of Notre Dame from a bar of Zest I spend a great deal of time watching TV—I follow regularly the dramas The Shield, Third Watch (in reruns on A&E), NYPD Blue (until it lamely went off the air a couple of weeks ago), West Wing and 24, as well as The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Malcolm in the Middle; occasionally I also catch various versions of CSI and Law and Order and Raymond. And I am leaving out the various movies—what I see in theaters, what I rent and what I catch glimpses of on TV (god help me, I am so weak I will sit through the whole showing of “Home Dangerous Home†starring Karen Valentine and Richard Crenna on Court TV, only to discover what I already suspected—it wasn’t her husband (Steven Weber) at all but the envious business partner (Morgan Fairchild)).
What I want to know is this—can one get sick from an overload of narrative? Is the promiscuous attraction to so many narratives in fact an illness? Are there any ill effects from a constant diet of cops on the edge, cops recovering from alcoholism, upright lawyers being ground down by The System, paramedics sick of death, wise-cracking but idealist Liberals, anti-terrorist super-agents, corrupt cops who nevertheless do good, families and relationships in crisis, twisted yet funny serial killers, scientists dedicated to the cause of justice but personally unfulfilled and more cops on the edge? Does one obtain relief from the powers of The Spectacle in the consideration of multiple fictional possibilities or merely fall under its sway more fully? Sometimes I feel sick to my stomach but it might just be that I took one cup of coffee too many…
One reason for asking this question is the spate of ads during tonight’s West Wing (where in its compelling but increasingly ludicrous vision of American politics a straight-talking honest Democrat will face off against a straight talking and anti-religious!! Republican) for something called “Revelation†which provides a thrilling account of the “end of days†where apparently Bill Pullman (not Bill Paxton, you dummies!) must run all over the world to read the “signs†of the final apocalypse. I also hear on the radio frequent ads for yet another installment of the Left Behind series, which might be either pulp pornography for born-again Christians or just a thrilling horror/SF read. Is this the culmination of excessive interest in narratives and a logical outcome of our saturation by stories—a desire for One Big Story, and then it’s over? I mean I know it’s just another TV series—but what’s with all this interest in The Book of Revelations lately? Are people just be-bopping on it, or do they really believe it, believe in the One Last Big Narrative, despite their viewing of literally thousands of other stories, none of which was ever the Final one? Am I just a stupid secularist or is there something a bit frightening about many people believing in the inevitable (and perhaps imminent) end of the world from a supernatural source? Or are they just suckers for a twist?
michael,
do you remember we used to do chats for the “left behind” authors at peoplelink?
in delillo’s “libra” a character observes that all plots tend towards death–and that part of the attraction of fictional plots is that they are a way of holding off our own death outside the text. we read to take control of death. perhaps this helps explain the attraction of apocalyptic narrative in particular.
(then again the apocalypse is also a convenient reason to not worry about global warming–god’s gonna come down from the sky and remake everything anyway, and it is going to happen in our own lifetime so why worry about the alaskan wilderness?)
it is also possible that your addiction to particular forms of television narrative says something about a desire for the possibility of resolution and salvation. that your need to watch is also quasi-religious. okay, that’s enough–i’m off to bed.
arnab
Arnab,
I do remember those chats…I remember thinking that when some poor rube asked about the Dragon of Alkabakuzin, the con man (the guy who is the professional hack writer… jerry b. jenkins..would whisper conspiratorially with the “idea man” Timothy LaHaye regarding the answer..and I got the distinct impression of a long con being performed…they would giggle like schoolgirls which I thought was “inappropriate” to the topic of the apocalypse.) Didn’t they know that the apocalypse would make the star-shaped conference phone almost obsolete? I couldn’t even distinguish between the “mute” and “disconnect” button and here the whole thing would be gone in the New Jerusalem! I don’t know if we need to know anything beyond the construction of a character named “chloe Steele” where the vowel-dominated sound of the first part is in opposition to the manly decisive sound of the second part–this contrast is meant to indicate a hesitancy between the soft world of the current sensual world and the unforgiving nature of the next one, where secular-leaning vowel sounds will be eliminated! no fag vowels allowed! There are other characters named Buck Williams (bee dee bee dee Buck!)and Tsion Ben Judah. Achoo!
Sartre says that only in death does one achieve the perfection of a completed narrative (where we have the beginning, middle and end of a story). French prick! but I guess every narrative provides an example of a nicely packaged story in contrast to the sloppiness “our lives.” If only I could crack one good case! perhaps every narrative provides both a comforting “perfect” form and lesson for our own self-creation. Does every viewer feel the same tension? I think, then, we have to re-evaluate the whole basis for everyday life….
Blame it on Mel Gibson and Joan of Arcadia (in that order). I would also throw The Da Vinci Code onto the bright flame of culpability as well. Dude, you watch that much television and you don’t watch LOST. Man! Last night’s episode was fucking intense (as much as a hour long television series can be intense but I’ve droned on about this show before).
Lost, eh? I’ll give it a shot..though as you can tell I’m pretty booked up on my TV commitments. I watched Joan of Arcadia once and found it kind of sickening–full of “quality” in that oily TV way (Thirtysomething comes to mind). the whole DaVinci code thing has pretty much passed me by..though the local TV news is always doing bogus stories about the “historical Jesus”–latest one was teased as “A remarkable discovery concerning what Jesus really looked like”–turned out to be some computer simulation somebody had run based on…..well, based on nothing….I understand there’s a story coming up in which they trace “Jesus’ descendants.” What next, “Consumer Tips from Jesus on how to not get ripped off by a mechanic?” or maybe “What sexy summer bikinis would Jesus find super-hot?”
Are you telling me you two sat in a room with those two fuckwits and didn’t kill them?! Those two are personally responsible for spawning a few million millennialists in the U.S. (The fact that is happened to come around the time of the millennium was a lucky break; and the fact that the rapture did not come was due to misinterpreting an aleph from the 2nd book of Kings) Jeez, you should have stabbed Jenkins and LeHay in the neck with a pen. What’s next? Topping off Hitler’s cup of coffee? Getting Stalin another bottled water? Asking Pol Pot if he wants fries with that?!
settle down beavis–they were always on the phone. and i think stalin always drank regular tap-water like the regular comrades.
I guess we know that Mark will be around after the Rapture to help us fight Armageddon.
I’ve been around a bit: Hitler always took tea; Stalin refused water because, as he liked to say “fish fuck in it;” and Pol Pot suffered from indigestion and had to stick to a diet of boiled chicken. For good measure, Idi Amin never touched pizza (heartburn), Nicolae Ceausescu prided himself on never biting into a tootsie pop until he had reached the chewy center by licking only, Pinochet loved fruit loops and would eat them at any time of the day (he still does though he can’t remember what they’re called) and “Papa Doc” Duvalier refused to eat crudite at parties by he feared celery.
but, seriously, Mark, don’t you feel the world is made better by having crazy millenialists running around, actually believing they will be lifted straight out of their
Mazdas while sitting on the 405? I mean where’s the fun in just a bunch of level-headed secularists? personally I believe in the Joan of Arcadia model–Gods hangs around an upper middle class suburb teaching lessons to “high schoolers,” all because he could never get a script about the need to “be yourself” on any of those After School specials.
“because he feared celery.” nothing is worse than a strained joke being ruined by poor proofreading!
—but, seriously, Mark, don’t you feel the world is made better by having crazy millenialists running around, actually believing they will be lifted straight out of their
Mazdas while sitting on the 405? —
I might have thought that before they took over the US government and based domestic and foreign policy on Leviticus and Revelations respectively.