Some Media Musings
cross-posted from my Patreon, which you can follow directly here if you so desire: patreon.com/kmherkes
I'll start with the back story:
Spouseman had never seen Breakfast At Tiffany's & for unknown reasons developed the desire to cross it off his Movies Lifelist. I'd seen it ages ago when I was on a "I should watch classics" jick or another, but I'd forgotten just how...pointless...it was.
It was even more pointless and meh than I recalled.
That's not a criticism, exactly. Just an analytical observation. Among the many reasons the movie would be made differently in today's narrative media environment (unexamined patriarchal assumptions, flagrant racist & cultural stereotyping) is the plain fact that it doesn't have a PLOT.
I could tell you what the film was "about" but NOTHING about that description of events is relevant to the reasons people say they love the movie. People talk about Audrey Hepburn's character, about the chains of events and connections that entangle all the characters, and about the emotional punchiness of their interactions.
So...vivid, broadly-sketched characters reacting in an exaggerated fashion to low-stakes situations to dramatic and comedic effect--and everything is performed with a hint of self-awareness that they're playing to an audience?
In short, Breakfast At Tiffany's is a feature-length sitcom. Or maybe more of a sit-dram, but definitely not the kind of narrative that major studios spend movie budgets on these days. Situational stories are strictly small-screen now.
(Can you imagine Audrey Hepburn in a weekly sitcom or a Newtflix limited series? <yes, please?>)
Anyway, that basically explains why I really didn't much enjoy it on anything other than an craft-analysis level. It isn't that it's a sitcom as such.
But it is a specific kind of sitcom I hate despite them being super popular.
The movie set my teeth on edge for all the same reasons Friends, Frasier, Seinfeld, and Sex In The City all annoyed me too much to watch them when everyone else I knew seemed to be. Pretty, self-absorbed people living in relatively luxurious conditions--usually in New York--with no realistic jobs or means of support, complaining about problems they create for themselves, being cruel to one another, and calling it funny.
Big nopes for me. (And don't get me started on Big Bang Theory or Always Sunny In Philadelphia
I don't enjoy watching unhealthy interactions, bullying, or punch-down humor, and I can't relate to manipulative characters who choose to be selfish over and over without any comeuppance or growth.
Those are the same reasons I love the CBS show Ghosts, but feel kinda meh about the British original.
Aaand that turned into a rant, didn't it?
Congrats on reaching the end!
Next media rant will probably be about Sliders and/or Eureka. I've recently watched both series through, and...wow. Lots to unpack. Another time.
Internet cat tax!
