The Fiction I Enjoy

We celebrated the start of our four-day holiday weekend by watching three adaptations of Jane Austen novels. These were the "good" versions, written by Andrew Davies and produced by BBC with the "old" A&E that cared about Art as much as Entertainment.

Pride and Prejudice remains my favorite Austen work, and the Davies script is a reasonably loyal adaptation. I have to state that I like the dialogue of Persuasion, and Emma is a masterpiece — so self-aware that it can border on being something of an Austen parody of Austen. (I do not like Mansfield Park and cannot recall Northanger Abbey, I admit to some shame.)

A few days ago someone mentioned that I must love science fiction.

No. I don't love science fiction. I like it, but I do not own many works of science fiction and my entertainment choices are more likely to be cartoons and romantic comedies.

I enjoyed the first Star Wars movies, but I'm not an obsessed fan; we don't even own copies of the films, unless my wife still has VHS tapes somewhere. We watch Doctor Who, but I can't recite trivia from the series. I don't believe we've watched the new Batman movies, and I know we didn't watch the last two X-Men films.

My favorite films include Pleasantville, Notting Hill, Casablanca, and The Majestic. During the Christmas holiday, I watched two versions of Les Miserables, including a wonderful 1934 version in French. It was brilliant, much better than the English musical that is a shadow of the novel.

Musicals are great, with some notable exceptions the popular tastes. I do not like Les Miserables nor do I like Cats. Rent is painful. I like the classic musicals, from the Golden Age of Broadway. Give me Showboat and West Side Story. I do appreciate Phantom of the Opera, and Chess has great music, though it is a relic of its time. I've seen Bye Bye Birdie several times, and West Side Story at least twice. Film versions of musicals are okay, but they lack the energy of a live performance. At the same time, the old "big production" musicals can be a lot of fun. The 1954 Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and the Streisand 1969 Hello, Dolly! are personal favorites — though my wife would rather not be asked to watch these with me.

My television series tastes are limited. I prefer police procedurals and courtroom dramas. I dislike most comedies, with the notable exception of Modern Family. I believe I used to enjoy Cheers, Frazier, and M*A*S*H. Who doesn't consider M*A*S*H one of the best shows of all time? It was brilliant, on many levels.

I like cartoons, from Disney to Warner and everything between. One of the benefits of my age is that the 1970s and 80s were a Golden Age for Saturday Morning cartoons and reruns of all the great cartoons of the past. I remember Rocky and Bullwinkle in the mornings and Scooby-Doo in the afternoons. On weekends, we had Bugs Bunny and the Super Friends. What a great time to be a child.

Yet, people seem to assume I must prefer hobbits and droids to romance, musicals, and cartoons.

Maybe there are some singing hobbits in love, with an animated dragon accompanying them?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Autistic Burnout

Active Listening and Autism

The Autistic Tiger