Sunday, April 02, 2006

I turn my camera on........

I was watching a show, recently, about 40 minutes ago, in fact. The show was called 'Grey's Anatomy' and this show is one I watch quite frequently, due to the faint hint of a good show lurking somewhere beneath and showing its face from time to time. The vague traces include but are not limited to: a decent soundtrack (i.e. The Boy Least Likely To, Wilco, Al Green), Patrick Dempsey's sometimes inspired and realistic acting, the intriguing medical scenarios (of which the various legitimacy issues are ignored for the sake of entertainment) and some really intriguing life scenarios and relationship scenarios (for example, George loves Meredith but she's just not that into him, which is one of the most terrible ordeals humans can get themselves into).

However, a few minutes ago, I mulled the show over while I was in the shower. I was wondering why shows on TV can only be about 11% realistic when it comes to portraying relationships. There is zero chemistry between any of these people on the show. Why is it so difficult to get actors to act like they really love this character that they are supposed to love? Is it because only people who are really in love can showcase that to the world enough to make it believable? Do I just want perfection from film and television? The complete false tv love is not limited to low-rate network television. Even on shows that are critically agreed to be 'good' ... the relationships are hardly 100% believable or even 65% believable. The Sopranos??? I apoligize to the masses who consume this fluff like it is cocaine but seriously, you expect me to believe that stuff? Is that the point? Do they not want me to believe it?

I just do not think it is that difficult to write a plot and write dialogue that is believable and I don't understand why these people who get paid 100,000 dollars a day to write this stuff can't make it at least 40% believeable (instead of the aforementioned 11%). Or! Do they purposefully write it in this diluted fashion because the standard average person watching ABC on a Sunday night doesn't know what a real emotion is anyway? Do they water it down for a reason so that the people who don't know how to properly feel (which is probably 85% of the country) will be entertained and enjoy their 42 minutes of television without thinking too hard about what love SHOULD BE?

Damn it. This is why the few realistic portrayals of relationships and emotions that I have seen in film, I truly treasure. For example, how about in American Beauty when Annette Bening collapses into Lester's clothes at the end? I don't think any scene in any movie ever got to me as much as that one did. There are other examples, but this is one that most people have seen.

Well, hopefully someone can answer my questions or set me straight and tell me I am a pretentious piece of junk!

Stay velvet, kiddies.

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