Catweazle, Clarkson and a man on wire

Just a few connections and conclusions I drew watching a few things yesterday. Firstly, Catweazle on DVD. This was a childrens’ programme first aired in 1970, a meander down Nostalgia Street for me, back to my own childhood, though I must have seen it when it was repeated a few years later. I was struck by the innocence and the freedom. Apart from the young lad Carrot befriending a weird, old bloke which would probably be enough for it not to get made these days, Carrot just jumped into the back of an old open top car, no seatbelt and then suggests Sam the driver goes off for a pint while he waits before driving back! I am not condoning drink driving, it is just the naive, innocent freedom of it all.

Later I watched Man on Wire about the French guy who high wire walked between the twin towers in New York in 1973. To get in to organise and set up they posed as workmen, office workers and journalists, creating false documentation and ID cards…can you imagine that now? They would be whipped off somewhere for questioning and have the almost impossible task of convincing the authorities they were not planning an attack. The DA at the time just said that if he did what amounted to a bit of community work all charges would be dropped. He was more than happy to do so and that was that. It seemed a finer world back then. The saddest thing was seeing the opening ceremony for the towers with a speech along the lines of them being a symbol of harmony, to bring the world together. Poignant when one considers the tragic circumstances that brought them down.

Finally, I saw the last five minutes of a programme I don’t watch: Top Gear. It had Jeremy Clarkson driving an Aston Martin and mourning the fact that because of world economics and environmental concerns such cars would soon be a thing of the past. I do not agree with most of his attitudes, tearing up the environment in a gas guzzler is a pretty selfish way of living but I do agree with his sentiment, that a sense of adventure, of fun, a spirited approach to life does seem to be lacking in our over controlled, safety conscious and secure no risk low risk culture. Not a culture that breeds free spirits like the Man on Wire.

So, what else is hype?

Well, in a nutshell most, if not all of it. Referring to a recent post concerning the way the news covered the Swine ‘flu epidemic…remember that? You really need to think about how hyped news is becoming. As Brooker said it is less about facts and more about opinion, but facts are facts (debatable), but who is expressing the opinion?

U.K news, the reality of reality TV

Ok, let’s hope the swine ‘flu doesn’t become a pandemic slaughtering millions, but I bet the news hopes it does, they are beside themselves to inject as much drama and hype into this as possible. Even if the 160 or so deaths in Mexico are as a direct result of ‘flu, it is 160 in a population of 100 000 000. As tragic as each death is on a personal level, statistically you have more chance of winning the lottery this weekend than dying from the ‘flu.

The news, however, wants to engender a state of panic, with their “what if” scenarios and even at this stage the news readers are at a level of hype completely out of proportion to the facts. What happens if this does become more serious? Where do the news readers go from the level of doom they already occupy? Kate Silverton tearing her hair out in clumps live on the 6 0′clock news or some poor reporter blowing his own brains out on a live feed into the studio because it’s all got a bit too much?

Reported on the news today was the number of suspected deaths related to polution levels in London; a few thousand in one year, reported matter-of-factly, no panic, hype or insanity. You do the maths. News should not be about “what ifs” or as Charlie Brooker pointed out, about opinion. It should report facts.

More people die each year putting their socks on in the morning than have so far died from ‘flu, which is why I am typing this barefoot…It’s just too dangerous to even contemplate pulling on a pair.

Let The Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in)

Well, I have been pretty scathing of everyone’s “favourite”, Slumdog Millionaire, but Let the Right One In, is a film worth going to see. I will, hopefullly, write a more detailed post but for now here are a few reviews I have found online

cinematical.com
twitchfilm.net
chud.com

Beautifully shot with a stark feel to the cold de-saturated colours, this film explores some difficult and disturbing subject matter in a thoughtful way with a sense of understanding and care often lacking in more mainstream films. Horror, yes, but not in a “just for the sake of it” way. Vampirism as metaphor, there are some endearing sensibilities in this charming and thought provoking film.

There were small aspects which did not quite work, or seemed strange additions, but the overall impact was one of an accomplished piece of story telling.

Robin Hood and Merlin

Mythology is more than story. It should entertain but be more than mere entertainment. It is a receptacle of archetypal themes, a deep rooted teaching from which much can be learned. It should be respected and approached with a responsible awareness of the wisdom and symbolism contained within.

Though, natural that it should, to some extent, evolve and be added to by each generation to speak to each generation, the core should be acknowledged and left untouched and unchanged. Those that seek to re-tell these tales should realise that they must only add branches to the tree and not reshape the trunk; even the responsibility of adding new branches, new threads to the tapestry, requires a deep understanding and respect for the inherent wisdom contained within the core mythology.

Both the tales of Merlin and Robin Hood are precious and important mythological cycles linked to these islands and Northern Europe, to mess with them irresponsibly, ignorant of their true meaning is no different to rewriting Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime mythology, or distorting the true messages of any religion.

The BBC has commissioned both Robin Hood and Merlin as prime time series’, written by people wholly unfamiliar and unconcerned with the legacy each represents. Ignorant of their meaning, they have subverted and diminished the mythology and overlaid the usual BBC obsession with political correctness. Rather than add anything of value they have corrupted valuable material. Their Robin Hood is little more than a dreadful pantomime and their Merlin strays so far from true characterisation as to render any true resonance pitiful.

Unconcerned to strive for deeper meaning, sacrificing integrity for bland entertainment, mythology for fabrication, and true story telling for second rate and irresponsible scriptwriting.

slumdog millionaire

A “feel good” movie…Well, apart from the obvious comment that your first chance of escaping the slums ends with being hung by the arms, beaten senseless and having a car battery clipped to your toes isn’t exactly what I would suggest as a way to make you feel good, there are other things to consider, namely, not why this is seen as a feel good movie but why it is being considered a good movie. All credit to the actors who do a great job and to the scenery which helps the film but the script and the plot are nothing out of the ordinary, nor are they good examples of the genre. The main plot is, ultimately, a tired, two-a-penny love story that has been repeated many times in cinema and has been accomplished with much more affect than in this film. The bad boy brother who finally redeems himself with self sacrifice thrown in, all a bit hackneyed. The final “phone-a-friend” contrivance was so painfully predictable I considered asking the cinema for a refund.

The whole concept that each answer was known by the main character because of experiences in his life was pushed too far to be realistic. Why, for instance, would having a Colt revolver pointed at him by his brother furnish him with the knowledge that Samual Colt was the inventer of the revolver? (They don’t print it on the barrel!) The fact that Samual Colt wasn’t, strictly, the inventor more the man who put the revolver concept into some form of mass production is overlooked. No, I can not understand the hype this film has generated nor the awards it has received.

It is a sad reflection on audience expectations.

BBC upcoming drama: Merlin.

Well, what will the BBC do with this archetypal mythology of the British Isles? Have to say, as someone who has a keen interest in Arthurian mythology, I hope the writers do a good job, though looking at previous efforts one has to wonder.

The latest Robin Hood, another important mythological tale, was dreadful and the last programme to approach Arthurian subject matter was Bonekickers…say no more.

Seeing the trailers for Merlin, it is not looking good. This mythology is an important aspect of the history of these isles. Stories have to change, to breathe and grow to offer each generation a message but, having said that, you can not alter creation mythology, mess around with archetypal truths and, completely, change the plot just to suit your own agenda. If you want to do that, write a new story, don’t dress up an important mythology in your own costumes.

Bonekickers, or as someone on the BBC message board called it: Bonk’ers

who left the dog out?

I know many people have criticized this series, myself included and you have to respect the opinions of those people who like it, but the last episode plumbed new depths of badness. I watched it because I have an interest in Arthurian Mythology which is, for me, a rich and important aspect of this land’s mythological history. To mess with it is the same as messing with Australian Aborigine Dreamtime mythology, or the beliefs of religions. It was pretty obvious that the writers have absolutely zero knowledge of these mythologies or their origins. I accept that it is fantasy, a fictional and fun series but, in the same breath, you can not ride slipshod and alter ancient mythology just for the fun of it.

“It’s a fake!” cries our feisty (and immature) herione, she knows this because a ring pull is found under the segment of table. Any decent archeologist would have realised something was amiss when Lancelot’s name appeared next to Arthur’s on the stone. Lancelot was a late edition to the mythology, coming through the French and Breton Romances of the 13th century, so would not be on a 6th century find. At one point she spoke the immortal line “Let the experts deal with it”…what experts would that be then?

There she goes calling Vivienne an “Arthurian Witch” again, she really should read up on her mythology.

Tennyson’s work was, in the main, influenced by Malory who wrote the well known English version of the mythology some centuries after the cycles in French that marked the first written versions in the 13th-14th century, as such his was a heavily Churchified and fairly muddled account which bore little relation to the earlier romances.

Using Arthur as a Golden Age figure for a rejuvinated England is pretty insulting. If there was an historical figure he, definately, was not English: He fought the Anglo Saxons! If anything Arthur was of the people who became the Welsh, Cymry…and those in Cumbria and up into parts of Scotland. He was “Anglosized” by various monarchs trying to establish a right to rule.

So, I am being a bit picky. Yet, it is not just the meddling with mythological material, the aspect that really turns me off this series is the, quite frankly, appalling writing. The exposition is dreadful, the inter-personal relationships between characters is creaky and hard to believe. The plot lines are, wait for it, so fantastical as to be laughable….the contrived lineage of the sword just…..insulting on a number of levels. Maybe we can accept that they arranged to get the segment of stone table back to their lab, but the bad guys did a good job of taking it..must have needed at least six men…and a fork lift truck. Her mother is a resident in a nursing home but has managed to construct a nice little secret room under the floorboards, you would have thought someone might have noticed. Kind of the authorities to leave Wells Cathedral open over night too and I want to know where I can buy one of those torches that can shine like a laser through stained glass window and illuminate a lakebed.

These things do matter, unless you are happy to allow anyone whose written a pretty poor script as a under-graduate the opportunity and the tax payers money to make stuff like this. I might be doing a scriptwriting MA soon, I just want to confirm the university did not produce the people who wrote this. If they did, I think I might go elsewhere because, to be brutally honest, it was dreadful.

Who left the dog out? That dog being of course Scoobydoo. The similarity Velma, Daphne, Shaggy, etc is quite uncanny. The bad guys would have got away with it if it hadn’t been for those pesky kids, the writers, certainly, got a way with it.

Bonekickers: Valuable artifact or just rubbish?

I thought the first episode was poor writing, not to mention atrociously loose with history.

The biggest slip being representing the Templars as some sort of Muslim slaying bunch of maniacs which is incorrect and quite insulting. For a start there were never enough of them to be in a position to conduct massacre and also the small point that one of the reasons they were finally tried for heresy, apart from the fact of their wealth and influence, was that they were, probably, too friendly with the followers of Islam. Look at the flowering of architecture that took place in Europe during and after the Crusade period? This came though Islamic knowledge, as did much new medicinal wisdom. Look at the style of Templar churches: They shared knowledge with the Muslim world and learnt much, to represent the Templars as blood thirsty haters of Islam is just drama writing trying to be so politically correct it is painful.

At one point our feisty archeologist referred to Vivienne as “a witch”. Tennyson used a form of Vivienne and the character is usually called this in Breton versions of Arthurian Mythology, but more often referred to as Nimue. She was the consort of Merlin. The original archetype was, probably, a Goddess figure. Only later when Christian influence began to denegrate the tales would she be referred to as a witch. You really would have thought a feminist, feisty woman who demonstrated a dislike for Christianity would have known this.

Lastly, a small point 666 is not the number of the beast, it is a translation error that occurred at some point when the Bible underwent one of its many translations.

Always happy to give a series a second chance, but the dialogue and exposition did not improve and this week we have a forward thinking and ethnically sound Washington fighting alongside renegade African Slaves against the nasty English. Just feel that political correctness. Some of the scenes on the tidal mud must have had colleagues of Tony Robinson whincing (is it just me or does the opening titles and music of Bonekickers bear a passing resemblance to that used by TimeTeam?)

This week I believe we have Boudica falling in love with a Roman: The woman who saw her husband killed and her daughters raped and responded by going on the warpath and castrating every Roman soldier she came across; the whole of the menfolk of St Albans if my memory serves me correctly. Can’t see her getting passionate with one of them.

Only the BBC again….

At a time when the BBC has come under some criticism for the amount they pay some presenters it is astonishing that they line up the usual suspects, one presenter and three pundits to offer comments on the European Football Championship. A competitition that does not even feature any of the U.K National teams (but does, of course, feature a large percentage of Premiership players). Now I am not a big fan of soccer, so I wont be making a habit of writing posts that even mention it in passing…but maybe, just maybe the fact that most of the Premiership is there but none of the home nation national teams feature may, in some small way, be connected….

Two to three weeks of boring low scoring non-spectacle with a plethora of experts giving us the pleasure of their knowledge, nice to see the BBC catering for everyone then.