contagious media
Aug. 19th, 2009 10:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spatchWhen Warren Ellis' excellent Transmetropolitan was still running, I remember going out to Million Year Picnic to pick up the latest issue, reading it almost immediately in Harvard Square, and then riding home basking in the newly-gained contempt and loathing I had for Everything And Every One Around Me. Such was the misanthropic power of Spider Jerusalem and the future dystopia which he inhabited and despised.
(That was ten years ago. Today, all that's needed to generate the same level of contempt is a simple ride on the Red Line during rush hour. hoorj)
I have a similar reaction after watching a new episode of MAD MEN, though the attitude is different. After an episode now, it becomes very clear to me that Everybody Has An Ulterior Motive and everything that's said is a cipher. There's obviously subtext hiding in even the most innocuous statement such as "It's 5:15." CLEARLY!!
Fortunately, much like the reaction to Transmet, that feeling only lasts for a few hours (longer if there's a T ride involved) and we regain that sense of silly almost-optimism and get on with our lives. It's rare that a television show can throw me into this mindset for as long as it does (even rarer for a comic book to do, so more power to Transmet) and even if the results aren't pretty, I have to admire the talent it takes to make those attitudes so oddly contagious.
(That was ten years ago. Today, all that's needed to generate the same level of contempt is a simple ride on the Red Line during rush hour. hoorj)
I have a similar reaction after watching a new episode of MAD MEN, though the attitude is different. After an episode now, it becomes very clear to me that Everybody Has An Ulterior Motive and everything that's said is a cipher. There's obviously subtext hiding in even the most innocuous statement such as "It's 5:15." CLEARLY!!
Fortunately, much like the reaction to Transmet, that feeling only lasts for a few hours (longer if there's a T ride involved) and we regain that sense of silly almost-optimism and get on with our lives. It's rare that a television show can throw me into this mindset for as long as it does (even rarer for a comic book to do, so more power to Transmet) and even if the results aren't pretty, I have to admire the talent it takes to make those attitudes so oddly contagious.
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-19 03:51 pm (UTC)The acting and writing are amazing, but what really sends me into their world is the level of detail in the costumes, dress and even posture. The old office equipment, the ash trays, the bullet bras, the way women held cigarettes are all different today.
For me, it not only reminds me vividly of the world when I was a child and youth, but I can practically smell the stench of smoke. Something I despised as a boy, and which I had never dreamed of escaping.
I love that every line has depth and nuance. It makes watching the show feel like reading a novel.