Monday 3 May 2010

Attention spans

Like many authors I decry the rules that demand short, punchy stories without passive verbs, adverbs and adjectives. And yet, it is beginning to dawn on me that my tastes are changing in line with everyone else ~ at least as far as television is concerned. So many films I remember from years ago come up on screen and I sit down with happy expectation. Often within twenty minutes, I’m starting to twitch, and often by half an hour has gone by I’ve switched channels or got up to do something more interesting.
The stories seem slow, and the acting poor. Clint Eastwood still comes off well, but then his style was ever laconic. Is it that television stories today are so much more active and violent that the actor has more acting to do? Or has acting come of age? Possibly a bit of both.

Like many, I loved Life on Mars. But Ashes to Ashes is rapidly losing its charm, if indeed it ever had any beyond the wonderful character Gene Hunt. And the Quattro, of course. It could swashbuckler its way onto any screen. But I grow tired of gazing at Keeley Hawes’ flawless cheekbones, Shaz’s petulant lower lip and I’d love to put out a hand and stop Ray Carling chewing gum.

Tonight, Lewis returned. Scenery wonderful, acting good, storyline – complicated, and a tad confused. Dialogue hard to catch in important moments. I’m still not certain I know who did it. Or why Hathaway was having such a hard time. and while we're at it, I prefer his old haircut. The quiff changes his character, somehow. But I wasn’t bored. I sat through it, all of it, and it maintained my interest. My attention span is longer than I thought.

1 comment:

Carolin said...

You know, it's gotten so I hardly watch television anymore. The 'new' way of doing movies and series is, shall we say, too predictable for my taste. Plot, dialogue, acting - too repetitive, too fast, no development. Loved series like "I, Claudius" and so on. Or "Brideshead Revisited." Leisurely development, lots of neat visuals. Or - totally different genre - Akiro Kurosawa's movies like his Japanese retelling of "King Lear" in "Ran." Grandiose, scopey, and even the battles a feast for the eyes. Totally different than, say, "Braveheart," which really went on my last nerve....

But that's just me *grin*

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