You Must Be Kidding

I've never really thought of myself as a book person. I had a spot in twelfth grade where I read a lot of Literature, but that was mostly so I could feel smarter than everyone else. For the most part, I've preferred my stories told visually, aurally, and lengthily. That's what I love about television the most– the length. The chance to spend YEARS with some characters. The first episode spent deciding whether or not to invest time; the second season where you can't believe you've been able to be apart for so long; the final episode which, when done right, feels like uncompromising closure. Very few books have ever made me as emotionally invested as television has.

But recently, I'm reading more and more, and I'm watching TV less and less. And it's not as simple as I'm getting more mature in my tastes. Gone Girl is certainly not more mature than The West Wing. It's that TV and movies no longer offer me the new worlds I crave. They are just shadows of things we already know. And sure, everyone says this. “They're making a Love Boat reboot. Can you believe it? Who would watch that?” It's a joke, and it's easy to ignore, but if you look at the deficit in original content in TV and Movies, it's not just about Knightrider or Dallas getting remade. It's almost everything. It's pervasive.

The movies I saw this year? Godzilla,Winter Soldier, The Fault in Our Stars

The TV shows? Game of Thrones* ,Dexter, Orange is the New Black, The Walking Dead, Sherlock (also Elementary, and a Sherlock Holmes movie), Agents of Shield, Doctor Who

They're all just adaptations and reboots. Even the stuff that feels small and independent, like Welcome to Nightvale, is based on a world built almost a century ago.  And it's not to say that adaptation is intrinsically bad. I like a lot of those properties. And when the BBC adaptation of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell comes out, I will watch it, and I'll probably love it.

But it will NEVER be as amazing as falling in love with Susanna Clarke's world for the Very First Time. And it seems that books are the last resort for true world building. I am heartbroken at the idea of never feeling that with film again. Mad Men and Breaking Bad and House of Cards are some exceptions, but not only are they rare exceptions, but they seem to be so spiritually similar (the rise and fall of an older, white male anti-hero), that their presence is unsatisfying. It's like the dozens of LOST clones that came out in the early 2000s. It's the application of template more than originality.

So I would like us all to be a bit more brave, both as consumers and as creators. Consider watching something, some web series or hidden away Roku gem, that isn't based on or inspired by anything else. That is just some characters and places that someone just made up one day. Remember how people used to do that all the time? Just make stuff up?

And when you're writing your play or your book or your movie or whatever, maybe don't make it about steampunk zombies, or star trek fan fiction. Those things have their place, and I don't want to discount the incredible art of mashup culture. I think there's a place for artists like Girltalk and the folks behind Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and some of the incredible fan fiction and films that are out there. I think there's something interesting in taking an existing property and making it your own, and I don't want to discount it. But I don't buy that all the ideas have already been written down and put on a lunchbox. The experience of living right now is different than any other time in history, and new stories are all around us. Instead of making works that pay homage to Roddenberry and Lucas, try to BE Roddenberry and Lucas. It's not sacrilege. And it's only a little bit arrogant**.

We need new worlds. We need new feels and images and characters. It is easier to make a movie or a webseries or a book than ever before, so why waste that on making someone else's art? Build me a new world, and I will explore it. Birth me a new character, and I will fall in love.   

*I actually haven't watched much of this, but it is a useful example

And time after time after time they need to tell me.

I have been told how beautiful she is.  How she is just the coolest, cutest girl they've ever met.  I've been asked for her number and asked what she drinks.  As if by some mandate of the fat best friend protocols, it's totally legit to imply that I'm not as beautiful, cool, cute, don't have a phone, and wouldn't like a free beer.

Here's a thing that was said to me once: "When I first met you guys, I was worried she was you, and I didn't want to be in trouble with [your boyfriend].  I thought, this is the most beautiful creature I've ever seen and I won't be able to control myself.  Then I was relieved when I met you and you were another person."

Sometimes I feel like no one has empathy.  That no one can understand how I might take it a little personally when the twelfth guy in a night has sauntered over to me to ask out my friend.

I don't like comparisons, but sometimes it feels like there is an objective beautiful, and it's not me.  And sometimes I realize that I have a happier, more fulfilling life than said friend, and that's due in part to never catching a break because someone thought I was hot.  I had to work very hard to feel important and likable and it paid off a lot of the time.  Is this all vindictive?  Is it petty or pity?