An ephiphany.

Since I was little, I have always been enthralled by television. In my Pop Culture class last fall, I joked that television was like my third parent. It is through it that I learned English quicker, I was exposed to Western culture and Western concepts of family and communication. (Growing up watching TV, I really believe that it has psychologically shaped a large part of my personality and how I view people, relationships and society. However, it needs to be further explored with a therapist before I can adequately explain it here - but hey, a book idea, no? Oh crap, unless it's already been written about... I mean, I'm sure it has. But, not from my perspective. It would be more autobiographical and memoirs-type anyways. Okay, don't want to give the whole synopsis away... Oops, tangent.)

Back to what I was saying:

Certain shows have inspired me to write more, to think about what is possible for human beings, and to fall in love with ideas and characters. Television has a gift that film does not - the ability to express the infinite imagination of writers to create characters and have the privilege of time, week after week, to expound on those imagined-people, growing them, adding depth and complexity. It allows the audience to really get to know them as if they were our friends, perhaps even family. And you know I don't mean all shows but the good ones. The really good ones with the fantastic writing, visionary directing and believable acting.

One of the shows that I have become quite a fan of this year is Private Practice. I'm currently watching this week's episode and in the closing scene, one character confronts another about how we cannot lie to each other, that we have to talk. The conversation is intense, emotional and confrontational. And all of sudden, it hit me: why do people not talk like that in "real life"?

Whenever I watch a confrontational scene, where the character bares their soul, breaks down in front of a friend or complete stranger, screams, yells, cries, I cannot help but think, gosh, what if we could communicate to each other like that? A lot of people criticize film or television for how unrealistic story lines or characters can be. Or for dialogue that is too dramatic, cheesy or romanticized. I can certainly agree that there are a lot of things that happen on the screen that could never happen in real life.

But what about the things that could?

What I have realized tonight is that we criticize the dialogue of characters for being unrealistic in their way of communicating truth and honesty to one another. But perhaps, we are critical of the imagined because in actuality, we do not allow ourselves to ever be that vulnerable or trusting of each other to say the kind of things that we watch on a show or in a movie. We tend to scoff instead of be in awe of what fictitious people are able to do. What writers are able to do is write characters that say what they feel and exactly what is on their mind. Thus, writers use their characters to say what they, themselves, never could in real life but sincerely wish they were brave enough to.

I used to think that I was silly for wishing that life was more like TV. But maybe now I can say more confidently that perhaps life should be imitating art, even just a little.

Edited to add: After reflecting on this entry, I recognize that what film and television do is bring writing to life; serving as the visual and audio expressions of words. But why rely on the representations of the screen when we perhaps can be more literary ourselves? Is this too idealistic of me to ask? Is it because I, myself, am a writer? Or maybe even the fact that I know I live too often in words so I feel akin to TV because it is somehow a happy medium that I cannot otherwise achieve or obtain on my own?