Why in heaven's name am I writing about British film and tv?
So, I live in Arizona. In a log cabin actually. That's about as American as it gets I think. I have always lived in the United States and have not traveled much outside of these borders. Growing up in a small midwestern town did not give me any sort of cosmopolitan background. I have always found myself basically content where I am, identifying more with the pioneer spirit than the world stage, traveling as a camper not a sightseer. When I was a girl I wanted nothing more than for Laura Ingalls to travel in time and come to me so that I could show her my world.
I write all of this because I find it interesting that a person with such a background, a woman who keeps chickens and a desert tortoise outside on the ranch, finds herself so completely head over heels with the life portrayed in English dramas.
For starters, I never even realized I had this obsessive interest until one day recently when I happened a glance at the small dvd shelf in my room where I keep the things I like to watch when I have "me" time. What I saw is what inspired me to write this blog. On that shelf were:
MI-5, Downton Abbey, The Duchess of Duke Street, The King's Speech, Love Actually, Across the Universe, Jane Eyre (the one with Toby Stephens), The English Patient, North and South, Middlemarch, a Collection of Jane Austen Adaptations from the BBC in the 1970s and 1980s, Emma (the Kate Beckinsale one), Sense and Sensibility (the Emma Thompson one), and Pride and Prejudice (the Colin Firth one). Also on the shelf were Lost in Translation and His Girl Friday. I was blown away to realize that I am a total British film groupie.
I can approach my interest in this genre (if British film counts as a "genre") from two angles. The first is the inherent superiority of British productions, the second is that there is something internal in me that predisposes me to all things English. There is a good argument to be made for either.
My first obsessive interest in life was the Beatles. I'm actually too young for the Beatles; I didn't know they existed until after they'd broken up, but it didn't stop me from going crazy for them once I became aware. I was so taken with the idea of them and their life in Liverpool, their discovery, their early adventures.... Wait, I suppose an obsessive interest in the Beatles does characterize a fair number of other people too, doesn't it?
Hmmm, come to think of it, a driving interest in Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and the Harry Potter books is not so unusual either....
Maybe its not about me after all :)
