Mimicry and Mass Media Madness

We've been watching downloaded BBC shows at night--tired of going out to the same places, and just plain tired I think (poor Sion's been sick). Up until last week it was Doctor Who, and then Life on Mars (about a guy who wakes up after an accident and its 1973--and he's a cop) and Spaced, a comedy about two loser chums (boy/girl) who share a flat. There are about 5 channels in English, including HBO that has commercials. There are at least 6 versions of Indian Idol, which Hirin, the housekeeper, watches every chance he gets. He actually takes careful notes, and then he transcribes them. And since I hang out at the house alone often enough during the day, I've been the only one to see him receive phone calls and then apparently report on the results of the shows, reading his notes and chatting. I think since I leave him to it, he's happy enough. He doens't do it when Allison's around. Probably because she does things like spend entire afternoons dismantling the kitchen and speaking loudly and slowly to him about how she likes things cleaned and organized just so. Me? I'm grateful to him for cleaning up after us and doing our laundry.

There are 4 or 5 music video channels, and every other commercial's got a song and dance number. Most movies on TV have musical numbers in them, even the dramas (I'm guessing based on the music and melodramatic chewing of scenery). We bought a copy of Lagaan, (based on Ding's recommendation--that and it had subtitles) and I expected big, ponderous drama. The premise is this: the monsoon's failed for three years, a starving village is forced to pay a double tax, or lagaan. They are offered a chance to play cricket as a bet against the tax. Ok; now that I've written that out, how could it be all serious? I know. It's full of singing and dancing--even in the super-dramatic parts. I started to love the singing and dancing. Duh: there were outfits and choreography. Lucky for me, Sion was there to explain the cricket in the last half hour of the movie; the reactions shots from the crowd, yay or boo, weren't quite enough: what do you mean, the game lasts three days???

I wish the musicals (on at the cinema and on TV and in the stores) had subtitles. I'll still watch bits and pieces of the TV ones, but after a while I lose interest. Too many commercials and it's not that fun when I have no idea what's going on. I suppose we could Mystery Science Theater it (we did a bit while we were watching Dracula the other night).

I've a theory that in terms of mass hybridized culture its the 90s here. Ally McBeal is on TV during prime time: as is Seinfeld and Friends. The bars here love love love nothing more than techno, and the 70's nostalgia that prompted the return of hip-hugging pants and retro nightclubs is all over the trendy fashions you see in the shops, especially in menswear. Sion argues its because they didn't get the 70s the first time around. I blame post-colonial mimicry.