.... Talking about Les Miserables & Musicals, that is.
It can be a confusing time for a long standing, devout theatre follower.
Suddenly, I’m not necessarily the one starting the discussions; Random people
are listening to the songs, colleagues are overheard talking animatedly about
the merits of vocal ability over acting ability, magazines are jammed packed
with photos, quotes and interviews from the movie cast.
And I’m happy, I am. This exposure is brilliant. Ordinary people
in their droves will be going to see something other than Viva Forever. Hooray –
the West End is saved.
........ But, look! - over there. It lurks in the dark recesses
of the mind, the part you occasionally glance directly at but snap away from, it hurts to look there for more than a few seconds. Well, In there lives
a frantic eyed gollum-esque version of yourself and this creature is not happy
with the current turn of events. He wails in a pained, desperate imitation “Who
Am I?”
When your identity is rolled up with your passion, it feels
important to have an ownership of it. It feels like you have a right to make a
claim for it, run aways with it and hides it. Tell no one else about it. A
tendency toward the dramatic also carries a warning of possessive and obsessive
behaviour.
Now, it’s taken out of your hands. It’s being divided up and
shared around. Your scared and confused – no longer are you an individual with
a quirky love of musicals. No. Now you’re part of the crowd. You’re getting shoved and pushed and crushed
by said crowd. But do you leave? No, of course you don’t. Because though it’s
part of your identity, it’s not the whole and the reason it became part of you
in the first place is through love. So, instead of being the jealous wife of a
polygamous husband who shares himself between many, be the loving wife who
promotes and nurtures the growth of the family (while also having a few more loves herself). Attendance at shows
is what keeps it going, after all.
Talking of attendance, I’ll be off to see The Hobbit - errr
sorry - Les Mis again sometime this week........ because it’s MY precious!
I feel this way every time a book I love hits the big screen. It's sometimes hard to share the things we treasure with the masses because there's always going to be someone who doesn't love it like we do. Or worse, there are those who think they "get it", but they just don't. They take our "precious" things and make them cheaper.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's inevitable that when the thing you like is "being divided up and shared around", its worth is diluted and diminished with every sharing.
Sometime's we all wish that we could take that thing we love and "Keep it secret. Keep it safe" from the tarnishing influence of the masses.
Or maybe I'm just a covetous, selfish wench! :P
LOL. Maybe we both are. Or maybe we all are, just a little bit ;)
ReplyDeleteThere's something that makes the things we love that little bit less special when lots of people love it too..... maybe there's a part of me that's still 5 years old and really doesn't want to share *stamps feet* hehe.
When all's said and done, for the most part, I feel overwhelmingly proud of what this film has achieved and that positive reaction shoves the negative feeling hissing back into his corner
I am such a baby when it comes to things like this haha. Toys are thrown from the pram. I hate things going mainstream. Great exposure for the musical but a little part of me always wants to keep it for myself. - so mature ;)
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