The Highbrow
Sometimes I forget about how much the highbrow bothers me. Why is it that so much of anything that’s perceived as clever is either up its own arse or it gets all smug and wishy?
Among other things, I listen to a Radio 4 podcast called Front Row which is good apart from the tone, which really grates with me. Even at the beginning, Mark Lawson tells us about the terms and conditions in a way that is so smug, I don’t know whether to play along by looking concerned with a chinscratch of “terms… yes, quite” or to stick my ipod so far up Lawson’s arse he’ll be voting for whoever gets my arse in the slammer the fastest.
No, I’m good. Give me room.
It’s one hundred years since John Wayne (real name Marion Morrison, OK? See Hemingway’s Law) first swaggered barrel chested into the world. It was The Duke’s centenary last week, as well as that of Lawrence Olivier, bizarrely. But it took, as I suspected, about 53 seconds for Lawson and his Hampstead lefty pals to mention that John Wayne was an arch conservative with few sympathies for anything good (they mean liberal)
This bugs me. Unlike other actors, John Wayne only two hats: one was a Stetson and the other was made of cold, hard steel. But this didn’t make him of less value than Sir Larry, because it’s all about the show. There’s this assumption with people who place too high a value the perception of their intelligence that too much success stands in the way of their imposed artistic merit.
This is bullshit. The Beatles, Stephen Spielberg, Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare - all appreciated on a massive scale and worth their salt in gold. But the intelligencia don’t pay respect where it’s due. There’s an equation that if the popularity is less but the talent is roughly comparable to a decent standard, then that somehow gives the artist credibility.
I don’t know what the formula is because I’m not bothered it enough to give fucks to this matter. Although clearly I’ll base a blog post around it, sure.
So happy birthday Lawrence Olivier and John Wayne. I like to think they’re up their somewhere having a beer.
Hey you know the band in the sky debate? What if there’s a play in the sky? Sir Larry and The Duke, Jimmy Stewart, Natalie Wood, Lana Turner, John Belushi and the guy who played Leo McGarry out of The West Wing in a sitcom about a ragtag mob of hapless angels posing as a team of writers trying to sell a radio sitcom based around giant centipede. The show, called “It’s Got Legs”, would combine slapstick with politics of the media business.
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Late entry - Steve Martin, right? My Theories, Part One: Age
May 29th, 2007 at 10:42 am
I tend to go on the basis that if I am genuinely enjoying it (as opposed to making do because there’s nothing else entertaining available - c.f. in-flight magazines and my grandmother’s huge stash of Mills & Boon, all of which I will read but which are the literary equivalent of eating dry cornflakes because you ran out of milk) then I shall call it good. I speak as a fan of Jilly Cooper.
May 29th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
Hah, the Mills & Boon grandmother stash. I know it well. On of my grandmothers had a bedroom with walls lined with the old M & B. I used to read them whenever I’d visit, although I would never admit it to anyone. When I stayed with my other grandmother, however, I seem to remember being limited to a biography of Twiggy. I think I read it 3 times on seperate visits.
But - M & B. Did you look forward to reading them before the visit?
May 29th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Dammit! Yes! Yes I did!
And I would quite like to write one, but every time I start it degenerates into parody.
May 29th, 2007 at 4:53 pm
I did too. Sigh.
I used to quite fancy writing one . It shouldn’t be that hard. All you need is a woman with a reasonable job who *thinks* she’s strong. Maybe a failed relationship to escape from for a while.
Oh ho ho, but noooo! She’s not so strong! As soon as dude with square jaw and manly nose (or something) shows up and turns her to putty with his manhood, she learns the error of her ways and goes back to embroidery and kittens. Maybe an exotic location. And horses. Maybe a kidnapping just to spice things up a bit. And a jealous sister/possessive mother.
And I think parody would be fine. The M & B readership would never notice, surely.
Um…
May 29th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
People always look down their noses at me for drinking Earl Grey with milk and sugar, it’s the same thing.
Billy Crystal is another one - but people who have beards early on always look old young.
May 30th, 2007 at 7:35 am
Wendy - you’re halfway there already. Keep going.
Katy - I’m a magazinr reader who complains that there is never enough time to read books. Then again I’m also a blogger who thinks, “You know, I should really write something one day.”
Sam, I have milk and sugar in Earl Grey. Billy Crystal - brilliant - that’s going in.
May 30th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Earl Grey himself had milk and sugar in his Earl Grey, you know.
I’d like to write a book, but I’m far too innocent to come up with anything Mills and Boon might put out.