Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Justified

Today, cruising through ye olde towne, I got stuck behind a mail truck. Seeing as how I was in no big hurry, I puttered on behind her, backing up traffic, and generally being a great big pain in the ass. No crossing a double yellow line for me, no sirree! The guy five cars behind me took umbrage at my outlandish courtesy and passed us all, horn a-blowing and naughty finger a-waving. Weelll.....the state trooper in the quite clearly marked SUV (you know-light bar, big blue VIRGINIA STATE TROOPER emblazoned across every flat surface) that was right behind me wasted no time in making pretty sparkly blue lights at him and giving him a ten minute lecture plus ticket. (Yes, I stopped to watch, but I was going to the Walgreens, I swear!) If anyone had been able to see inside my vehicle as he got chased down, they probably would have called an ambulance, convinced I was having a seizure. There was fist pumping, high fiving, and general displays of not so ladylike behavior going on in there.
Hah! Justification. Smells like victory.
It doesn't always happen like that, as you all are well aware of. Which makes it so much sweeter when it does.
I experienced something this weekend that I know will never see it's moment of sweet sweet revenge, and it makes me both sad and outrageously angry. Disney has taken upon itself to corrupt yet another of the great stories. Alice in Wonderland is a travesty. A blatant and sickening reminder of the power of corporate thinking. They have taken a story with the staying power of over a hundred years and moulded it into something they can make money off of, riding the coattails of Lewis Carol's enduring appeal to a sequence of generations and making it a shadow of it's former self. From my generation onward, people will be thinking that this abomination is the real story, for how many people nowadays take the time to actually read the classics? Just as video killed the radio star, movies (made by large corporations--indie films are much better about this) have fundamentally distorted the legacy of human literature. Why read the book? Watch the movie! In 3D! High Def! 1080p!
So for any of you out there that have not read the weird, confusing, poetry-riddled wonderland that Carol penned well before our time, do me a favor. Read the book, then watch the movie. You'll understand, I hope, and then maybe, just maybe, I can sleep better knowing there is a spark out there that can be fanned into a wildfire of respect for our literary heritage.

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