Another RIP
Aaron Spelling, father of many a guilty addiction just died. I was incredibly surprised to find out he is Scottish, per Wikipedia. That just doesn't seem right - I thought he was Jewish, and honestly, I don't remember ever meeting anyone Jewish in Scotland.
Anyway, one of the cultural differences between the UK and the USA that has always puzzled me is soap operas, particularly the ones Mr. Spelling produced. In the UK, soap operas like Coronation St. and Eastenders are centered around working class pubs, have a multi-generational cast, and a pretty good smattering of unglamorous or clownish characters. The storylines are often a bit far-fetched sometimes, but on the gritty side of life, with some sardonic working class humor thrown in.
In the USA, soap operas are about impossibly rich and powerful people, and are usually centred on one family, rather than a community of characters. Everyone is beautiful and is coated in bling, and the storylines are improbable.
Maybe it says something about the relative values of each country; community in the UK and money and power in the US? But American soap operas are also enormously popular in the UK, though not the reverse. What does our respective taste in soap operas say about us?
I found this blog courtesy of the BBC. This is very interesting to me, as the man who writes this blog is almost my complement (American living 15 years in the UK). I revere the BBC because I feel like I learn things I don't even hear about in the American media, but he has the utmost disdain for them. I didn't read anything that indicates his opinion of the American media; maybe it's buried further down in his blog.
Anyway, the BBC link is interesting, but it failed to mention what to me is the whole attraction about blogs; it's a way of building community. Plus I like the discipline of having to write something every few days. Maybe one day, I will do some 'real' writing.
OK, here's one of most beautiful things about Scotland that doesn't get too much publicity - take a look at these stunning Scottish beaches.
posted by Marianne @ 6:32 PM
9 Comments:
I think someone on Wikipedia is being funny - they'll let anyone edit on there!
Aaron Spelling is an American film and television producer. Spelling grew up in a small frame house on Browder Street in Dallas "on the wrong side of the tracks," he wrote in his 1996 autobiography. He was the fourth son of immigrant Jews, his father from Poland, mother from Russia. The father's name, Spurling, was simplified to Spelling by an Ellis Island official.
or....maybe you're just kidding :-)
It really said he was born in Lanarkshire, really...does Wikipedia know whose reading and change itself to match their cultural mores? Cos now it says he was born in Dallas, which makes much more sense.
I lived every Saturday evening with Love Boat followed by Fantasy Island. I'd go visit my father and there was not much else to do. Unless he made us stay on his boat, in which case I was forced to clean the deck obsessively.
And, Marianne? Um, your writing IS real writing. So there.
I didn't know Aaron Spelling was married to Carolyn Jones. Hubba, and also hubba.
If he were alive now, he would say "it's not real writing unless you're getting paid for it." Which may be true, but may also be complete bull-hockey, to paraphrase Col. Sherman T. Potter.
aaron spelling was also the father of one of MY guilty addictions: tori's boobs.
i just can't stop looking at them!!
heh - I think Dow Corning was the father to Tori Spelling's boobs.
(but I understand the fascination..they're just so....odd)
After the apocalypse, all that will be left are the cockroaches and Tori Spelling's boobs. They should be in the Smithsonian, sitting right on Archie Bunker's chair.
They should also be placed at an awkwardly unnatural distance to each other. And slightly lopsided
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