Brad Pitt Should Get Guy Ritchie to Rejig Adolescence for its Second Season
Ever since at least William Hazlitt in the 1820s we have been chasing the ‘spirit of the age’. Ever since at least Evelyn Waugh in the 1920s we have noticed that the spirit of the age is accelerating faster and faster. The last rotation of the cultural turntable threw out the Netflix series Adolescence. I saw the reviews of it, and the fuss about it, and waited. Finally, I watched it. Now, I know that you have already read Michael Rainsborough’s review. He suggests, amusingly, that the series was a satirical revelation of the state of our society. I have a different suggestion.
Was it good? Not really. There was a certain grim amusement in watching the single-shot camera following characters around. Though this had the sad consequence of enforcing on us extremely long scenes which felt Lear-like in length though they were Lear-less in content. Policeman tries to bond with his estranged son. Psychologist flirts with adolescent boy murderer. Husband and wife talk about how babies are made.
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Whenever I see the phrase “one camera shot” as a major part of a drama’s description I avoid it, unless it represents one person’s view of the unfolding story and is countered by a similar take on another participant’s view. However what I consider as good dramas employ the skills of a film editor to interweave the viewpoints together.
For the aforementioned reason I did not see this fiction, although I look forward to Guy Ritchie’s take on it.
Starmer is right in calling this a documentary. It documents the world view of the people who created it where 13-year old white boys without a “sex life” but interested in women and not men(!) are evil murderers because Andrew Tate has an internet presence and Pakistani gangs running teenage prostition rings and forcing underage girls into so-called “sex work” with tacit consent of local authorities are “a right-wing conspiracy theory.”
These are the postmodernists who believe that the world is whatever they want to make of it. Vaccinating people protects vaccinated people from deadly diseases. Green energy is cheap and plentiful. Unlimited immigration of male social rejects benefits everyone. And we’re living in a liberal and democratic society.
I think you are quite right, unconsciously reveals much more than the writers probably intended about the shitshow that is the workings of everything touched by government.
So bring it it on, show it to all adolescents and I suspect they’ll understand much more about the world than sstarmer wants them to.
Well, Dr Alexander, thanks for taking one for the team, but what with the ready accessibility of Youtube these days, none of us have to watch this stuff any more, or pay for it, ever again.
Speaking personally, I’ve recently become aware of the Soviet-era Sherlock Homes directed by a chap called Maslennikov, all available on Youtube with subtitles without paying a TV licence, “biblically accurate” as one of the commentators has posted and with a wonderful depiction of the male camaraderie between Holmes and Watson. Totally recommend.
A problem of our age is that we think time is real. Sentience is real and time is created by process. Time is representational dimensionality