Have you ever been watching television and out of the blue you catch a line of dialogue or a theme, and then suddenly you’re thinking about the programme in a completely different way? That happened twice for me in the past week.
The first time I was watching a documentary about The Hollies on Sky Arts. I’m a bit of a fan anyway but I didn’t know much about them, except that Graham Nash left the group – and his old life – to travel to California where he joined David Crosby and Stephen Stills and form their eponymous super group.
Long story short, Nash wanted to be more experimental while the rest of the group preferred sticking to a successful formula as a pop group with incredible harmonies. Despite Nash’s departure marking the beginning of the end, during this period they released their two most celebrated tracks: He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother and The Air That I Breathe,
The lightbulb moment, as I saw it, is that they knew what they were good at and were happy to carry on with it. They weren’t trying to be something different for the sake of it, and that holds true for Graham Nash as well. We all have our own star to follow.
The second flicker of light came while flicking through the channels in that way that makes my partner want to confiscate the remote control. I landed on an episode of Gogglebox and the ‘audience’ were watching the singer Jane MacDonald put on a show. I say ‘watching’ but taking the piss from the comfort of their comfy chairs, while eating the takeaways that the TV company pay for, might be more accurate. I’m not familiar with Jane’s work, and I’m no musical critic, but her voice seemed good to me. There might have been a wobble or two in her live show but certainly fewer than The Hollies’ live performances.
I watched the gogglers, watching Jane, and it seemed to sum up everything that’s wrong with social media. We can easily become armchair critics, puffed up by our self-importance, failing to recognise that it takes hard work and determination to make something and to put yourself and your work out there. Of course, there’s not much of a TV format in that.
Why does any of this matter? In fact, does any of it matter?
Well, it does if you want it to. Authenticity is bandied about in the creative arts (and beyond) as if it were a cure-all for guaranteed personal fulfilment, sales and success. Being who we are is really only the beginning. It gives us clarity about what we want to offer and then we can think about how to develop it and present it to its best effect.
The Hollies remind us that talent has its own lines of least resistance. That when we understand what we do well it’s easier to do that very thing and to own it. Gogglebox reminds us that not every critic comes from a place of understanding or knowledge. Sometimes they’re being deliberately provocative because that’s the role they’ve taken on, or that is their skill. Like a toddler who can’t build a tower of blocks but is happy to knock over yours, again and again.
Speaking of TV, have you checked out the site TV Heaven for a celebration of programmes past and present? Here's one of my contributions:
https://televisionheaven.co.uk/articles/downbeat-endings
I write British spy thrillers and crime mysteries. You can find them here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B0034ORY08
I am also a freelance writer and comms specialist.
No comments:
Post a Comment