Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death. ~Rosalind Russell as Auntie Mame
Cypress Gardens Kodachrome Slide courtesy of http://www.shorpy.com
Lately I’ve been pondering what it means to live life in fabulous Technicolor. I don’t think it is coincidental that there is a desire to replicate a time period represented in the super saturation of Technicolor and its cousin Kodachrome. When we look at the artifacts from the time period, everything seemed more glamorous, more vibrant, more alive!
Sure, the world was under constant threat of imploding, but after a long depression and a world war, the focus was on creating wonderful and lasting memories. As a result, we’ve got home movies of a family’s summer vacations where they wear matching Daniel Boone jackets that the mother made. From our cynical 21st century point of view, the matching jackets are the epitome of kitschiness but from the family’s perspective, they were having a great time.
While I was rewatching the Rosalind Russell classic, Auntie Mame, yesterday, I was struck how Mame’s life philosophy was to explore and savor the world around her (and in distant lands). She was viewed as eccentric because she was so open to trying new things (and bringing all sorts of people into her fold). At the risk of sounding like I’m beating a dead horse, I think the reason modern people have become so bitter, bored, angry, and cynical is because they are exploring and thinking vicariously. Sure cable and the Internet have enabled us to learn amazing things, but we aren’t actually experiencing it–despite what the salesman told us when we bought The Mega-Monster 5000 HD, 3D flat screen TV. It isn’t just like being there.
And, sometimes, when we are there physically, we are still experiencing things vicariously because we’ve got our faces in technology. I was at a celebration recently where half of the guests were more focused on taking photos than on the actual ceremony. Me? I was sobbing because it was so very moving (and I felt honored to be asked to participate in it). Later, I sat with a mother and her tween-age children. Trying to have a conversation with them was futile because they rarely looked up from their texting.
I don’t know about you, but I’m done living in a monochromatic world where life is fed to us in sound bites. Me? I’m choosing to live in fabulous Technicolor!
Auntie Mame is AMAZING. And you’re right – we spend an awful lot of time documenting our lives instead of living them. It’s depressing. I can do all sorts of awesome things, and still take pictures of them, but I’m not going to text-message my way through life. Why bother?
You mentioned (or a commenter did) about the Lloyd Thaxton show! I well remember this show, as I watched it all the time. How I remember the “sit-down” dances (not lap-dancing, lol), where dancers stayed seated and “danced” to the tunes!
This is a great retro topic, Dr. J. My take is that we are becoming more and more in-grown as individuals and the community is the loser. Community relations used to be important — and I mean on a personal basis — the sharing of ideas and experiences. Now we have personal computers, personal cellphones, iPods, etc. — lots of electronics that keep us from interacting. We’re losing the knack of interacting to the point of rudeness. I believe people used to feel much more cordial toward one another, more respectful, more eager to engage.
I often think of Auntie Mame. I always thought I would avoid being thought eccentric. Now I actually wonder how far I’ll be willing to go in eccentricity.