Art imitates life
I want to mention three bits of media I serendipitously stumbled on in the last couple of weeks.
First is a Canadian programme, Being Erica. Maybe a bit too chick-lit for guys, but it has really grown on me. It’s about a Jewish woman with a few issues and a therapist capable of time travel and quick costume changes. Basically she goes back into time and relives her worst moments in hopes of changing the outcome.
Episode two of the current series reminded me so much of some of my past conflicts that it was spooky! And the message was one I agree with whole heartedly: you can solve conflict, if you really want to solve it, by talking *and* listening to each other.
A great episode and worth a watch.
Watch Series 2 Episode “Battle Royale” on 4oD.
Lennon Naked is an interesting re-enactment of John Lennon’s issues dealing with relationships. The film attempts to explain Lennon’s propensity to behave badly to the important people in his life with his childhood abandonment by his father. I found the the scene where Lennon describes the anguish of waiting for a father that never comes particular poignant and frighteningly familiar.
Christopher Eccleston and Chris Fairbanks both give surprisingly low key performances.
There’s no iPlayer version but the final airing is this Friday on BBC4 at 23:40.
Full description and clips here.
Finally, I found the last piece on this Radio 4’s All In The Mind this week particularly interesting. It explains the effects of social deprivation on solitary confinement prisoners. Solitary confinement presents the extreme case of social deprivation but I think it’s easy to extrapolate that isolating from other people for extended periods can do very bad things to your mental state.
Listen here - at 23:00 minutes in exactly if you prefer to just hear the piece on social deprivation.