NOVEMBER 10, 2020 – Whenever we chat with friends these days, the conversation inevitably plunges into politics, but just as predictably, we exchange recommendations for shows on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, et alia.
I’ve watched enough online TV streaming shows to have developed an altered view of reality. I now pretend I’m living Season Four of my own make-believe series called, Life in the Fast Lane. There’s a bit of irony in the title. I don’t actually live in the “fast lane,” but my character habitually follows every greeting of a friend/acquaintance with the question, “So, how’s life in the fast lane?” (I myself use that line in real life. Wait. What’s “real life”?)
My “show” includes serious drama, much of it external or existential—to use the in-vogue word stolen from Gabriel Marcel (the French Catholic philosopher who coined it) and misapplied by the current generation of language abusers. However, there’s plenty of rye humor (as I call the wry variety) in nearly every episode; good character development too. Production costs are low. The show is filmed mainly in and around my house and immediate neighborhood and up at the Red Cabin. Lots of pirated cable news clips are incorporated into the production.
The series plays out against a backdrop of unadulterated political skullduggery afflicting wider society. The public nonsense keeps interfering with the efforts of my character to lead a life in the not-so-fast lane. Just when he thinks he’s safe at work on some whimsical project within the confines of his own imagination, BAM! his smartphone signals some new political madness. The more serious the shenanigans become, the more my character strives to ignore it. His escape efforts, however, lead to a commensurate level of personal folly—like the time three weeks ago when my character went out in the woods to get away from all the political buffoonery but wound up with a rain-soaked windbreaker, which became a strait jacket in the course of an attempt to remove it. (See my 10/21 blog post – Re-enacting Houdini)
I imagine that the current season includes several more episodes. Another season is now in production, and rumor has it that many more seasons are in the works. Where the plot line runs, however, is a closely guarded secret—unknown even to the actor playing my character.
I highly recommend this approach to life. Just pretend that all the post-election flapdoodle by Trump and tribe is “made for Netflix.” When approached from that perspective, you’ll find some humor in it. You’ll be moved by ample poignancy too—not in the scenes featuring the Orange Monster and Minions but in the lives of people adversely affected by Republican tommyrot. The characters—all exceptionally well-cast for realism—will amuse, anger, and frustrate the “viewer.” All in all, observing life through a make-believe Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, or HBO prism will bring much color to an otherwise colorless world at this time of year.
Oh yeah—don’t forget the fast-lane food: popcorn soaked in melted butter!
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© 2020 by Eric Nilsson
