In the past days (and weeks), I’ve consumed a steady diet of news, news, news. Both on TV — two or three channels – and reading the Washington Post and the New York Times. The news lately? Four-alarm fire on the anxiety spectrum! I do have an antidote, periodically at least. Drumroll please… it’s “trash” TV.
First, let me clarify. I’m not a drinker. I might wish that a glass of wine would do the trick, but that’s not how I’m wired. Ice cream (some of you know) is an entirely different story. A less than optimal story! Which leads me to my quest for the perfect Immersion Relaxation Therapy. One that isn’t “illegal, immoral, or fattening,” as my mother might say.
Help! I Need to Relax!
That brings me to my need for the mental health benefits of visual distraction. Not any visual distraction; one that is thoroughly diverting, requires little intellect and is deliciously engaging. A dose of TLC, Bravo, or an old movie does the trick. (If I’m really lucky, I might find a period film with extravagant interiors and delectable costumes.)
Real Housewives of [name your city here]?
They definitely fit the bill. (I have my personal faves – New York, the OC.) I’m wowed by the clothes and the decor. Sure, sure. Within reason, the antics, too.
TLC (The Learning Channel)? I admit to my addiction to 90-Day Fiancé and two of its spinoffs. What’s not to like about cross-cultural conundrums in love exacerbated by a 90-day engagement timeline? Yup, most often it’s a train wreck. And we can’t stop watching.
Is it fair or even accurate to call these shows “trash” TV? Who knows. Who cares! I only know that lately, boy do I need them.
Pass the Classic Films, Please
I also admit to loving any old series or classic film that I can find for free. My preferences range from the 1940s with Bette Davis (melodrama) to the 1950s with Elizabeth Taylor (more melodrama) to the 1960s (often dated, rom-com candy). Most of the movies in these categories I’ve seen dozens of times. But did you know that watching reruns is a stress reliever?
Among other things, I record old episodes of Perry Mason (which ran from 1957 into the mid-60s). These are typically broadcast in the middle of the night, but oh, the parade of hairstyles and dresses! The youthful faces of men and women who later became major stars! What the plots lack in complexity or depth, the images make up for in pleasure sufficient to reach my Immersion Relaxation Threshold. Likewise, almost any film from the 40s or 50s.
Why?
I adore the hats, the gloves, the shoulder pads, the jewelry! Fabric-covered buttons on neatly cinched-in suits!
Obviously, when I’m seeking to chill out, I’m unlikely to search out films or TV series that are more substantive. The point is that I can’t seem to watch much these days — beyond trash, fluff, or visual treats. Anxiety is sooooo easily triggered, to my surprise.
Speaking of treats…
Visual Treats
Here are a few other indulgences I’ve enjoyed in the past week, deemed “treats” because my eye is drawn to the delicious details in sets – the interiors that are era/decade-specific.
This past weekend I watched “Boys Night Out” — not the first time — a 1962 romp with Kim Novak, James Garner, and scenes with the delightful middle-aged character actress, Jesse Royce Landis.
First of all, Kim Novak is mesmerizing. Those cheeks when she purses her lips! Stunning.
More importantly, the interiors where most of the action takes place are quintessential over-the-top glamourous bachelor pad à la 1960s. I immediately recalled the sets in the long-running award-winning series, Mad Men. (I spent countless hours dissecting those sets as I mused on each Mad Men episode, seasons 3 through 7, that is.)
Over-the-Top Alert! (Decorating Gag Order?)
I experienced a full-blown SMH (shaking my head) episode when I caught my first glimpse at this: the over-the-top living room with a canary-colored circular couch, smallish square and round (orange) throw pillows, the (orange) built-in bar with stools, and the mirrored backsplash with its gold glass veining. Speaking of… gag!… orange and gold, these colors were in (nauseating?) abundance. Dare I add… they were especially discombobulating with a proximate fire engine red wall in the entryway (that you can’t see in my pic).
Before moving on to my other anxiety analgesics (a.k.a. entertainment indulgences), I have to say, I can’t stop looking at the kitchen in this movie’s Manhattan apartment.
Oh, Am I Blue?
Please forgive the fact that I could only take quick screenshots while streaming. But do try to imagine the yummy design of this kitchen space. It. Was. FAB. It looked incredibly contemporary right down to the detail of the peacock blue fridge — is that peacock? robin’s egg? — that far out impresses any kitchen I’ve ever had the privilege of living with!
And check out the shapes. Shelves. Counters. Fridge. All clean, minimal, rectangular lines. An organized lower freezer section of the fridge. Oh, I’m blue for the absence of my own glorious blue kitchen!
For the two hours I was delighting in this bit of 60s fluff, my 45-induced angst eased. Unfortunately, my happy place dissolved as soon as I peeked at my news feed. OMG. That whoosh of concern begged to be quelled with a 1948 movie I hadn’t seen in years — Every Girl Should Be Married. (I know, right? And funny, I wrote about this movie, here, 10 years ago!)
Fluff, Stuff, and Rough
Those 1940s and 50s formulaic films? Talk about fluff! Even more interesting to me in Every Girl Should Be Married — the reminder of what was once expected of girls and women: Find a man, get married, have babies. Period. In need of schemes to accomplish those goals? No problem. All is forgiven. As long as you nab the brass — make that gold — ring.
What an entertaining contrast just days before the U.S. puts its first woman EVER into high office! And a woman of color! Amazing, thrilling, I was beginning to think I would never see it.
Lest you think I’m solely “in bed” with Real Housewives and their extravagant excesses, or dazed and dulled by dead film stars, I confess to two other addictions. Much rougher stuff. Specifically, I found a pair of French TV series that meet two of my “Immersion Relaxation Therapy” requirements — completely engaging and visually rich — but definitely not lacking for intellectual content.
First on tap — The Bureau, a 5-season French spy series that had me on the edge of my proverbial seat — through all five seasons! The second — Balthazar, which I can only describe as a quirky forensic detective series. In addition to plot twists and turns to keep yours truly riveted, it’s impossible not to care about the characters. And that, for me, guarantees an engaging story.
But… But… But…
Angst, Agita, Anxiety
I’m still struggling with a sense of foreboding, a jumpiness, a feeling like the earth beneath my feet is constantly shaking. As I’ve said before — as if we hadn’t had enough with the stress of our year of Covid, racial reckoning, and economic devastation.
So. Some of you may tell me to stop watching the news, stop reading the paper, just shut it all down and turn it all off. I tried that. No go. The angst, the agita, the anxiety remain.
Ignorance isn’t bliss. The degradation of truth, accountability, and civility — and especially since the November election — should not be ignored. And last week’s events are horrifying. Not only the siege at the Capitol, but the ongoing, nationwide threats, the intolerable lies, the cynical propaganda. Not to pay attention feels wrong.
So, here I am. In order to “carry on” I will do what I must — loads of news, a few whispered prayers, and immersive hours I can find on TV.
Are you feeling a sense of foreboding? (Please don’t tell me I’m alone in this.) How are you handling it? How do you feel about 60s interiors? Don’t you miss fabric-covered buttons? What is your Immersion Relaxation Therapy, if you have one?
TV/Movie Images, screenshots from my mobile device.
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Foreboding – Yes. It may get worse before it gets better. For the moment (as in this very moment, before any more excrement hits the air mover) I am hopeful. A political direction has reached its end game. It’s finally undeniably clear where it was headed, what its intentions were. Pretensions have been stripped naked – The plausible deniability of pretending to be unaware or detest the whole thing while gaining power and profit from it is no longer possible.
While it has emboldened some, I believe it has enlightened and/or repelled almost everyone else. Law enforcement knows sedition when it sees it (particularly when there is no underlying ideology and attempt to work within existing frameworks) and knows how to deal with it. When even the corporations decide the landscape has become untenable, things will change. I predict it will mean fundamental rearrangement of the political territory, long overdue.
I’m coping by (mostly) divorcing my emotions while taking it all in and analyzing the trends. This may sound odd, but I find if I divorce myself enough it’s like the old watching of a test pattern when the television signed off for the evening. When I’ve had enough of that there’s always my first love, music.
Blue Kitchens – I like striking colors. And that photo looks interesting. But it also reminds me of a place a college roommate and I looked at in the mid-seventies with blue metal kitchen cabinets. Yes, metal! As you say, it was probably built fifteen years prior. Not retro or cool, even to the eyes of impoverished students. A shame, as the rest of the place had its charms.
Today’s events will certainly be interesting to watch, to say the least. The number of Republicans to vote for impeachment is growing; how many join in remains to be seen. Your thoughts on the necessity of this action given everything that we know now and the increasing detail that is coming out?
We had an outright attack on the physical, symbolic, theoretical and perceptual structures of the nation’s democratic system. America itself. It needs to be made clear to current and future society that we don’t do this. I’m for prosecuting anyone who as much as continued to suggest
election fraud (through words or deeds) after courts and impartial observers said otherwise. Those elected to guard our democracy shouldn’t be given free reign to wreck it.
Well said.
I’m watching the news even now. These days are chilling. And today, as the House votes on impeachment, this is terribly sad, but necessary.
I love that retro décor! My ideal, though, has always been Woodstock’s hipster pad in “It’s the Easter Bunny, Charlie Brown!”
My perfect retro goes back a few centuries further, but that MCM stuff can be great.
As for trash TV, I haven’t watched much lately, but I did start re-watching “Emily in Paris”–I could watch it while on my mini-stepper, which required not needing to really hear the banal script but able to pretend the Paris on the screen was outside my apartment, and all those beautiful people motivated me to keep stepping.
Otherwise, my kid loves nature documentaries, which are good for putting things in perspective.
Re news, check out the latest episode of Pivot podcast–interesting analysis of social media but the most interesting was the interview with an NYU scholar about authoritarians through the years. I don’t think we’re out of the woods yet.
Woodstock’s hipster pad. Ha! I’m going to have to look that up now.
I will need to check out that podcast as well.
Emily in Paris – it’s on my list to watch but I haven’t gotten to it yet. Trust me, I will. It sounds like exactly what the doctor ordered given everything that’s going on these days.
Occasionally I look at foreign newspapers — British and French — to see how everything that is going on here is being perceived. Your impressions from across the Atlantic? Are they surprised or not?
Woodstock’s house here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcN-ogdb2CM
The stereo speakers!!!!
Yes! Wonderful!
Oh, I can vouch for the therapeutic value of watching episodes of Poirot over and over! Lots of freeze-framing over delicious Art Deco interiors and fashions, manners and mores. I do like the 40s fare as well – the fashions are divine!! – but there’s often a bit of a mad-cap edge to the pace of the dialogue which I don’t find as soothing, so can only appreciate them for their visuals.
I hear you on that madcap pace. Not exactly soothing!
I don’t even live in the US but cannot stop checking in. Even here in Canada there are very much divided followers and that distresses me when I listen to the false beliefs and anger. I feel like we have regressed decades and that terrifies me. There is so much false information that incites so much anger, at times I am almost glad to be in lockdown. However, I am also into the distraction of lighter entertainment. I have been watching as many episodes of Escape to the Chateau from France with British owners. I can get so drawn in after a few episodes that I think I am there as well. The nature channels are good for some fun and the Planet earth about the solar system beginnings was amazing. My choice for the oldies but goodies is between 40’s and 60’s and can rewatch those for the fashion and decor. I found a British show called Dogs Behaving very Badly and even though I don’t have a dog now, these are fascinating to watch. Keep enjoying all the lighter side as much as possible and stay safe and sane.
Dogs behaving badly? OK, now I’m going to have to search that one out. Love it!
WHAT EVER YOU NEED TO RELAX AND BE CALM DO IT!
IT IS ALL SO OVER WHELMING TO ME!
I CANNOT READ ANYMORE NEWS!
WE HAD A SMALL EARTHQUAKE TODAY SO THAT WAS A NICE DISTRACTION!
XX
When a small earthquake is a “nice distraction” – that ain’t good. xo
I wish I could. I cannot. It is like meditation to me: elusive.