Nope, not talking about Mommy-brain. I’m talking about remembering something fondly from the past and how you can’t always trust those memories.
Specifically, I remembered really, really liking The Thorn Birds when I was a child. I can remember watching the mini-series on TV and then much later reading and re-reading the book. I loved it. I wanted to move to Australia. I wanted Ralph and Maggie to get together (always the romantic!) Since it is still available in print 32 years later, I must not be the only one who enjoyed the book. So when Amazon sent me an email advertising a sale on TV series DVDs I thought why not?
I really should have known better.
Admittedly, given my schedule lately, I’ve only had time to watch the first episode. But having watched the first episode, I’m not especially interested in going on. I kind of want to preserve my good memories of the series. Yet, those memories have already been compromised by the shallow characterizations and poor acting / directing that I’ve already seen. Nothing is subtle, it’s as if the director and the script writer were afraid to trust the viewer to catch on to the nuances of the storyline without slapping her across the face with it. What seemed so dramatic and captivating in 1983 seems pretty unsophisticated by today’s standards.
Add to that none of the characters save one, who are all supposed to be Irish living in Australia, has the appropriate accent AND the icky factor of a priest obsessed with a small child and it’s pretty much a matter of willpower to go on and finish the thing. I keep hoping I’ll get sucked in to the storyline like I did all those years ago, but it’s tough to do when my husband (who is watching it for the first time) keeps bursting out laughing.
When will I ever learn?
Sometimes its better not to revisit the old stuff. Even some books that I loved in the past don’t hold up well after all these years. I feel your pain!
by anny cook September 11th, 2009 at 10:12 amI must be a glutton for punishment because I find myself really wanting to find a copy of the book to see if it stands up better than the miniseries does
by Jenyfer Matthews September 11th, 2009 at 11:07 am[...] my doubts. Would it have aged well? Having had my memories of old favorites like My Fair Lady and The Thorn Birds totally ruined by watching them again recently, it was entirely possible that the same thing would [...]
by Jenyfer Matthews » Blog Archive » Back In Time December 29th, 2009 at 12:45 am