Enjoyment

I was asked, "Did you enjoy the talk?" by my professor after we stayed after a play for the aftertalk.  That caught me offguard.  I had asked her if she was happy she stayed for it, because that is the sort of question I could answer easily.  Did I enjoy it?  Pretty hard to explain to her that I don't enjoy much.

Wait, what?

No, really.  I don't generally enjoy tv shows or movies.  I watch them because I feel a) obligated to as a member of society to know more about pop culture references, b) that I started watching and got somewhat attached to the characters in the beginning of the show, and now seasons later I am bored but feel that I need to keep going.


Friends had trouble understanding why I liked the show Animaniacs so much when it was on the air.  It was different, plain and simple.  It was witty (and also crude and crass, yes), and different from anything out there.  I could not predict what was going to happen, and thus I was transfixed.  No other show had done that for me.  Every show followed some sort of formulaic pattern.  Even if it created that pattern and stuck with it.  Animaniacs?  You knew there would be wit, belches, celebrity references, and that Pinky would be thinking something totally unexpected.

I enjoy Marvel shows because they are different from other shows out there.  The writing around Agent Carter was more than brilliant and showed women in strong roles without any of that sexual stuff surrounding it.  It was refreshing and surprising to see Jarvis and Peggy wrestle, and then Jarvis's wife ask if they wanted breakfast or to wrestle some more without a single ounce of jealousy; the way things should be.  I enjoyed that because I once thought the world was like that, and it is nice to learn that others believe it could be that way too. 

Do I like the familiar?  Of course!  That's why I love reading Shakespeare and getting students fascinated by his writing.  But I like the witty references to him in other works as allusions, not people saying, "Wherefore art thou, Romeo?" and someone responding, "Over here!" because they don't actually understand it.  I like reading classics so that I get the references others are making.

End point: I enjoy learning.  If I am not going to learn something new, then no, I am not going to enjoy it.  Give me a conversation, a song, a show, a story, an anything that I have not seen or heard before and if it gives me something new for my brain to absorb, and I will be happy.  I will enjoy.

Much love,
The Jaded Bee.