Most Haunted Live V Medium

[poliphilo]

I had a problem last night. The double bill of Medium on the Sci-fi channel was directly up against the three hour Most Haunted Live Halloween Special on Living. In the event I sort of solved it by majoring on Medium and flipping over to Most Haunted Live during the commercial breaks. I seem to have caught all the grooviest bits- the bit where David Wells described the dead people he was seeing, the bit where Yvette got them (the dead people) to sing to her, the bit where the witch (who was dead) threatened the team and David explained how he'd strengthened the protections because this ghost meant business.

David Wells is cute. Unlike the bombastic Derek Acorah (whom he replaced after Acorah was caught not only cheating but cheating lazily) he doesn't act like it's all about him.  He's openly gay, but not theatrically gay.  Also- dare I say this- I think he's honest. Yeah, yeah, I believe in this stuff- please don't make fun of me. The other night he made rather a good joke. He was apologizing for coming up with a "generic" name for one of the dead people he sees and Yvette told him not to apologize and he said, "I know, but we seem to get more Marys than I meet on my Saturday night out."

Not a lot actually happens on Most Haunted so it's possible to dodge in and out and not lose the thread. Medium, on the other hand, is smart and twisty and you'd better be paying close attention. The more seasons it puts under its belt, the more far-fetched the stories- but it hasn't yet entirely cut loose from planet Earth. The writing is neat and the acting is fabulous. And the kids who play the daughters are so brilliant I fear for them. 

This is where I should be drawing the threads together and explaining just why the TV schedules are overflowing with psychics and ghost-busters and what it says about our society- but actually I'm blowed if I know.  Sure we're anxious- and maybe tales of the Great Beyond soothe that anxiety-  but we were anxious during the Cold War too and the only spooks TV offered to comfort us then were the kind that wear tuxes and flaunt berettas. So, whatever. It's a fashion, a phase, a trend, a fad.  And I don't want it to stop.

Comments

[happydog.livejournal.com]

The question of why people are very interested in the Great Beyond these days is something I thought about too, especially in the face of folks like Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins telling all and sundry that belief in the supernatural must be left behind as we ascend into their cold Ayn-Randian future-world of pure intellect, unsullied by intrusive dreams or outdated hopes.

I think maybe that as Western society becomes more oriented toward materialism, consumerism and commercialism, the abreaction to that is the exploration of the mystical. One of the interesting things about the collapse of the Soviet Union was the immediate emergence afterward of a very active occult movement, which had been very much alive but repressed under Soviet Communism.

I am no exception, most of my reading these days seems to be about the Fae and their history. And no matter how rational or irrational the times, the Fair Folk, historically, consistently keep appearing regardless of whether or not they are supposed to exist. And you know what? I'm with you - I like it that way. God/dess forbid that we should explain everything.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think you're onto something.

People like Dawkins are operating with blinkers on. I don't see what's so scientific about materialism. Science can't disprove the supernatural any more than it can prove it. All it can do is offer explanations- some of them very far-fetched.

Besides, modern science has revealed the universe to be quite extraordinarily weird. Dark matter, particles that behave in impossible ways, all that stuff. If you can stomach all that as cold hard fact why draw the line at gods and ghosts and faeries?