Notes on Pop Culture: Censoring Classics, 'Grey's' Lets Cristina Heal, 'The Middle's' on a Hot Streak

Censoring Classics

My father gave my 12-year-old son Tom Sawyer for Christmas and my 12-year-old daughter To Kill a Mockingbird. Both books were mentioned this week when news broke that a publisher had sanitized Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer by removing references to the N-word to make it more palatable to be taught in schools.

The New York Times’ Michiko Kakutani wrote a powerful column decrying the new edition’s changes saying that the "original texts should be sacrosanct intellectual property" and that "tampering with a writer's words underscores both editors' extraordinary hubris and a cavalier attitude embraced by more and more people . . . that all texts are fungible."

An excerpt:

“Haven’t we learned by now that removing books from the curriculum just deprives children of exposure to classic works of literature? Worse, it relieves teachers of the fundamental responsibility of putting such books in context – of helping students understand that Huckleberry Finn actually stands as a powerful indictment of slavery . . . of using its contested language as an opportunity to explore the painful complexities of race relations in this country. To censor or redact books on school reading lists is a form of denial: shutting the door on harsh historical realities – whitewashing them or pretending they do not exist.”

I told my kids when they started reading their books that the N-word will appear there and we had discussions about the word and about what was going on in the point in American history when their respective novels are set. Unsettled as my explanations may make them, I agree with Kakutani that it’s important to tell children about history so they can understand how very much life has changed since then. I’m looking forward to discussions with the kids about those books and, if my son likes Tom Sawyer, may pick up Huckleberry Finn for him next.



Grey’s Allows Cristina to Heal

I was quite pleased that Grey’s Anatomy gave Cristina Yang the room and the time to heal on her own terms, something which finally occurred in latest episode, “Disarm.” While many shows artificially rush a character through something like mourning, fear or anger because they think the fans can’t handle a slow, stop-start emotional recovery from a trauma, Grey’s allowed Cristina to flail around for 10 episodes – impulsively get married, hang out at the mall, do a cruddy job of bartending at Joe’s -- before finally having the character regain her footing. And it was worth the wait.

I reviewed the episode on CliqueClack TV, and express the hope that the ill-advised Teddy-Denny 2.0 marriage doesn’t cause the show to run off the tracks, plot-wise.
 


The Middle's on a Hot Streak


From the spot-on satire of parents who have turned over complete control of their lives to their children – running around to three different fast food restaurants to get each child his or her preferred food, allowing the offspring to take over the “big” TV and retreating to other rooms so the children can watch what they want – to the grade school-aged Brick discovering the internet for the first time (because his parents were refusing to cart him to the library every other day) and learning that there aren’t really single people out there waiting to meet him, the latest episode was thoroughly entertaining.

Following on the heels of its excellent dysfunctional Thanksgiving installment and its scathing Christmas episode, where Frankie battled with her parents over how many presents the children should have under the tree, The Middle is having a good run of it lately.

Image credit: New York Times.

How Many Days of Mourning on the Too-Long 'Grey's' Premiere?

*Warning: Spoilers ahead from the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy*

Yes, I sniffled while watching Callie's reaction to her ex-husband's death. I also teared up when each of George's friends -- in his or her own time and in his or her unique way -- came to terms with his passing. I'm not one who shies away from five-hankie TV shows (or else I would've stopped watching not only Grey's, but other shows like Private Practice a long time ago), but the two-hour Grey's season premiere, primarily focused on two hours of mourning, was too long and seemed to drag.

I understand that the writers were attempting to dramatize how long it takes for some people to give themselves permission to feel something as awful as the loss of a friend. In Cristina's case, it took 40+ days and she only let herself react after she and Owen slept together. For Meredith it also took several weeks and her emotional reaction was triggered by the cleaning out of George's locker. And I understand the writers were likewise trying to illustrate how Izzie's near-death in Alex's arms on the same day that George died, had a lasting impact on Alex, chiefly that he was trying to protect himself from losing the woman he loves by pushing Izzie, now an out-patient (and living in Derek's TRAILER?!) away.

Ditto for Lexie and Mark, as Lexie, initially rebuffed Mark's invitation to live with him, to shield herself from being hurt. Only the repeated appearances of Callie, Mark's neighbor, in various states of undress and walking in on Mark while he was showering, prompted Lexie to get with the program and bring some of her belongings to his apartment.

All of this, I thought, could've been handled more succinctly.

The woman who George heroically saved was sitting on the bench outside the hospital, every day, day after day. Did we really need all those scenes? I say, "No," unless she was going to somehow be folded into the show as a regular character. I was more interested in the grieving the regular characters were experiencing.

Beyond George's death, there was the business about the Chief being ousted in a potential coup by the hospital's Board of Directors. This was interesting and has potential, but the tension between Derek and the Chief didn't warrant several curt scenes that did nothing to move the story forward: Derek was offered the Chief's job, said he needed time to think about it as a strategy to get the Chief more time to strategize about how to stave off his firing. The twist at the end of the episode, where it was announced that Seattle Grace would be merging with Mercy West -- the place where Callie, filled with grief and rage, abruptly secured a new job in short order -- has long-term dramatic potential, especially in this economic climate where not only are people losing their jobs, but health care costs and the impact of cuts on patients is being debated in Washington. Could provide excellent topical commentary, should the writers choose to go there.

What did YOU think of the Grey's Anatomy season premiere?