I'm ashamed to admit we haven't seen any Paddington movies, though my littlest kid was bummed I didn't manage to bring her back a stuffed bear from that train station when I went to London. Maybe we'll rectify that tonight and make it a whole British-themed evening since we were already planning on going to a recently-opened fish and chips shop. The only imports that really matter to a 6yo! 🥔 (Just kidding, she also loves the Ministry of Silly Walks and Elton John)
First off, fish and chips were spectacular by my standards. They were perfectly crispy and came with tartar sauce, malt vinegar, and curry sauce, and I'm nothing if not a condiments girl. So I was pretty much in heaven. Mushy peas and scotch egg were good too. Soon they're going to start doing a full English breakfast there, which I'm excited to try. We did indeed hear Elton John while dining.
We enjoyed the first Paddington. I thought "whoever made this movie likes a lot of the same movies I do" because there were a lot of Wes Anderson and Amelie-type echoes in it, and I'm a big sucker for whimsical interiors. We thought the whole evil taxidermy lady thing was a bit forced though. Isn't the fish out of water, small bear trying to find a home in wet London thing enough conflict? It was for me. But I liked the absurdity that it kind of ended up being a movie about Hugh Bonneville admitting he needs a good male friend to go on capers with. All of us are looking forward to watching the next one.
One thing I find myself doing as we're watching movies like this is murmuring "You know her from Harry Potter. You know him from Downton" etc. to my husband because he recognizes the same 10 or 12 British actors that appear in all these popular movies but can never remember where he knows them from. Is this what watching movies is like now? Just sitting there with IMDB open on our phones because if we can't place the next actress who appears, it's going to drive us crazy all night?
It’s amazing to hear that people from Abroad are actually starting to treat English food as a ‘cuisine’. Not because English food can’t be good, but because we’re so used (as a nation) to being self-deprecating about it. Apparently there’s some new restaurant in Paris specialising in English pies. Amazing. And yes - P1 is not (IMO) as good as P2, but Tobias says you sort of have to see the first one to properly enjoy the second one. I love the design - it’s so rich and sweet, in exactly the right sort of way (kinda like good English food)
I watched the first episode of Ludwig and could get no further because of one sequence which reduced me to tears, which I am sure was not the attention. There’s a point in the story at which Ludwig has what is pretty clearly intended to be be an autistic meltdown. It’s rather well done, and all the better for not being labelled as such. We are not told, but rather shown, that Ludwig is autistic. I’m very much in favour of nuanced and sensitive portrayals of autism in all its infinite variety, especially when it’s treated as just a feature of the character rather than the Whole Point of the Drama (“look at us discussing the Issues!” <Alan Parker, Urban Warrior voice>). That made me cry because it felt true and resonated with me very much. The bit that made me angry and refuse to go on is that the story made the meltdown _useful_, enlightening, a direct route to the solution of the case, not available to the neurotypicals. An autistic meltdown is not useful, it is hell, and in the aftermath one doesn’t just sit down and solve a sudoku or a murder, one is capable of little more than curling up and recovering, which takes quite some time. It’s not a gift, it’s not a pathway to enlightenment, it’s a profoundly distressing experience and most definitely not a plot mechanism. <I may be overreacting>
I can understand why it would piss you off. I must admit I didn’t register it particularly (I think I knew it was supposed to signal autism but didn’t think much about it beyond that, which I guess makes me a part of a larger problem). But - to return to my monomaniacal interest in Ludwig - pressing absolutely everything into plot mechanisms, instead of just letting elements breathe, was definitely one of the ways in which it was less good than it could have been.
Thank you! I think you’ve articulated something I’ve been struggling with for a while here, although more in terms of music than television. I listen to a lot of music and I think my taste is pretty eclectic. Of course, there is always music I don’t like because it’s just not for me but sometimes a band or a song will turn up that I hate with a passion and when that happens it is usually because it is exactly the sort of thing that I should theoretically like but it misses the mark. I’m not sure the “only as good as it needs to be” statement quite fits but it’s the best explanation I’ve found to explain my irrational rage!
I think your comments about acknowledgement and consideration of the audience are good ones. We all appreciate someone going that extra mile in any context. I also think expectations are vital. I watched The Fall Guy on the plane to San Francisco a few weeks ago and I thoroughly enjoyed it but I don’t know how much of that was because I was expecting very little. (I suspect three G&Ts might also have been a contributory factor.) Anyway, when we expect something to be good, if it only just hits the mark, we are inevitably disappointed. Some things are just held to a higher standard. The examples you cite from comedy, animation and children’s films are all things which are generally not held in high regard so that when they exceed expectations, they delight us.
Great essay today. Now we need a follow up to explain exactly why Love, Actually makes Tobias so angry. (For the record, this is a family favourite in our house and seasonally appropriate so I think you should get on this.)
Ha! Maybe it is time for a defence of Love, Actually… I’m not sure I could defend it wholeheartedly (I tend to fast-forward through the English guy in America bits) but I do have a substantial guilty affection for it.
Mine isn’t even a guilty affection. Mind you, a friend was talking to me recently about the lack of female agency in the film and it’s got me thinking…
I agree with ALL of this, with one notable exception. You're right about Ludwig, but I enjoyed it more than you, but only because my youngest daughter LOVED it so much, and it's increasingly rare to find something she'll sit and watch with us. We are now watching Jonathan Creek, which probably also fits in the "will this do?" category (with a few standout exceptions), but which is made more fun by critiqueing it with the youngest (and then going off on a walk and listening to the Up The Creek podcast after every episode.)
But, yes, Paddington 2 had no need to be that good, and we have now watched Ghosts at least four times through as a family (my youngest has watched it more than that so I'm always catching random episodes) and it remains just as funny as it was the first time. (Also agree about Band of Brothers, V English Scandal and Wallace and Gromit)
Final aside: I would absolutely pay to hear David Mitchell doing an honest DVD commentary of Ludwig in which he takes apart the plots in his trademark scathing tones.
Ha, thank you! If your daughter loves it you're definitely allowed to nurse a fondness for it, I won't argue with that. I never actually watched Jonathan Creek but I am Creek-curious, I must admit - might give it a go one day if I ever get a mild illness that necessitates a couple of days on the sofa. And yes - I think Mitchell's involvement is one of the things that makes it all a bit baffling; he's obviously a very clever guy, so it makes you wonder why he didn't punch it up a bit.
I think "obviously insane angst" is my favourite form of cultural critical tbh.
I agree with all of this and every example you've cited. My husband and I were comparing Ludwig to the early series of Line of Duty (slightly different genre, I realise, but the latter was just so surprising and phone-forgetting gripping in exactly the wayvl that Ludwig isn't).
As an author of genre fiction, I ALWAYS want to subvert and surprise, and this is a useful reminder of the value of respecting your audience and creating stories that are "better than they need to be".
I guess a more direct comparison will be the film adaptation of The Thursday Murder Club 👀 Also! Another example of a TV show exceeding expectations: RIVALS!!! It's sublime!!!
Fair point, well made. However, I think Martin managed to hit her seriously underwritten part for a six. It was the main reason I watched! It would be good if season 2 gave her more to work with. The production also needs to lose the son, an inconsistent mess of a character given nothing interesting to do by either director or the script.
I agree with almost everything you say, although you lost me completely when you asserted bizarrely that Paddington 2 was better than Three Billboards Outside Ebbings, Missouri. In fairness, I’ve yet to see a film that is better than Three Billboards. But I also think Three Billboards is a good example of the general point you make. It could so easily have been a film about the killing of a girl, a mother who put up billboards to draw attention to the sheriff’s failure to investigate properly, a sheriff who was incompetent or corrupt…and it would still have been fine. But because it didn’t do that, it was oh so much better than just fine.
I'm ashamed to admit we haven't seen any Paddington movies, though my littlest kid was bummed I didn't manage to bring her back a stuffed bear from that train station when I went to London. Maybe we'll rectify that tonight and make it a whole British-themed evening since we were already planning on going to a recently-opened fish and chips shop. The only imports that really matter to a 6yo! 🥔 (Just kidding, she also loves the Ministry of Silly Walks and Elton John)
Oh do report back! Would be interested to see whether it travels well. (Paddington, although also fish and chips I suppose)
First off, fish and chips were spectacular by my standards. They were perfectly crispy and came with tartar sauce, malt vinegar, and curry sauce, and I'm nothing if not a condiments girl. So I was pretty much in heaven. Mushy peas and scotch egg were good too. Soon they're going to start doing a full English breakfast there, which I'm excited to try. We did indeed hear Elton John while dining.
We enjoyed the first Paddington. I thought "whoever made this movie likes a lot of the same movies I do" because there were a lot of Wes Anderson and Amelie-type echoes in it, and I'm a big sucker for whimsical interiors. We thought the whole evil taxidermy lady thing was a bit forced though. Isn't the fish out of water, small bear trying to find a home in wet London thing enough conflict? It was for me. But I liked the absurdity that it kind of ended up being a movie about Hugh Bonneville admitting he needs a good male friend to go on capers with. All of us are looking forward to watching the next one.
One thing I find myself doing as we're watching movies like this is murmuring "You know her from Harry Potter. You know him from Downton" etc. to my husband because he recognizes the same 10 or 12 British actors that appear in all these popular movies but can never remember where he knows them from. Is this what watching movies is like now? Just sitting there with IMDB open on our phones because if we can't place the next actress who appears, it's going to drive us crazy all night?
It’s amazing to hear that people from Abroad are actually starting to treat English food as a ‘cuisine’. Not because English food can’t be good, but because we’re so used (as a nation) to being self-deprecating about it. Apparently there’s some new restaurant in Paris specialising in English pies. Amazing. And yes - P1 is not (IMO) as good as P2, but Tobias says you sort of have to see the first one to properly enjoy the second one. I love the design - it’s so rich and sweet, in exactly the right sort of way (kinda like good English food)
I watched the first episode of Ludwig and could get no further because of one sequence which reduced me to tears, which I am sure was not the attention. There’s a point in the story at which Ludwig has what is pretty clearly intended to be be an autistic meltdown. It’s rather well done, and all the better for not being labelled as such. We are not told, but rather shown, that Ludwig is autistic. I’m very much in favour of nuanced and sensitive portrayals of autism in all its infinite variety, especially when it’s treated as just a feature of the character rather than the Whole Point of the Drama (“look at us discussing the Issues!” <Alan Parker, Urban Warrior voice>). That made me cry because it felt true and resonated with me very much. The bit that made me angry and refuse to go on is that the story made the meltdown _useful_, enlightening, a direct route to the solution of the case, not available to the neurotypicals. An autistic meltdown is not useful, it is hell, and in the aftermath one doesn’t just sit down and solve a sudoku or a murder, one is capable of little more than curling up and recovering, which takes quite some time. It’s not a gift, it’s not a pathway to enlightenment, it’s a profoundly distressing experience and most definitely not a plot mechanism. <I may be overreacting>
edit: for attention read intention.
I can understand why it would piss you off. I must admit I didn’t register it particularly (I think I knew it was supposed to signal autism but didn’t think much about it beyond that, which I guess makes me a part of a larger problem). But - to return to my monomaniacal interest in Ludwig - pressing absolutely everything into plot mechanisms, instead of just letting elements breathe, was definitely one of the ways in which it was less good than it could have been.
Thank you! I think you’ve articulated something I’ve been struggling with for a while here, although more in terms of music than television. I listen to a lot of music and I think my taste is pretty eclectic. Of course, there is always music I don’t like because it’s just not for me but sometimes a band or a song will turn up that I hate with a passion and when that happens it is usually because it is exactly the sort of thing that I should theoretically like but it misses the mark. I’m not sure the “only as good as it needs to be” statement quite fits but it’s the best explanation I’ve found to explain my irrational rage!
I think your comments about acknowledgement and consideration of the audience are good ones. We all appreciate someone going that extra mile in any context. I also think expectations are vital. I watched The Fall Guy on the plane to San Francisco a few weeks ago and I thoroughly enjoyed it but I don’t know how much of that was because I was expecting very little. (I suspect three G&Ts might also have been a contributory factor.) Anyway, when we expect something to be good, if it only just hits the mark, we are inevitably disappointed. Some things are just held to a higher standard. The examples you cite from comedy, animation and children’s films are all things which are generally not held in high regard so that when they exceed expectations, they delight us.
Great essay today. Now we need a follow up to explain exactly why Love, Actually makes Tobias so angry. (For the record, this is a family favourite in our house and seasonally appropriate so I think you should get on this.)
Ha! Maybe it is time for a defence of Love, Actually… I’m not sure I could defend it wholeheartedly (I tend to fast-forward through the English guy in America bits) but I do have a substantial guilty affection for it.
Mine isn’t even a guilty affection. Mind you, a friend was talking to me recently about the lack of female agency in the film and it’s got me thinking…
Well, there’s always the lady who flashes her growler at Alan Rickman. But yes, Richard Curtis isn’t very ^modern^ when it comes to sexual politics…
Was that me?!
It was Emily, I think, when we were in London.
I agree with ALL of this, with one notable exception. You're right about Ludwig, but I enjoyed it more than you, but only because my youngest daughter LOVED it so much, and it's increasingly rare to find something she'll sit and watch with us. We are now watching Jonathan Creek, which probably also fits in the "will this do?" category (with a few standout exceptions), but which is made more fun by critiqueing it with the youngest (and then going off on a walk and listening to the Up The Creek podcast after every episode.)
But, yes, Paddington 2 had no need to be that good, and we have now watched Ghosts at least four times through as a family (my youngest has watched it more than that so I'm always catching random episodes) and it remains just as funny as it was the first time. (Also agree about Band of Brothers, V English Scandal and Wallace and Gromit)
Final aside: I would absolutely pay to hear David Mitchell doing an honest DVD commentary of Ludwig in which he takes apart the plots in his trademark scathing tones.
Ha, thank you! If your daughter loves it you're definitely allowed to nurse a fondness for it, I won't argue with that. I never actually watched Jonathan Creek but I am Creek-curious, I must admit - might give it a go one day if I ever get a mild illness that necessitates a couple of days on the sofa. And yes - I think Mitchell's involvement is one of the things that makes it all a bit baffling; he's obviously a very clever guy, so it makes you wonder why he didn't punch it up a bit.
I think "obviously insane angst" is my favourite form of cultural critical tbh.
I agree with all of this and every example you've cited. My husband and I were comparing Ludwig to the early series of Line of Duty (slightly different genre, I realise, but the latter was just so surprising and phone-forgetting gripping in exactly the wayvl that Ludwig isn't).
As an author of genre fiction, I ALWAYS want to subvert and surprise, and this is a useful reminder of the value of respecting your audience and creating stories that are "better than they need to be".
Yep we were talking about Line of Duty too, especially that first series. Proper marmalade-dropper.
I guess a more direct comparison will be the film adaptation of The Thursday Murder Club 👀 Also! Another example of a TV show exceeding expectations: RIVALS!!! It's sublime!!!
Fair point, well made. However, I think Martin managed to hit her seriously underwritten part for a six. It was the main reason I watched! It would be good if season 2 gave her more to work with. The production also needs to lose the son, an inconsistent mess of a character given nothing interesting to do by either director or the script.
Absolutely, Maxwell Martin is always good value. And yes agree about the son character - it’s like they didn’t know what to do with him
I agree with almost everything you say, although you lost me completely when you asserted bizarrely that Paddington 2 was better than Three Billboards Outside Ebbings, Missouri. In fairness, I’ve yet to see a film that is better than Three Billboards. But I also think Three Billboards is a good example of the general point you make. It could so easily have been a film about the killing of a girl, a mother who put up billboards to draw attention to the sheriff’s failure to investigate properly, a sheriff who was incompetent or corrupt…and it would still have been fine. But because it didn’t do that, it was oh so much better than just fine.
Would also highly recommended Big Boys as a recent sitcom that far exceeds expectations.
Huh thank you - not heard of that one