måndag 26 juni 2017

Vinick for President

If Doctor Who, with its whip-smart dialogue, likeable characters, engaging portrayal of different kinds of relationships (friendships, romances, family dynamics etc.) and (mostly) well-written ponderings on various themes can serve as an antidote to villain pining, then surely the same can be said for The West Wing, which also contains these ingredients? Sadly not. However, that’s no reason not to watch and re-watch this excellent series. If you’re a villain-lover like me, just be sure to have something a little less high-minded to break off with now and again. The West Wing is strictly superego fare, and a villain-free zone.

In a way, I respect The West Wing for having made this choice. Many political dramas concentrate on cynicism and wheeler-dealing, but they are also rather crude. I never got properly into the original, British version of House of Cards, and nothing I’ve read about the American version has made me very keen to give it a go. The Ruthless Politician so often ends up as just a hate figure for morally minded writers to tut-tut over. There’s no depth to this trope – if you’re looking for a convincing depiction of ambition and power-hunger, something to make you think “Yeah, I’d have done that too, and that, and… whoa, maybe not that, but I can see how you could end up that way”, you’ll have to look elsewhere than political drama. Perhaps it’s because we tend to see our political opponents as either fools or knaves, rather than as people who want the best for their country and humanity at large as much as we do, even if they are totally wrong about everything. And knaves, even really shallow ones, make better television than fools.

The West Wing does occasionally belittle the heroes’ opponents, but at least they’re not portrayed as plotting the end of civilisation in dark cellars. Yes, the political arguments are often weighted in favour of the West Wing team, but at least the opposition gets a hearing and some clever lines. Intelligent, articulate and funny Republican characters such as Ainsley Hayes do a good job of balancing out the pro-Democrat bias. Those involved in the political game come across as well-meaning men and women who are doing their best to make sure the country is governed as well as possible according to their lights. I think this might be a great deal closer to the truth than, say, Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister (admittedly comedy rather than drama), enjoyable though they are.

Yes, there were times when The West Wing risked becoming a little too smug – the episode where Will recycled eat-the-rich arguments which had been comprehensively panned by Sam in the early days of the series was a memorable low point. But then it rallied with season six and seven, and the presidential race between Democrat candidate Matt Santos and Republican candidate Arnie Vinick.

Much has been said about Jed Bartlet as the idealised American President par excellence, and yes, he’s not bad. But Arnie, wow – he’s the great presidential candidate that never was in my book. Hats off to the series makers for pitting their own favourite Matt Santos – highly moral but still humorous, brainy and sympathetically played by Jimmy Smits – against such a strong contender from the opposite team. The respectable, decent, sensible Vinick avoids taking cheap pot-shots at his opponents, argues convincingly and passionately for his ideas and occasionally makes courageous political decisions in his campaign that make you gasp for awe. Oh, and did I mention he’s played by Alan Alda? Honestly, who wouldn’t vote for this guy?

Admittedly, the balance created by having strong presidential candidates for each party is partly illusory because they are both pretty near the middle of the American political spectrum (as far as I’m able to judge from my ignorant, European viewpoint). But personally, I have no problem with this. Also, it’s a great deal more even-handed than earlier election battles where Bartlet stood against a fairly slow-witted Republican whom he could easily defeat in any verbal slanging-match – while simultaneously sounding as if he was far above such things as verbal slanging matches.

Arnie has my vote – at least my superego’s. My id wouldn’t mind a bit more of a whiff from the dark cellar.

tisdag 13 juni 2017

Just what the Doctor ordered

The good old remedy against villain pining, tried and tested during my Downton period, thankfully still works. Pity that there's such as limited dose of it available. But with the first part of Doctor Who series ten, containing six episodes, I did get two whole evenings' worth of TV watching without wistful thoughts about unattainable episodes of  Once Upon a Time season six (out on DVD in August, if I'm lucky). And hey, at least the present Doctor is a brainy being with special powers and nearly unlimited lifespan played excellently by a distinguished-looking Scottish actor and... argh, brave, moral and heroic. Not the same at all, then. Ah well, moving on.

I must admit to the cynical reaction "well, someone's earning some British Council funding" when I read that the Doctor's new companion Bill (a girl) was to be black and lesbian. (Not that Doctor Who creators need any financial incentive to be right-on, and it's perfectly possible they're not taking any of the BC's buck for "portraying minorities in a positive way".) However, the cheerful, inquisitive Bill proved to be a fully-rounded character, not an exercise in box-ticking, and may in my opinion be the best companion since Donna. I found Amy vaguely irritating at times, especially the nonchalant way she treated the supposed love of her life Rory, and Clara was hard to pin down - an intelligent control freak, yes, but otherwise a little too like Amy in her young Tardis babe-ness. It's not that I disliked them, but they didn't win me over the way Donna and Martha did. Bill seems warmer, and her crush on a mysterious girl in the first episode did not feel tacked on for effect, merely sweet. Once again - as in the Capaldi Doctor-Clara pairing - I'm relieved that there's no flirty Tardis banter on the menu. Bill's the Doctor's favourite pupil and surrogate granddaughter rolled into one, and it's a relationship that shows promise. I'm less sure about the inclusion of Nardole, the comic relief from the Christmas special The Husbands of River Song. True, they've beefed up the part, but he still doesn't feel entirely necessary to the setup.

Given the Doctor's aforementioned bent towards heroism and morality, not to mention the various script-writers' more or less well-guided attempts to Tell Us Something Meaningful, it's strange that I have as much patience with Doctor Who as I do and consider it one of my favourite shows. There are irritants in this series as in all the others. I'm getting fed up with the respect-for-artificial-life argument which gets another airing in the episode Smile - are we never to be free of bloody work, if not only clones but also robots are out of the question as unpaid workforce? And would even Karl Marx be able to make sense of the clumsy criticism of vaguely defined "capitalism" in Oxygen? But even if the Doctor's claim in Thin Ice that he's never had the time for "the luxury of outrage" is patently untrue, at least he and the series as a whole don't spend too much time on it. The adventures move on and the wisecracks keep on coming. Moreover, and I think crucially, the Doctor doesn't see himself as a hero. He always carries a fair amount of self-doubt with him, fuelled by the fact that trouble turns up wherever he goes. Even if he's "mucking in" and trying to solve every crisis he finds himself in, is it possible that he's creating more problems than he's solving? In series eight, the Doctor asked Clara "Am I a good man"? The answer is yes, of course, but the fact that he asks himself the question and never takes his own goodness for granted may have quite a lot to do with it. And he does have reasons for self-doubt - as we are reminded in Thin Ice, this is a man/time lord with so many lives on his conscience he's long since stopped counting them.

Part two of series ten won't be available on DVD until the end of July (still earlier than Once), but I'm greatly looking forward to it - especially as we're promised more of Missy and a glimpse of her previous incarnation. Maybe it will finally be explained in which circumstances that particular regeneration took place, and how much loopiness was passed on to the time lady "upgrade". This series is Capaldi's - and show runner Steven Moffat's - last hurrah, and I intend to make the most of it.