The Great Change: Turning Cathy into a Lawyer

I think the only reason I like to have cable is because it carries in full clarity 3-4 PBS channels. Probably at least half of my television viewing is spent watching them. Not that everything's perfect, of course. For instance, I just watched an unimpressive hour-long show about author Simon Winchester coming to San Francisco to write a book on the 1906 earthquake. And occasionally even some of the PBS-staple British mysteries and dramas bear signs of having taken lessons from some of their American cousins in their taking a turn for tripe (Inspector Lynley, I'm looking at you).

But more often than not, what PBS shows is really great television. PBS has always shown a lot of British mysteries (e.g., Agatha Christie, Inspector Morse, Foyle's War) and most of them are very well done. Even the recent foray into American-bred mysteries was quite enjoyable as well (see the Tony Hillerman adaptations of mysteries set on the Navajo reservation). Like the British examples these mystery productions shared rich characters, deeper motivations, and a patient pacing willing to take all the time it needed to properly unfold its tale.

Now one of my favorite times to tune in is at 10pm on Monday nights on KCSM, when they have been showing similar mysteries produced in other parts of the world. Once I saw a French one (the detective's name slips my mind at the moment), there's been several installments of Sicily's Inspector Montalbano, this week there was an excellent one from Germany, and, perhaps most intriguing, they've shown several episodes of Sherlock Holmes produced in Soviet-era Russia. All of these shows are broadcast in their native languages with English subtitles (although amusingly there are occasionally superimposed subtitles appearing in a different font, for where American TV censors apparently disapproved of the literal, yet accurate, original translations of the dialog's earthy vernacular...) and all of these shows afford a glimpse into the places that produced them. Not just in terms of settings (e.g., Sicily is gorgeous, and it's interesting to watch 1980's Russia be passed off as 19th century London) but also in terms of what it says about the people whom these shows reflect. Obviously not too much can be presumed by that (for surely America isn't defined by Friends and the like...) but use of language, dramatic themes, examples of humor... all these things reflect the society they belong to and entertain.

Meanwhile, also on PBS, I stumbled onto what is now my favorite production of Jane Eyre. I think I'd seen one or two older productions, including the 1944 Orson Wells-Joan Fontaine version, and I'd really hated them because they were so dark. They were simply tragic, not romantic in the least. I always presumed that's how the story was, and consequently was dissuaded from ever reading the book since it seemed too unpleasant. But this version manages to be uplifting, even while dealing with the hard tragedies in its protagonist's life. For one thing, the cinematography is much brighter, more akin to the excellent 1995 BBC/A&E Pride and Prejudice than past Jane Eyre productions. In this England, spring does come, and as a consequence the characters seem much more real. I could never imagine how people could live in a place with so much darkness, as the older versions portrayed England to be, so seeing them cast in daylight helps one better identify with their lives, since, apart from the constraints of their historical circumstances, they really don't seem so different from ours today.

The other point of note from the production is how Jane Eyre is portrayed. Jane has always been a strong woman, but I always remember from the older versions a sense that strong equated with severe. Perhaps that's also a sign of the times, reflecting a cultural value of the period in which the production was made. Strong women have often been characterized negatively, as if their strength comes at the expense of any softness or femininity. So it's refreshing to see a Jane Eyre who has not had to sacrifice either in order to protect herself from life's cruelties. Indeed, they may actually be the source of her strength.

Of course, all these productions are adaptations of the book, which, as I said, I've never read. But for the first time I'm now motivated to. So I went over to Project Gutenberg to look for it. Project Gutenberg is dedicated to creating a library of works that have come into the public domain. Any copyright in this 19th century novel has long since expired, so some volunteer converted it into an ebook anyone can download for free.

I need not make a statement about private sources of culture, as surely they provide value as well. But public sources like PBS and Project Gutenberg are certainly to be praised for the rich collection of culture they make freely available for all.

Edited 7/20.