Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Angela Lansbury and Life's Play

Whimsical banter. 

Introduction of characters (not sure of role attibrution yet but developing antagonists and protagonists). 

A vile murder. 

Discovering and disiphering of clues, riddles and conundrums. 

Eliminating suspects.  The "nail in the coffin" clue. 

Mystery solved. 

Whimsical banter. 

I just described every "Murder She Wrote" episode ever made. 

Its formulaic and episodic and was wildly popular in its day. Angela Lansbury's portrayal of Jessica Fletcher, the wonderfully likable Sherlock Holmes-esque character was equisite. The show worked because of its winning formula. It was predictable. People do crave predictability. 

But people also crave surprise, spontaneity and the occasional plot twist or curve ball. 

This is the balance of life. Combining predictable moments with spontaneous behaviors. 

In life (as in theater), we love to cheer for the protagonist and jeer for the antagonist. It's reassuring. The problem (or opportunity) though is that we can't always judge the book by its cover. A protagonist may wear the badge only because of perception. Same with the antagonist.  

Predictability.  Spontaneity.  Protagonists.  Antagonists. 

It's part of the script of life. It's what makes the world go around. 

It's why we applaud or boo. 

And. Scene.