In at the Shallow End.

I just tried to watch one of the ‘highlights’ of Christmas Brit TV – a new version of The Borrowers starring some of the biggest names in the business.

The Borrowers could be such a magical tale, full of mystery and imagination and ripe for the presentation thereof. But what do they give us? A tale set in the grey environs of 21^st century western culture, replete with all the stereotypes to be found here. The grandmother of the house is dull and pragmatic, the boy of the house is soft and suburban, the academic wants to find the little people in order to enhance his reputation, the girl Borrower is the typical teenage-girl-with-attitude whose greatest pleasure is to walk down the street in a leather catsuit under the ridiculous delusion that it somehow makes her attractive, the Borrower boy in the marketplace is the typical teenage-boy-with-attitude who sees the fact that he’s just run the teenage girl over with his motorbike as being significant only because it gives him a chance to score. Etc, etc, etc. Grey, grey, fucking grey.

’Scuse the language.

Please, when are the media people going to start looking through the window and showing us what lies beyond this culture, rather than forever holding up a jaded mirror that merely reflects the shallower parts of it?

I switched it off and tried to read some Tennyson instead, but by then I was so irritated that I couldn’t be bothered. So I came and wrote this post instead. And now I’m going for a walk to see whether the teddy bear is still looking out for me.