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Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Case Histories



Many years ago I showed a first-person-perspective short story of mine to a male classmate. He said, "The hero is a woman, because no man thinks or behaves like this." Ever since then I have not written anything from the male POV. Now I know the young man who was my classmate and the young woman who was I had no idea how diverse and unpredictable the male and female minds are. Nevertheless, I've always been a little embarrassed and insecure about my understanding of the male perspective or the lack of.

So imagine my shock and delight at hearing author Kate Atkinson confess, "Jackson Brodie is basically a woman --- he is me." on an interview about the TV series adapted from her novels featuring the affable private detective. And the producer of the series happily copped to the fact that the character is a "female fantasy." I had thought the same thing when I had watched the episode last Sunday, but in not so enthusiastic a mindset. Yet, now that I hear the two women admit to it cheerfully, why not? Why the hell not indeed!

Sigh. Bordie is such a Teddy bear. This is not Michael Connelly or George Pelecanos. This is the female fantasy, baby!

I loved the first episode, primarily thanks to the scenery in and around Edinburgh (aaaahhhhh...), and the variety of Scottish accent, which tickles me to no end.

3 comments:

CAVA said...

这部剧最大的亮点就是爱丁堡。其实原作里是剑桥。男主角我实在无感,那些配角们的生活都有够暗黑,由此我乱揣测作者的童年生活未必很幸福。

Little Meatball said...

爱丁堡太棒了。一开头没说是哪里,镜头在警察局门外的楼上扫一圈,哇~~~ 我当时就惊艳得要死!心想看风格决不是伦敦,但又极有气派所以决不是二级城市,哪里呢?难道是爱丁堡?果然啊果然,没多久就有人冒出苏格兰口音了(不是男主)。

CAVA said...

最喜欢夜晚的远景镜头,果然如RLS所写,天上所有的星星都不及爱丁堡的街灯美丽。

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