Period Peace
Last night I watched “My Week With Marilyn” and had the same sappy thought that most hopeless romantics (another sappy, usually self-appointed term) have when they experience some sort of art, “I was born in the wrong era.”
Now I, being the (self) diagnosed romantic that I am, have always wondered what life would be like if I were born in the 1920s, the 1890s, the 50s. Things were simpler, and “cool” seemed to be in abundance. The outfits were awesome. Everyone wore a suit, people dressed up to get on airplanes. The last time I prepared for a flight I got out a pair of my favorite cotton shorts and thought “Would I be more comfortable without underwear?” All shame is gone when going through security nowadays anyway. People seemed to care back then. That’s what I look back on and admire about it. Entertainers, artists, beauty, romantics really seemed to matter to people. It was cool to be a writer, an actor, a singer. The only people who didn’t approve were probably their parents (until the money started to come in).
We look back at periods of (other people’s) life and think, “wouldn’t it have been great to live back then?” They said the same thing back then. No one seems to be content in the time they are in, because you live in reality, but your imagination allows you to paint yourself into a different time. You can seat yourself at a table with Marilyn, Yogi, and Bob Hope while listening to Sinatra finish up his set. I like my imaginative self. I know all kinds of people, and have all kinds of talents. Life (in my head) is pretty good.
I really wanted to be an entertainer. What I want wouldn’t be the same in the world today. I wanted to be a Dean Martin. The guy hung out with friends, sang, and joked around. They had so much fun, it was filmed and put on TV. That’s the life I wanted. Actually, when I stop dreaming about it, it’s the life I have (minus the whole TV thing). I have great friends, all much funnier than I am, and when we’re celebrating, we sing about it. Life is pretty damn good in reality too.
So back to Marilyn. One thing that this film did well was bring to us saps in the room a dose of reality. Being a celebrity sucked. The lifestyle of celebrity and fame (and pills) drove the most famous woman of all time to her death. SIDENOTE - Think about that. Marilyn Monroe is still to this day to most famous woman of all time, aside from the virgin Mary. She’s easily the most recognizable. Why Marilyn? Because she was so beautiful. Was it? I’m sure there were several equally beautiful women at that time. Great actress? Definitely no. Good singer? Sure, but everyone was singing then, she was no better, no worse. She just had it. Which is precisely why it cannot be explained. She had so much of it that no one else will ever have as much it as she had it. It is amazing. Because not a single person knows what it is, but we know when someone has it. Both men and women can have and recognize it in another person. Times have changed though. People don’t care about beauty or comedy or singing or art or entertainment like they did 50 years ago. Was it because film and television was so new? Probably, because writers, poets, actors, entertainers, lovers, and so on have been dreaming things up for ages. I guess to get noticed, though, you’ve got to have it.
We live in a world of mass produced everything, and people feverishly refreshing their twitters because of their need-it-now addictions. Slow down, people. Enjoy something(s). Take some time to breathe in the present. Today is, in most cases, a good day. Use that imagination to create something for the now. Don’t drool over past things that are not relevant to your life now. I’ll always look at pictures of people from 1962 in their suits and women in their scarves, sitting outside of a cafe in Paris just laughing about how good it all is, and think “Damn, that’s cool,” but that’s part of being wired as a romantic (emphasis on the hopeless). However, seeing that I don’t have the funds to do any sort of traveling, time travel included, I don’t think I’ll wind up in any era other than my own. So I suppose I’ll enjoy the now, hopefully creating and starring in my own period peace.
