Thursday, January 29, 2009

At One with the Brits

It all started with Happy-Go-Lucky.  Or maybe with the fact that my best is in London this semester.  Either way, I am now completely obsessed with England.  It's weird, since I have spent the last 5 years or so learning about the oppressive country that the precious Americans just had to escape from.  But maybe the inclusion of a Euro history class has broaden my puritanical mind, because welcome to the BBC.  

There was a scene at the end of Austin Powers where the dear fake Brit pledged his allegiance to the BBC through song.  I guess I'll do something along those lines in writing.  But not just for the BBC, but to the country in general.  The accents, the other side of the road, the history, the rain, all just mesh together to form such a cool country.

A country that produces shows like Skins or the late Coupling.  Or movies like Happy-Go-Lucky.  Or books like all of the Jane Green and Sophie Kinsella and Louise Rennison and so many others that I love so much.  They all give me this intimate feel for England and the lifestyle that it encompasses.  It's not like Love Actually or the Secret Diary of a Call Girl, which I like, but which are made by Americans, and therefore feel American.  I'm sorry Hugh Grant, but all of your American romantic comedies have stripped you of the allure of the British label.  

Skins, on the other hand, brings me right into the center of British life.  It uses British humor and styles, and also discusses America from that outside perspective.  Like Showtime, it can have nudity and sex and cursing without a second thought.  They are openly acknowledged as a basic facet of life.  Which they are in America too, but in a more censored way.  

I seriously can't wait for my England semester.  In the book I just finished, the girl got sick of New York, so she fled to London to stay with her friend and ended up staying forever.  So desirable to me right now.  But since it's not for a year, I'll just wikipedia British gossip and historical factoids in the meantime.

Much love, 
from your wannabe foreign friend,
Sandy Fink

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