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TeeVee for Beginners, Friday Period Two

"Morning, kids."

Mitchell was in an exceptionally good mood today. "Today, we aren't going to be talking about television. It's something to be watched and enjoyed, not to be spoken of endlessly." Not that he couldn't, mind, but he was making a point. "Next week, I want you all to give a short presentation on what you've gotten to enjoy most out of television. This week, you need to go over there," and he gestured at the large closet full of DVD cases sitting at one end of the classroom, "Or browse the channels in your time off. Find a program that fascinates you, something that inspires you, or makes you laugh. Then tell me about it. Team up if you wish, or do it alone. The way we experience culture can be a very personal thing."

With that, Mitchell tossed himself at his couch, and snagged a bag of crisps. It was possible he'd learned this teaching strategy from Max.

[ ocd up! ]

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"Ah. Yes."

That had been a little odd, but then the whole matter had been unpleasant on all ends. "You weren't the only one," he offered, which was far more tactful than mentioning he'd fled the island because killing students was just what you might term a no-no.

"But yeah, I know films," Mitchell continued, "Might be teaching a workshop on them next term, we'll see. Is there any genre that catches your interest?"

"No, not just me, but still not my finest moment." And that book could be closed forever, thank you very much.

"I like detective stories?" he said, to change the topic.

... mostly so he could critique them. Shush.

"And the supernatural. Ghosts, magic, things that go bump in the night."

"Things that go bump in the night?" Mitchell repeated, with a laugh in his voice. It was probably an inappropriate one in the vein of that's cute. interesting, but cute. "Plenty of films about that. But let's start with detective stories. Have you ever heard of film noir?"

Well, Jack had phrased it in that absurd way intentionally, so he didn't mind the laugh. He smiled slightly.

"I'm not surprised. And I know the phrase film noir, but I don't know what it means," he said.

"It's this genre of crime-detective films from the 40s," he said, "A lot like the mood at the time. All grim and dark and paranoid." Mitchell nodded at the closet. "Think I've got a copy of Dual Trigger in there, although that's more crime and less detective. And I've got the Cyprese Hawk, that's a bit more towards that end of the genre. None of that modern--" shite, "--stuff, which is tasteless."

Sometimes, Mitchell was kind of 5. Sometimes, he was kind of 80.

dJack didn't ask why the '40s were grim and dark and paranoid. He was so exceedingly sick of always having a question that reminded him how far from home he was, and some times were just like that anyhow. "I'll try Cyprese Hawk," he decided, mostly because he liked the title. "Nothing tasteless."

Mitchell managed to check himself before he said anything along the lines of I caught a glimpse of the actual crew as they were filming it! and just nodded, with a slight smile. "Good choice," he said, "And otherwise you'd be looking for-- classic horror films?"

Which were hilarious on so many levels.

"Are there any that are better than Darkest Night?" Jack asked hopefully, after a quick glance to make sure Tony wasn't paying too much attention. "Something where the scenery wasn't about to fall over might be lovely."

He seemed to be collecting vampire stories, these days. He could only call it a hobby.

"Oh, you can't even make that comparison," Mitchell said, somewhat offended at the thought. "Darkest Night is the ~~meta for~~ Ace Ventura of horror. There's a lot better than that."

It was actually enough to get him to get up and walk towards the DVDs himself.

Jack trailed along, making a mental note to seek out the film Mitchell had mentioned by way of comparison out of sheer curiosity.

And the desire to find out if it had men without their shirts on.

He'd be disappointed.

"Good," was what he said. "Starting from where, then?"

"It depends," Mitchell said, reaching into the closet to pull out an old copy of Nosferatu. "This is the start, if that's what you're looking for. The more sophisticated kind is a little more modern." By which he meant the forties and fifties. And maybe the sixties.

Mitchell, so very unsurprisingly, had been fond of the sixties.

"No, I should start at the start. It will make the most sense." And that was an admission of vulnerability there, and, rather than linger on it, Jack reached to take the copy.

"A symphony of horror," Jack read from the DVD case. "The creature with the ears is some demon?"

"It's supposed to be a vampire," Mitchell said, stepping away from the closet. "Humanity has always had interesting ideas of what monsters are like." He glanced at the DVD Jack was holding. "Now, not all as ugly as that, mind."

"Have you ever seen Marney?" Jack asked. "It's almost as bad. People will have interesting ideas."

He tapped the two DVD cases together. "I'll get these back to you in a week."

"I used to go behind my mum's back to read that as a child," he mused, thoughtfully, then shook it off. "Interesting ideas, yeah. But that'll be fine."

"It held up that long?" Jack's surprise was mild and polite, mostly. ~~Meta~~Dracula had lasted, no reason the older book wouldn't, since quality sometimes didn't matter in longevity -- and he really felt a hundred and twenty-eight, thinking like that.

"I'll see you in a week, either way."

There was a momentary flicker of embarrasment as Mitchell cast it off with a, "Something like that."

He nodded. "And good luck working on that project. I know it's a horrible burden."

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TeeVee for Beginners, Friday Period Two

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