I am Mildred’s incorruptibility
I’ve recently had several fantastic experiences that, until I noticed them happening, I would never have imagined. They were absolutely thrilling:
It all started when I was watching some late night TV, alone and in the dark. Reruns of The Untouchables were on, and I was sipping my chamomile tea as Eliot Ness tried to track down the moonshiner passing off wood alcohol as real hooch. As he walked through the alleys, the steam floating up from the Chicago sewers and the steam from my tea mingled, the darkness of the alley and the darkness of my apartment blended together, and suddenly I was experiencing a TV show in a way I had never done before: I was right there, with the steam blowing in my face and the darkness encroaching in on my periphery, just like Ness!
A few weeks later, I’m reading a book. I don’t have a fireplace, so I’m curled up next to the oven instead (it’s surprisingly cozy when you open the door and prop your feet up on it). As it turns out, I’m rereading my favourite parts of Fahrenheit 451. I hold the book close and cherish every word as the amber glow of the methane flame licks my feet, and I say aloud, “play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out” (the line is spoken by a woman holding illegal books to her chest shortly before she is lit on fire, and alludes to an actual event in which a similar thing happened). Again, I suddenly realize that I am experiencing the book in an interactive way that I had never conceived before.
This evening, Rob, Dave, and I went to a midnight showing of Fight Club. I was a bit sleep deprived because I was up until 2:30 last night playing Munchkin at the office, and had to wake up pretty early this morning. So now, it’s 12:30 AM, I’m very tired, and am taking in a movie that discusses insomnia and passive consumerism. Again, I felt like I was participating in the movie, in a way I had never experienced before.
If you can notice when it happens, this sort of thing metamorphoses the media and synthesizes an interactive experience. The feeling I got from realizing this and relishing the moment was fantastic. I need to look for this more often!