All happy families are dull. In fact, to look at these inanely grinning folks you would think that happy families are not only dull but inauthentic. So is each unhappy family interesting in its own way? You might be forgiven for thinking so, because ‘happy = dull’ seems to be the mantra of all drama at the moment. There is relentless dystopia in all TV drama and most serious fiction. There’s just no such thing as a happy marriage – or if there is, you can bet it’s about to be blown apart. Just look at recent dramas Doctor Foster and Apple Tree Yard. Generally if you have a hero or heroine they’re nearly always divorced or separated.
Is happiness always dull? Perhaps like a bad joke it is dull to everyone except the people involved. I can see that dystopianism was a necessary antidote to 50’s saccharine domesticity and – going further back – Victorian sentimentality; but now dystopia has become routine – and I’m bored with it.
Short post today because wordpress is being weird.
Kirk out
Sarada Gray 