Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder
In-Flight Edutainment
Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2009 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.
Back in New York.
There is (she said, after the third or fifth viewing of Mamma Mia!, all onboard aircraft) some If They Would Just behavior in Mamma Mia!. I think when I'm on land I have the proper critical distance or uncritical adoration of genre conventions in movie musicals, but when I'm above the Atlantic I actually think, if only they would just talk to each other about their secret worries. Newsflash, Sumana.
Easy Virtue went the opposite direction: these people are all speaking their subtexts, I thought, then saw in the end credits that it's based on a play by Noel Coward. Also viewed an ep of the American The Office, which sort of triangulates on obviousness & subtlety in a way I'm too fuzzy-headed to articulate at the moment.
American Airlines's in-flight entertainment offerings do not include The Big Bang Theory, contrary to custom.
