Rays of Light
A number of my friends have gone to backwater Victoria for Earthcore and being away from them (these are the guys I spend the vast majority of my time with), has given me some time to reflect and watch TV… Laguna Beach mostly… leading me to wonder what brings people together as friends, lovers and companions? Let’s be clear I’m talking about it in the purest form, the almost romantic notion of a relationship, not those ones built around business or subversive needs. Watching a bit of Laguna Beach made this thought pop into my head, you see Laguna Beach sort of obsesses about finding relationships, glorifying their existence, and the dynamic within these relationships creates the drama for the show. These kids’ relationships (while extremely naive and superficial) are truly consuming, at times joyful more often tragic and somewhat defining in terms of whom they are.
One could say that relationships have become a commodity (the vast amounts of money we pay to see celebrity weddings etc.)… do we only want them because we are told we need them? When I first started watching I thought this to be the case, that there was no reason for these kids to be together other than the fact that they believe they need to be with someone because it’s the done thing, and the superficiality of what brings these kids (its largely to do with looks and money)… sort of sickens you to some degree. But there is something more to it than that, once you put this all aside, which is what makes the show interesting. At the heart of it all they are together and feel some sort of bond, which is glorified in the old “we’re all going to college and this will be the last time we see each other” scene. The more I thought about it the more I began to see that this show wasn’t really about the money and the lifestyle these kids live (although it is branded as such), it was really about one of the most basic of human instincts, the fundamental need to be together, the search for friends and ultimately someone special.
I think there is something ethereal about a relationship that lies beyond the sense of the collective (as many philosophers have so bluntly put it), something deep rooted in our soul, uncontrollable, unexplainable. What makes an acquaintance a friend, and a friend into a good friend? Common interest, common experiences…? Is there such a thing as signs of relationships forming… fireworks… a common spark… something to tip us off… a ray of light?? Or are these the only way in which we can rationalize and try to explain something so intangible.
Perhaps it is a waste of time to analyze and question relationships, perhaps there is no such thing as signs, or even a sense of knowing… a relationship just is… it just happens… and its best left at that. Their mystery is what intrigues us and in turn leads to their joyfulness. Good relationships (friendships, family, and love) should be treasured and appreciated; I mean if we could explain their formation in a formulaic approach we could reproduce and sell them, which would inevitably lead to buyer remorse… now where is the fun in that?
posted by WillG @ 8:37 PM
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