Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Blog Analysis

Not mine, other people's.  This is what comes of spending 5 plus hours watching episodes of In Treatment, which has fantastic performances by Dianne Wiest and Mia Wasikowska, and is marred only by Melissa George's trout lips.

A friend recommended a blog to me, a witty blog, an impolite and wild and eccentric and lively blog, a daring blog written by a an arty sort of wife and mother, a London sort of wife and mother. It's funny. And either Antonia ( it's alright to use her name as she doesn't know me, or this blog, from a bar of soap) has a devoted following because of her wit and sardonic take on life, or she has a lot of fond-of-commenting friends. Probably both.

Antonia lost me, however, when I read her very amusing post about recovering from post-natal irritation with her toddler by flying from London to New York for a weekend of cocktails with her gal pals.  Suddenly, a blog that had read as subversive - of motherhood, art, suburban life, marriage - seemed to suddenly reveal itself as a blog of privilege instead, full of  a sort of high class sneering.

Which is of course, a ridiculous thing to think, as anyone blogging for fun in the Western world is automatically writing from their broadband enabled position of privilege.

Yet somehow I prefer a blog like Helena's (it's alright to use her name because I'm about to say nice things) that isn't funny and doesn't mock but delves into our vulnerabilities as humans with compassion, hopeful images, beautiful and carefully chosen words.  It's still a privileged form of writing but easier for me to swallow.

You can make up your own mind. I think I'm trying to make up mine about what blogs are for, what the best use is of this time we sit at our computers and write. And a deadly, earnest sort of work (much like this post!)  isn't the answer to the mock-brave work of wealthy women, I know that too.

http://respectlovelearning.blogspot.com/

http://yetanotherbloomingblog.blogspot.com/  - please don't click on this link if you're likely to be offended by 'language' or 'themes'...

3 comments:

  1. Yuck yuck yuckitty yuck!! Y-U-C-K, too pretentious for me.
    Hmm nice word yuck I might say it more often....:)

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  2. Melissa - I hear you.

    I was thinking that blogging and Antonia are a good fit. She's creative. She has ideas. She has time. She has a following. And I must say it is refreshing to find a mum who so enjoys living with her partner. The point I was a little put out was the story on her partner's blog about buying a Land Rover.

    And I have reservations about using pictures of our children as items of fun.

    We could well ask, what is life for. We can do a job that is fun, that doesn't attract legal action, that doesn't really matter in the big picture, and spend our free time singing and dancing and doing crafts. Or we can work at saving people's lives and spending our free time trying to help people less fortunate. They're both privileged positions, because we're not just trying to survive ourselves.

    So, I'll just end with a motto from John Irving's Hotel New Hampshire. 'Life is serious but art is fun'. So perhaps there is room for everyone, the showoffs and the more contemplative introverts, in life and on the internet.

    Now, turning blogs into books - that's another matter!

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  3. It's not so much the showing off or the having fun - I think she's a good blogger and I've enjoyed the way she presents the absurdity of parenthood. It just feels dishonest to me to be presenting yourself through your words as subversive of the status quo at the same time as you are racking up the air miles. Or buying the Land Rover. I don't know, maybe I just don't like rich people :) Anyway, it's a free world and we can blog (and read) what we like....I think I should just go back to watching my DVD!!

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