Film Friday: Frasier

So it's kind of ridiculous how nervous I am at putting any type of schedule on my blogging self. I've been thinking about it for months, and there are a lot of things I like about the idea, but I still keep feeling like, what if I don't feel like doing the scheduled post for that day? But I've decided to do it, just one day a week, and on a subject I will never, ever, ever be tired of talking about.

Movies. TV. Amazing YouTube vlogs. Basically anything video recorded and awesome is up for grabs. I talk about movies and TV a lot here already, so we might as well make a theme day of it.

With that, welcome to the first Film Friday. I've nearly started this for a couple weeks. Part of it was my whole hesitance at having a blog schedule, but part of it was also that I just didn't know what to start with. I was worried about starting with something I've already talked about, or starting with something too obscure that no one but crazy cinephiles (love that word) have even heard of. We'll get to some pretty obscure stuff sometimes, believe me, but its all awesome and you'll see why. But anyway, there is really only way for me to start a film theme.

Ok, so I've talked about Frasier a lot before. It's even mentioned in my bio. My second semester as a freshman I'd gotten a scholarship and had extra money and wanted to reward myself so I bought the entire boxed DVD set of all eleven seasons of Frasier. I then proceeded to watch every single episode in a period of about a month and a half. The joke became that every other thing out of my mouth began with "There's this one episode of Frasier...".

Having several years space from what is now known as The 'Frasier' Period has given me a little bit of perspective. I've thought about it more analytically, see its flaws, even though I will remain fiercely loyal till the grave. I don't know if it would have the same impact on me as it did then, but I think I know why it became my first obssesive love affair with a TV show:

In a way, Frasier revealed and was the mirror to my own quirky, unique inner-writer. We all have certain themes, characters, stories, points that we just can't seem to get away from. Frasier showed me mine, showed me what was important to me as a writer. I don't mean in the sense that I got them from the show, but that as I watched the show, I thought to myself, yes, that it also what I like in stories, what matters to me, what things I want to say.

I like spunky women like Roz and Daphne, even if its a quieter spunk. I like Brits. I adore crotchety old men who unconsciously reveal their sweet side through their attachment to things like their old dog and even older ugly, dirty chair. I love intelligent characters, intelligent through their education or gritty life experience and what happens when those two different types are in the same family. I love the grip deceased family members can have on the rest of the family and how that influences their regular life. I love stories about middle-aged men. I love big cities and stories about relatively average, middle-class people. I love those moments, like Niles spending five minutes wiping down a chair, when they reveal how utterly abnormal they really are despite how hard they try. I love what happens when these intelligent, middle-class city-folk are dropped into very rural settings, as occasionally happened on Frasier.

Most of all, though, I love pining. I don't know if there is much in this world more glorious than the seven years Niles spent pining after Daphne. I know I've talked about this a lot before, but even after all these years I still get goosebumps just thinking about it. About how unwaveringly loyal Niles was, ironic given he was married to two other women during the seven years. But that was just evidence that he couldn't be disloyal even when he tried. The moment they finally get together is almost painful as you watch and imagine what he must be feeling, after all these years, to finally get her. How all those close-call, near-miss moments from before when he almost confessed his feelings are finally paying off.

I totally know that thinking about it this much, and this level of obsession, is absolutely inordinate. But sometimes I can't help myself. I'll leave you with my two favorite scenes from the show:

And this. (It wouldn't let me embed...dumbutt)


What shows have most informed your own personal writing?


Sarah Allen