Monday, August 13, 2007

Nothing New Under the Sun

U-Tube is extremely addictive. One can run the gamut from Puccini's Nessun Dorma to Bizet's Carmen. I listened to several renditions of Nessun Dorma and Habanera this evening, and I'm thinking to myself--bring on Paul Potts. Someone I can relate to.

Watching the murder of Carmen in Act IV, I'm wondering, what's the fascination with this? Besides the singing, of course. Some guy offs his girlfriend. Sounds like the evening news. I won't go all feminist and mention what that says about the perceptions of the relationship between men and women--since the opera was penned in a different era. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof" kinda thing.

As writers, we've come to realize that many stories of the human condition have already been told, and continue to be told. Where we come in is to put our unique spin on those old stories. I guess maybe that's the virtue in Carmen--it's Bizet's spin on a very old tale.

There really is "nothing new under the sun."

1 comment:

Bri said...

I guess the interesting/challenging thing is trying to retell those stories in a way that is unique to our own experiences. Interesting post - and yes...youtube is a horribly addictive substance. :)