My literary heroes have led me astray

Good manners aside, what I miss nowadays is a new, intelligent, finely acted movie. Never have I seen so much garbage as there is on TV: sci-fi trash, superhero rubbish, dystopian crap and junk about ugly, solipsistic youths revolting against overbearing parents. The director Jimmy Toback blames the subject matter for the lousy content, driven as it is by the need for diversity. I think lack of talent is the culprit. The non-stop use of the F-word is a given in Hollywood productions. Combined with constant violence, it makes for a lousy and unwatchable film. When one thinks back to classic movies such as The Best Years of Our Lives, Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, All About Eve, Great Expectations, The Third Man, Rebecca and the films of Raymond Chandler’s books, there is hardly any violence and absolutely no swear words. There is great tension, terrific repartee and wonderful acting. Today’s screen characters are less believable than Tom and Jerry, and are characterised by the formulaic, fatuous language of PC.

Novels, needless to say, are not getting any better either, but then I stopped reading fiction after Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Maugham, Greene, Waugh, Mailer, Irwin Shaw and James Jones. Nowadays I stick to history. Long ago Aristotle wrote that the ability to delight in fine characters and noble actions is the most important of habits. The characters of Fitzgerald and co. hardly live up to Aristotle’s standards, but the writing is so good that one overlooks the lack of noble actions. The same applies to Papa’s heroes, all of them flawed, all of them a delight to read about.

The great exception is Larry Darrell, Maugham’s protagonist in The Razor’s Edge. Larry is just about perfect. As one who gives in easily to temptation, I can now blame my weaknesses on the inadequate ideal set by my literary heroes.