From November 1, 2014
While I was a college student, one of my favorite books was Hercules, My Shipmate by Robert Graves, a re-telling of the story of Jason and the Argonauts. So I was delighted when my wife gave me a copy of it for Christmas. It must’ve been 40 years or more since I’d read it last.
Many books and movies I liked when I was young, I still like now. Some I like even more, like The Lord of the Rings, Agatha Christie’s novels, and Peter Sellers in Never Let Go. And I’ve always enjoyed Robert Graves’ most famous novel, I, Claudius (although Jack Pullman’s screenplay for the I, Claudius TV series is even better). Naturally I expected to be delighted by Hercules, My Shipmate.
Everyone, I suppose, once knew someone whom they thought was the absolute bee’s knees. Then you lose touch with this person, make contact again 30 years later, and wind up asking yourself, “What did I ever see in him? He is a total putz!”
So it went with Hercules, My Shipmate. *Sigh* Mostly it was Robert Graves reconstructing and then wildly enthusing over the creepy paganism of pre-Classical Greece, complete with human sacrifice and ritual cannibalism.
What did I ever see in this? Could I really have been such a chump, back then?
Yes, college can be rather an overwhelming experience. It took me about 30 years to outgrow it, and a lot of people never outgrow it. The better to manipulate you, your professors convince your intellectually defenseless 19-year-old self that you’re a thousand times smarter than your parents and you don’t need any of their silly old stuff anymore–including all that Christianity business. Why, in no time at all, you’ll be as smart as one of these professors!
I look back on this and shudder.
It’s funny, how tastes change with time, and life experience. When MASH and All In The Family were first run, I liked them, nowadays, I would not voluntarily watch either, and see them as little more than an attempt to erode our core values.
I never did care for MASH
When I was in my teens, it seemed edgy and filled with insights, disguised as satire. Somewhere along the line, as I gained life experience, I came to see it as simply preachy. Wars are terrible, and terrible things happen. MASH was based on the stories of young surgeons drafted into the Army and their disgust at the horrors of war. This was, obviously, a popular message in the era of the Vietnam war. I understand, completely.
But the MASH show lasted something on the order of 11 years, and the message became a bit strained. The plots became forced and the characters in the show became evermore caricatures. It all seemed forced, and the plot devices seemed difficult to believe. The finale was full of horror and the perfect way to go out on a sanctimonious note. I’ll never voluntarily watch a MASH episode.
I really was never into MASH
You were ahead of the curve. It was very popular, in its day.