Bex’ Struggle Last October on EastEnders

On TV, the soap #EastEnders has brought, to the screen, life in Albert Square, in London, since 1985.

Other than on BBC iPlayer, #EastEnders airs here in my region of the world late-nights on the weekend, months behind its latest broadcast in England.

There are confrontations and there are obstacles.  If nothing else, it’s a bit of fun.

Watching EastEnders in October 2019, not long before the thirty-fifth anniversary of the show, I can remember a little how it was watching the thirtieth anniversary, five years ago, when the soap revealed that the Beale girl, Ian’s daughter, had been murdered, a mystery.

What interested me in particular now, to the extent I am saying something about it here, is the going away party for Bex to celebrate her acceptance to Oxford.  Bex, before she relented, was a Gothic girl, ranking in the subculture of the disenchanted.  I think Bex had interests in high school theatre, and in playing the guitar, as when she did at the Vic.

https://heatworld.com/entertainment/tv-movies/eastenders-teenage-suicide-bex-fowler/

She is pretty while presenting emotionally adrift.  EastEnders characterizes Bex as an intellectual, artsy teen, moody and pointedly smarter than her peers, conflicted.

She performs songs in an earlier episode, taking the stage in the Vic, when she is beginning to take on the role of a neighbourhood talent, a bright artistic girl struggling, given her ability to make waves.  What I’m moved to write about is the character’s decision, the night of her party before she goes away to school, her friends and family celebrating her acceptance to Oxford, to pen a suicide note, and to overdose on pills, tears in her eyes, by herself in her bedroom.

Often EastEnders diverges from its responsibilities as a soap, presenting sometimes troubling storylines, while entertaining.

The suggestion that a brilliant, youthful, and gifted character, with circumstance thumping for herself, would settle on the extraordinary choice to end her own life, made me think.  Youth suicide is extremely sad, and it perplexes me that Bex would make that decision, bringing hurt on herself, and on everyone who knows and loves her.  The song that soundtracks the tragedy for Bex is the Gary Jules version of the Tears for Fears song Mad World, music adding to a sense of despair and confusion that Bex is experiencing.

“The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had,” the song presents lyrically, as Bex drifts into near-death sleep.  Time-lapse photography shows the lights going out in the Vic, and the encompassing night sky giving way to a cloudy morning, when Bex may be lying there dead in her bedroom.

Elsewhere in the TV landscape, that tapestry of storytelling that is compelling, the song Mad World has received another place of honour in a TV soundtrack, in another show, in another nation.  Maybe strangely, but provocatively, Season 2 of the CW’s Riverdale has likewise presented Mad World.

https://www.insider.com/riverdale-veronica-archie-varchie-relationship-timeline-2019-1#archie-goes-to-the-semi-formal-dance-with-betty-and-veronica-2

By Episode 8 of Season 2, the Riverdale character Jughead has risen in the ranks of bikers, the Serpents. Archie and Veronica are presenting Mad World to their friends and family until the tension between them hits a breaking point, and they leave without finishing the song.

The group, a significant number of who are Serpents, are disappointed.  Betty thinks fast and takes the stage, picking up where Archie and Veronica stopped.  Betty quickly takes Mad World to a different level, assuming the role of dancer and drawing the Serpents in.

Jughead watches with shock, and maybe with interest. With his yearnings to use the Serpents, it isn’t unusual that Betty would in like manner expect another job.  Both EastEnders and Riverdale hit big audience numbers, and anyone who sees TV could note a similarity between the two Mad World scenes.

For Bex, it is about an early closure, and for Betty, it is tied in with seeing Jughead order the Serpents.  Bex’s mistake in EastEnders reflects a character who feels alone, despairing so much that she decides to take her life.

Perhaps it could even be derived that she knows about Riverdale from TV.  EastEnders is set amid reality.  The EastEnders characters watch “real world” TV and hear real-world music in the Vic.

Bex, simply, doesn’t deserve death.  She is a beautiful, intelligent, talented young woman, for who opportunity is knocking.

https://stocksnap.io/author/kristinhardwick

I like both shows, but there is a kind of question of how appropriate Bex’s act of self-destruction is.

The Mad World scene in Riverdale could, I see, be haunting, if it is relatable.  In EastEnders, the pendulum has swung away from the physical, to become a forebear of doom.  Both shows have a sense of appreciation for popular music, when songs present loud and clear.

The haunting going on in these TV episodes has to be executed within the context of plot devices, or else it isn’t effective.  It needs to make ideas click for an audience, or it falls short.  I think both shows want to present specific circumstances to get viewers feeling haunted.

“I find it kind of funny; I find it kind of sad…” Curious that the song lends itself to drama.  You’re welcome to comment and/or follow.  Thanks for visiting.

New Wrinkles: ten years older than you were

Sometimes you can’t help but wonder what the bloggers of today go through when they reach a certain point in their lives.   At some point, life as an adult becomes more about taking care of others than actually raising your children (or at least learning to be OK with finally being an adult yourself). This can make family holidays fraught, and expanding on your own brood extraordinarily difficult.

Losing ten years in the wink of an eye would be a dramatic life change. If I were ten years older than I am now, I would be forty-seven years old. If my life hadn’t changed in all that time, I wonder if I would be able to steer my life.

If all of a sudden I were forty-seven, what would I do? Maybe I’d sign up for online dating, filling out my profile with such designations as:

Age: 47

Seeking: a woman

My occupation: cemetery volunteer and social media addict. Facebook would be as much interesting as it is in my thirties!

Interests: Watching the EastEnders serial

Enjoying the wisdom of getting old

Hopes for the future: Keeping aware of changes and developments in the world

And so on.

I’d be aware of the shorter length of time left in my life. I’d want to pay more attention to what’s printed in the Saturday paper, instead of hurrying through it. My astrology chart designation would seem all the more pressing, I think.

Try this and try that–I would try to be more aware that there is only so much time in the day and it goes in the wink of an eye.

Other than looking for love, I’d be all the more set on my vocation. There would be fewer opportunities, I believe, so getting additional education would be all the more remote a possibility.

Upgrading a skill set would be all the more unfathomable as well. But I think I’d be satisfied with what I’ve managed to do so far. I’d be all the more persistent.

Maybe something like that would go on my dating profile!

I don’t think I’d be any keener than I am on the ongoing changes in technology; I’d be all the more typical growing old, putting my faith in the past instead of the future. I know I would write on my profile that I want to stay informed about what’s new. Still, I think as a guy I’d be saying that in order to demonstrate a certain character of the rube in my personality, seasoned by the years but not necessarily completely astute.

I think I would want to devote some time to reading good literature. I am sure there are many fascinating books, and in my late forties, I would want to delve into more than I have.

I wouldn’t be optimistic that I would learn much more than I have, because time spent in a book can go in the wink of an eye. That being said, there’s an illumination that goes with looking at the pages of essential books and fun books, and strange books.

Live in the moment and be happy there

Coaching Positive Performance

Coach and trainer Carthage Buckley reminded me this year on the Internet that Wayne Dyer wrote in Dyer’s book Your Erroneous Zones that guilt and worry are useless emotions. Carthage writes this in a Coaching Positive Performance post discussing goals. Carthage argues in the post there is no goal worth too much sacrifice.

Even if I’d missed the last ten years of my life, at the age of only forty-seven, I would still find happiness in what remained to be lived.

Of course, at this time, I’m still only 37. If the next ten years disappear somehow, I will try not to be too disappointed. At later stages of life, there are still many joys to experience.

You might know more about those joys than I do! Ten years is a long time, but in human life, it can go all too quickly: in the wink of an eye.