DOCTOR IN ALASKA
NX is a fascinating mix of genres, portrait of manners, well-intentioned comedy, drama philosophical traffic, ect ... but above all is a profound exploration of what it means to be human through the mythic, oneiric and fairy tales ...
The people of Cicely are restless spirits, their way of thinking and living is often inclined to freedom, tolerance and reflection Intellectual many times.
Fleishman is against not only the "odd" that introduces us into the world of Cicely but also the principal exponent of the contrast between nature and civilization, including a way of understanding the natural life and changes imposed by the progress ... usually represented by Joel, but not always, sometimes it's character that exemplified Maurice.
The Cicelyanos address the world by taking it as something natural, which characterizes the dynamics among the villagers is trust between them, how they are tolerated and even accepted to be tremendously different, This tolerant and cheerful attitude to life making Cicely in a mythical place, at the place where all like dwell, because it does not matter if you're someone like Maurice conservative or liberal, chaotic Chris, or neuro ; tico as Joel, or sweet as Shelly, ect ... all live together with open and respectful attitude that makes always find points of connection between them despite the differences.
This attitude to life, to which Joel refers to the end of the series, Cicely is a state of mind , is what makes this series into something more than a series in a way of understanding the world and live in it.
Cicely values became my primary education, perhaps because it coincided with my perceptions, but the influence of this series on my personality and understand how the world makes it perhaps the most important I've seen.
The people of Cicely often not understood, and collide, but they learn and find common ground, respect and trust each other, the sense of community is deep in the village, the only one who does not share this Joel's attitude, which is the viewer perplexed a completely unusual way of life in our society (consumer and adolescent).
cicelyano lifestyle, but that is almost a rare abnormality, Joel is a little symbol of the modern life, obsessed with status and consumption, Cicely seen as an alien in a strange land a, and at first his attitude is even hostile, but as the series progresses is not only attracted by the idea of belonging to the community but ultimately call into question his way of seeing the world and the importance it gives their possessions.
Learning Joel becomes the viewer's learning, and perhaps for that reason the series fails when new strange because then, as Joel, and we cicelyanos and we can not take that view again.
is significant that when we finally get what has been his obsession since the beginning, a chance to return home, Joel decides to stay and especially to renounce his possessions, no longer a symbol of waiver of a way of seeing and being, of living in the world possessing it, as opposed the cicelyanos, living with him .... Joel
transforms and only through this change of perspective is at last place, realizing that it is Cicely, which is not the place but the attitude towards life, a life attitude based on respect, tolerance and inner calm, something that once assimilated and will never leave you (again the pseudo grand final of the sixth, "Cicely is a state of mind " is actually more than that, is a "state of being "), so he returns to his city, but become a different person in one cicelyano, because what matters is not the facts or places but the way their eyes, something that the series highlights again and again, an example would visit the mother of Joel, who discovers during this time her true nature, or where Joel teaches the new doctor to look at things from another perspective ....
Is this trip, this teaching about life and how to live in it, respecting the different, tolerating the strange, comprising the near and far, living in peace with oneself and with others are so different they are, without trial, or prejudice, which makes Doctor in Alaska in the most important and significant (at life) of all fiction I've seen, on many levels, plus the value of series as such since it is a superbly structured work with some great dialogues, reflective and symbolic, with chapters that continue to raise new options, with a surreal way to translate the symbols
(if you want to show a complex, using the myths personify something that makes the series a fun experience in addition to intellectual, but it is not necessary to know the myths that used to understand the message, that is one of the great successes of the series, the way that reaches all alike, so timeless and significant)
always original, always thoughtful, and very human.
. "I was in love with the series, it was the only television drama absolutely devoid of violence. How can something done to stop it? "
Ruth commented on the interpretation of Anne, putting into words something that most fans of the series have felt at some point ...
In Cicely is a clear holistic way of looking at reality, seeing it as a whole, and thus tend to appear as the end all the human interest areas are interrelated, as the art and science can talking about the same, or myths and technology can converge, as dreams and reality can be two sides of the same coin, and finally, as everything can be seen from a different perspective, which is a way Bright learning to think, to teach find our own way of seeing things and respect of others, to teach to open our horizons and see beyond the obvious, in Northern Exposure always give you the turn the tables, forcing you to rethink your beliefs and prejudices, and like Joel, question you your views on reality.
" NX is a very smart plays with intertextuality, since they continuously produce references to literature, philosophy, mythology, music, legends, ect ... but but always addresses the issues intelligently, deepening almost moral messages about life, never gives lessons, is deeply respectful of the way of perceiving the world, not judge, does not give lectures, is limited to displaying and invite personal reflection, in a quasi-intelligent and intellectual, but with different reading levels to suit the viewer, and can be viewed as a set of manners and benevolent, or as a metaphor about life and how we accept, for example . "
Joel's character embodied many of the deep dichotomies pertaining to modern man, the scientific way of seeing and contemplating the world of Joel is also that of our society, as opposed to the almost magical way to understand the reality of cicelyanos (Ed and his spiritual guide, Magui listening to the language of trees, ect ...), is Fleishman paradigm of modern medicine, deeply rational and analytical versus shamanism and traditional ways of understanding the disease, in the series will show us both with deep respect
(one of the things that makes it so attractive Joel for the viewer, or at least to me, is how despite his prejudices strives to be kind to others, as with the shaman Uncle Ed at the beginning of the series, not a mockery of his beliefs despite not share and believe are silly, but his attitude is completely different Maguire)
Joel also embodies civilization versus the wild and beautiful in Alaska, which are so cicelyanos attuned (as Joel is significant anguish as open spaces and so nervous to fly freely, unlike the other inhabitants of the city, in several chapters shows us the union of their environment cicelyanos like when they meet to dismiss an old tree, and more particular title, the journey of Holling and Maurice, the way in which Anne and Ruth Holling nature photography instead to hunt, ect ... but as always in Cicely shows us the pros and cons of every situation, but is advocating a free and natural way of viewing the world, not judge specific behaviors, such as hunting , so Joel the man in the city, modern guy, sees it as something wild until Chris shows you how they see it as a way to integrate into the nature, the more tender it as Joel at the end get to understand the emotion of become a hunter but then cure the bird the shooter .....
Joel is generally more pragmatic reality versus a way of seeing reality more fantastic, but this assumption is modified and Throughout the series Joel attitudes change.
Although the series calls for respect and for not making value judgments, we note the positive trend to a lifestyle less civilized without losing sight of the improvements in progress, people like Maurice, a gourmet all, or Chris, we show closely linked to modern life, but at the same time able to integrate with a way of understanding the natural life, something that Joel is unable to do at first.
Contrasts abound in the series and not all linked to Joel, in many cases we are shown the different view of reality in which men versus women, always with a respectful view, without taking sides, the most interesting part of this is the non-stereotypical way in which characters are depicted, it is the paradigmatic case of two homosexuals, also avoid falling into parody of roles, such as when Chris tries to join a round table of women talking about childbirth ... because Chris can be seen as the modern man who seeks to merge without understanding masculinity and femininity that does not mean like a woman, Eva is brilliant as he snapped, s i want to feel like a woman, divide your salary by half .
intelligence of the series is to show how the boundaries that we are just fantasies that help us understand the world but are fictitious, the limits are diluted again and again, showing its fallacy.
The series is located at the border at many levels, the boundary between wild and civilized, between countries, between different ways of understanding the world, and representing one's own Alaska, the state of the last border, embodying the life border, within the limits of the civilized, his intelligence is to show how this boundary is mental, rather than real, and goes beyond it to teach us that in fact there are no differences dwell on the physical boundary and exterior or interior, we are not different from those that do not.
And that's the clearest message of the series, everyone is equal, no matter how different we are, and we are all part of the same.
NX shows again and again opposite ways of living and understanding the world, and always end up coming together, proving to be two sides of the same coin, finding a common language.
This makes it an amazing series, which is almost a treaty good life in Cicely there are characters who are almost paradigms of ways of seeing and living in the world.
Chris, which is embodied philosophy, analytical and deeply intellectual, always exploring, open to new experiences, as it has a way of facing the world with a deep intellectual curiosity, but like other characters series moves away from the stereotypes to be both a criminal, a rebellious iconoclast, but the dichotomy is only apparent, as the quintessential intellectual freedom should be so free.
Shelly, who is deeply pragmatic, live for today without worrying about the future and make the most of what life offers you is a sweet and receptive shows us emotionally full, much more aware of herself that Chris, more in touch with their emotions and something always know how you feel, but this almost natural wisdom is joined by a simple and stunning frivolity when understand their environment, Shelly is a cheerleader, and as such is a symbol of American culture, young, beautiful, blonde, cheerleader ... but falls for a sexagenarian and goes to live in Alaska.
and again NX plays with stereotypes to show his human side but also the absurdity when it comes to labeling people.
People like Maurice who embody the quintessential American turn out to have many nuances, Maurice is cultivated, rich, powerful, astronaut, patriot, but also is a man capable of loving nature in the wild, someone conservative who just associating with a gay couple, xenophobic just accepting and feeling proud of his son East, a man of principle which is always understanding what they have proved ineffective when it comes to understanding the world, Maurice is a man of a part that always ends removed, prejudices are often the prejudices of American society and perhaps more stereotyped This is the one most often seen as they are ruined and forced to rethink their worldview.
There is a however obvious contrast between the classic and traditional way to understand America is Maurice, and the modern, scientific and disbelieving that symbolizes Joel.
But the really brilliant in the series is as liberal Chris, who is almost Maurice nemesis not only just coming together again and again with this, and do not fail to find common ground, but which is also show prejudice as Chris and Maurice also can teach you things about life, because the characters in the series are complex and full of nuances, not fit easily into the molds.
At one point Maurice feels offended because Chris says Walt Whitman, one of the idols of Maurice, was gay, and at first Chris believes that homophobia is Maurice who speaks, but throughout the chapter we see how Maurice feared their idols turn to mud showing human weakness when he thinks that man needs illuminated symbols, without macula, although Chris disagrees just understanding their point of view and respect, and that is not the fact that Whitman likes men but this should not matter, or be mentioned, because what matters is the work of Whitman what angers Maurice.
All these characters are very different, often directly opposed, but always intermingled in a positive way, to the extent that these contrasts are usually displayed by couples maso less constant, as Chris and Maurice, I have already mentioned, and Joel Ed (Ed is an apprentice shaman, often talking to imaginary projections and phantasmagoric spiritual guides, is guided by signals and has a naive and open attitude towards life, the opposite of Joel, always analyzing everything and looking for explanations of everything, with an attitude closed and skeptical of the reality, just believe in what you see and question everything)
, Maguire and Joel (they are really quite neurotic and analytical the two, but while Maguire is open to new things, Joel contrary, the dichotomy here is female versus male, which also exemplifies the pair of Shelly and Holling, she deeply naive, sweet, young, and PRA CTIC, and the greatest intellectual, wild, very masculine),
Joel and Marilyn (he verbose, always anxious, needing to seek explanation of all, always judging and analyzing, it calmly, serenely, Taking life as it comes, silent and quiet, its dynamics is usually very funny and there's nothing more to Joel altering the deep serenity of Marilyn, so it is really beautiful in the last season to see how Marilyn discovers that Joel has really changed the attitude of Marilyn with Joel in this chapter, is extremely interesting and would give for a very interesting analysis of the attitude of the natives so they face more natural life to the citizens of the civilized world, always stressed),
Ed and Chris, (Chris is sophisticated, artist, philosopher, always looking for something new ... almost hedonistic, while Ed opposite is naive and almost naive, Ed tries to understand himself and the world as Chris but do so in very different ways, although both are artists, that is something that recurs in these couples, their differences are large but also their similarities, and are these the end what makes you understand more or less, to some, read Joel and Magui , it costs them more than others.
But the key to these relationships work is mutual tolerance and respect for the individuality of others, including Joel and Maguire (paradigms of gender isolation) do this at the end, though perhaps the most extreme opposites in the series, and that their opposition is that of the romantic comedy and often are placed at the ends of a cuestióny rarely admit to the other who had reason. Lei
the series creator Joshua Brand says there is no evolution. The characters are always the same because if they were not, it would be another series.
Brand I think relates to the personality of these people are very strong and never stop being who they are, except for Joel, modifying many aspects of his personality, somewhat cicelyanos are people too "done" and I guess that's what you mean, but evolution does not always involve changes in personality, but progress in attitude and approach, rethinking attitudes and learn from them and say this no evolution in the series, even if he says its creator, is so absurd that, or set the others did their backs or when speaking of evolution has a different concept to mine , most likely .
But NX is also a comedy, not only with the game romance between Joel and Magui opposition and continued disagreement sometimes bordering on the absurd but always fun, like when you delete Magui of his mind, literally, after a night of passion, but also a comedy of manners that plays with stereotypes and shows the vulnerable side of each character.
The game is a common misunderstanding but at the expense of Joel, the comic is the collision between the character of a character and function in a different context, for example we have Joel, a perfect specimen of their society, well-prepared to cope with modern life, completely ineffective in a different environment ...
(although Maurice and his prejudices are also the most common, such dreams fetish is the most humorous of the series) are generally unsuitable cicelyanos, border residents in many ways and many levels, but in this town find their place where they feel not only comfortable in your own skin, something that characterizes all cicelyano, and distinguishes Joel as strange until the end just to find the way to feel good about yourself, but also to their community, another aspect that unites them and makes them a community is a mutual solidarity, a strong sense of community despite being extreme individualists.
Cicely In some way you live and want to live, without explanation to anyone, and surprisingly it easier to understand the individuality of others, to respect it, and finish by understanding it, because you allow yourself to be your same, to live as you wish, in Cicely
inhabitants are tolerated with no effort but with joy, do not do an exercise in tolerance at the expense of its principles, but they demonstrate a love for life and for themselves to such a level that accept what is different with ease and affection, you are welcome with your quirks, because no one (besides Joel) not accept if mime or even hate, in one of the most interesting chapters Joel talks to himself and let clear how much is censored and what is judged harshly.
Joel is the only one who does not accept yourself, so it costs to accept others, and that is what makes so special Cicely, it is a place where people want to itself, enough to afford to be themselves, therefore, because they're in peace, respect for others, which does not make them saints, of course, are wrong, sometimes try impose their point of view, but always learning and always respect all the different. Cicely
is physically a wild, inhospitable, but close to the wild than the civilized, a place where man still has to struggle with nature for his safety spot, and that is also an integration fight, often the characters in Cicely, all pioneers and fighters, have just discovered that is the resistance which makes them open roads, but the union .... take the place of another, and sometimes the other is nature. Chris
discovered in a chapter that if you intend to use nature to your service, you may return the favor; Maurice that progress can not override nature, Joel just realizing that we are part of what we around ... cicelyanos but are not mystical, they are people of the limits, wrestlers, terrestrial, with a very simple attitude towards reality.
The contrast of their simple way of life often face opposition comically to Joel pretentious attitude, with its sophisticated New Yorkers, and his pompous way of expressing himself, at first thought over this simple people who has found a way to live at peace with itself, and is so fun how you react to discover such as the hermit who lives in a fancy cabin is a renowned specialist with a strong academic reputation.
Joel's prejudices collide with life in Cicely, where stereotypes show their true face of ineffective illusions of reality.
If Joel is the modern face of the past, civilization versus nature, ect, Maurice is the recipient of self-criticism of the series, since it is the quintessential American and unites in itself the best and worst thing about being American, in the words of Brand:
" really embodies Maurice best and worst qualities of what it means to be americano.Lo I admire most about Maurice and many of the other characters in NE, is that they are connected with the past, live in the present and look to future. "
One of the comic series is the way in which Joel reluctantly accepted as it is changing Cicely, does not enjoy this change, To him it is a horrible thing, to realize again and again as adopting an attitude just cicelyana dreads in a way he, the stranger, becoming one of them, and that scares him, because they are all that fear.
His transformation is so complete that ends in the end, something that is exaggerated, at least in the long term, but it inevitably happens that his catharsis for taking your wild side and magical, with the arrival of the new doctor is a wonderful chapter that shows the change in Joel, where it appears almost as a parody of cicelyano.
In the last chapters seems almost magical creature, appearing and disappearing and lost in the woods, almost a mythic mode, how to go eventually to the call of nature, he screams loud and clear from the beginning, is extreme and radical as stiff mode that clung to your modern world, so rigid and structured as his own thinking.
series likes to play with stereotypes, as I said, again and again reality shows or characters that conflict with these, from the more main characters like Chris, philosopher and rowdy, elements that create cicelyano universe, as some natives who are often deeply capitalist and advocate for change, or Maurice, usually the champion of progress, defending tradicióny history.
The contradictions of the modern world, as well as of human nature and reality are shown drawing the same location in the series, the creators make it clear this eagerness to tear down borders, or directly abolished.
Originally, Josh and John had planned to place the series in South America, as I said, but chose Alaska because except few spectators, no one knew what it was really Alaska. Our Alaska was really a landscape of imagination. Alaskan humorist writer, Tom Bodette, once wrote a letter to TV Guide disapproving the series so unrealistic it was. He did not understand the question. We do not we went to Alaska to follow reality, but to abolish it. In fact, we went there to pursue a greater reality. It was our own little world where everything was possible, we had rules, we were consistent but, as we used to say, our little town was "two feet off the ground." Not higher than it wanted and certainly did not want either to return to reality tierra.discutimos hitting the personality of Cicely, Alaska, as a benign universe where one would ideally like to live
And it worked, in a perfect way, like a good recipe, all parts needed or transformed into something else, and that was part of the magic of the series, almost supernatural that balance between a point and the other, without ever slipping into excessive,
always been more than a series, was a teacher, much of my values are learned in Cicely, much of my concerns arose then, listening to Chris lecturing, Ed Joel exploring or questioning everything, its inhabitants old friends are still too close all to pick favorites, Cicely, as Joel discovers in the end, is indeed a state of mind.
* written in italics is a quote, but in most cases not remember where I read it but I signed up because I'm interested ..
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