tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4733360219698179744.post2527123576302729072..comments2023-05-07T11:42:23.109-04:00Comments on Bad Shakespeare: How I Met Your EndingBad Shakespearehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11041488050989009297noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4733360219698179744.post-44643174719507035672014-05-05T10:38:37.744-04:002014-05-05T10:38:37.744-04:00Specific thoughts on the HIMYM Finale: (Keep in mi...Specific thoughts on the HIMYM Finale: (Keep in mind, I’m not dwelling on this and lamenting the end of show a month after the finale. I know I won’t watch the last season again because it wasn’t very good. Most of my HIMYM thoughts are what I was thinking about a month ago.)<br />If you groaned every time Ted went back to Robin over the past four seasons, as I did, then you would understand why I was so dissatisfied with the ending of the show. I was so sick of Robin and Ted that them getting together in the end is the worst ending for me. Ted became rather annoying over the course of the show, seemingly obsessive and pedantic and easily my least favorite character on the show. He was redeemed during the final season through the flash forwards with the Mother. They were sparkling and romantic, the best part of the season. I would love to watch an episode just of Ted’s moments with the mother. Everything else had an air of stretching the season. In the end, I didn't want to see Ted with anyone else, let alone the person he had tried and failed with over and over and over.<br />IF they were my friends, I'd tell Ted and Robin to stop. You aren't good for each other. I'm going to shut up about this eventually.... They had an ending in the can that they didn't have to use. They could have decided that they ending didn't work (as I think it didn't.) I suspect that since they went to that stupid well over and over that they didn't realize it had diminishing returns. In the hypothetical TV movie version of the show, I expect we will hear that Robin and Ted broke up again, realizing it STILL doesn't work. The writer/creator of the Dawson's Creek finale realized that Joey should end up with Pacey not Dawson which was the original intent. These things can change. By not changing as the story evolved, they didn't listen to where the story was taking them.<br />Art and Interpretation:<br />I understand your stance about criticizing art. Believe me, I’ve done a ton of productions, large and small, and written some, so I know how the critic can focus on something that was beyond the productions control and miss what was great about a production. I don’t agree about changing what the artists wanted. Art has become less sacred to me as I’ve done so many classics, especially art in the service of entertainment. Sometimes cuts need to be made. I’ve seen interpretations of works many times to varying degrees of success. Most of the interpretations don’t last or are a novelty (My current production of The Magic Flute with Japanese style costumes and staging is amazing, but every production won’t and shouldn’t do the same.) They are seen as transitory and the original work lasts longer. Occasionally, they can become the touchstone of how the work is interpreted. Did you know Mahler reorchestrated Beethoven’s 9th symphony? The towering genius that is Beethoven’s 9th symphony. His work is sacred in the classical community and most people agree Mahler’s editing is an improvement. Often, great art takes perspective and a work can revised on greater reflection. It took Sondheim more than a decade to get “Merrily We Roll Along” (1981) right. I love the 1992 version of the show, it is the version that was just done on the West End with the last two years. With the place in our culture that television holds at the moment, how different it is from changing/cutting Shakespeare, Mozart, Verdi to changing Carter/Bays’s HIMYM?<br />Also, by pulling something apart, you can learn how to create better yourself. It can be part of the analyzing process. Fitting new words to song like “Let it go” is easy when you are going for cheap jokes, people have been doing it for centuries. It can also teach you something about lyric writing. So, next time instead of sitting in the shadow of someone else’s work, you can create your own.Clearlyherehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13636763995694092841noreply@blogger.com