Monday, July 4, 2011

Judy! Shake Me Up!

BBC Mini Series of Bleak House
Last week I watched the BBC miniseries Bleak House, written by Charles Dickens. And I am still smiling over the scroogey and dilapidated character of Mr. Smallweed.  He is obstinate and full of bossery vileness. My mom would say he's full of spit and vinegar but he's way worse than that and full of a lot more than spit and vinegar. And to top that off, he's crippled and lives completely reliant upon the generosity of others to move him from one place to another.  Have I described him well enough? Here's more. He's grumpy and cranky and ugly and horrifically hygiene deficient. He is carried from here to there in an old wooden chair held up by more ugly holding long handles that secure the chair to prevent any spillage. (Just think Arc of the Covenant.) This man embodies the definition of a curmudgeon. Don't you love that word? I do. And so you see that Mr. Smallweed is just a horrible horrible curmudgeon of a man. And I love him! He is assisted in his loan sharking business by his granddaughter, Judy.  "Judy! Shake me up!!" he yells to her every time he's thrown a fit over pretty much nothing. She dutifully grabs him under the arms and literally yanks him up and shakes him until you hear some bones crackling. I don't know why, but it's just funny. And it keeps getting funnier. Today, with a full day to vedge out, I watched the whole thing all over again with my daughter, Carissa. Soon enough Mr. Smallweed is introduced into the story. I'm all set to laugh again. I sneek a smiling glance over and see that my daughter is not smiling at all. Don't you hate that?

Mr. Smallweed and his dutiful granddaughter, Judy
As this character further develops I realize she is now fast-forwarding through the meat of Mr. Smallweed's scenes. "He's so horrible", she tells me. YES, I thought. That is exactly what he is. Don't you just LOVE him? But no, she don't. She's a much kinder soul than I and I'm thinking his orneriness was nothing short of rude and irritating (which is true) and I wondered why it was just me who thought this crust of a man was so darn funny? And as my researcher mind got the better of me I started googling him, trying to find out what in the world ailed this old crank that required him to be 'shaken' up every so often. Sadly, I never did find a sufficient answer, but I did happen across this wonderfully refreshing blog called, Code Yellow Mom. Turns out she's seen that mini series too. Back in 2006. And she loves Mr. Smallweed! It was great! I laughed out loud, threw my head back, raised my hands into fists and yelled, "COMRADE!"

So I share her blog with you here in the hopes that it might shake you up at least a little. I think being shaken up now and again may not really be such a bad thing.  Code Yellow Mom doesn't think so either. Comrades must stick together. (BTW, Carissa loved the series, despite Mr. Smallweed and his gnarly and wretched behaviors.)

 ~Susan