A chara, – Your correspondent Helen McClelland eloquently describes the many tiresome clichés in current television dramas (Letters, November 26th), but she missed the one that annoys me most.
Why do so many characters conduct earnest conversations while brushing their teeth? – Is mise,
JOE McLAUGHLIN,
Bonnyrigg,
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Midlothian,
Scotland.
Sir, – I am not surprised to see commentary levelled at the state of modern filmed entertainment. The arc of this industry for the last two decades has become increasingly formulaic and mass market, and few directors seem willing to take chances, or to deviate from the tried-and-tested formula.
The result of this is that modern drama aims not to make the viewer think or feel, but to deliver an experience which is at best an anaesthetic, a screening which will prove palatable in the expected way, and which will be easily consumed by the well-trained mass-market digestive system.
It is not shocking perhaps that the film industry, which ultimately is financially driven, has converged upon a formula which is effective, albeit anodyne.
What is a surprise, however, is the readiness with which the viewership accepted the zombification, at scale, of an entire art form.
Modern cinema, of course, is not the only medium to suffer from this ailment, but it is the most striking example. – Yours, etc,
IRINA LACEY,
Sutton,
Co Dublin.
