Two Plays, Sort Of

(Continued from Thursday) A TV show is not exactly a play, but it has most of the elements of a play. Our son Luke writes TV shows, specifically, this year, scripts for the long running show Law and Order. His first script aired Wednesday, December 12,2008. Luke has written for a number of different shows over the years, but this was his first Law and Order. We taped it so we could attend Wit, and when we got home we watched his episode. As his parents, we are proud of Luke's writing accomplishments, but we also view some of what he has written with a bit of trepidation. We knew the subject of this show was going to be the exploitation of young boys for sexual purposes, not exactly a comfortable subject. We also know that he is only one person among several who will determine what appears on the screen. The show was gritty, revealing the squalidness, pettiness, and rapaciousness of the world of prostitution. We weren't quite comfortable with everything we saw. But we thought that for the most part it was a true depiction of a part of our culture that cries out for redress. And there was at least one moment in the show that was so powerful it "redeemed" the show. A homely young girl (she "happens" to be from Boyden, Iowa, though she is now in New York City) believes she is in love with one of the gay boys to such an extend that she is willing to take the rap for a murder he seems guilty of. He, of course, is just using her. Well, in the process of her interrogation, she is forced to recognize her terrible neediness, to acknowledge that she has been pushed away by people her entire life. It is a dreadfully pathetic moment when we see her forced to admit that no one loves her. She sits there, emotionally naked before our eyes. And if we are human, we feel a deep, deep pity for her, the pity that's hid in the heart of love.And this is where Wit and Law and Order come together for me. Both show with great power the need for love, acceptance, compassion, human connection--call it what you will--that all of us desperately want and need because it is at the very heart of being human.

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