The Shallow Life

Back when I was in college and had illusions about the size and value of my intellect, I secretly sneered at people that read People magazine. I assumed everyone with an appetite for celebrity gossip and melodrama was a bit dim. I preferred the serious world of the Atlantic Monthly and New Yorker balanced by an occasional issue of Rolling Stone or Glamour to read over spring break. Yet whenever I found myself stuck in a waiting room, I picked up People and got my trashy journalism fix. Oh sure, I was too smart to buy such magazines but not too good to read them.

But once I became a mother, everything changed. By the time I embraced parenthood, I’d lost my sister and my own parents, and every emotion was heightened and raw. Submerging myself exclusively in literary books, serious movies, or the natural and manmade disasters on the news left me feeling weepy and defeated. Every hopeless story reminded me once again how vulnerable we are and how I couldn’t protect my children (or myself) from heartache or worse.

And this is when I began to understand the allure of the Shallow Life. Consuming celebrity gossip and fashion articles is a retreat to a world where the biggest worries are weight gain and being seen in last season’s shoes. The carefully polished and packaged worlds presented in these magazines are a thousand miles away from the reality of my own heart and home. And that’s a good thing in every sense. I don’t want to live in those scripted and styled worlds, but an occasional visit is worth the $4 cover price.

Embracing the world’s suffering may have made me a more compassionate person, but InStyle magazine helps me emerge from a gray fog and get on with life. When you can’t answer life’s big question (“Why am I here?”), it’s comforting to dwell on a smaller one (“Now that I’m here, what will I wear?”). Pop culture is like a cold fizzy drink on a hot day--needed refreshment when reality gets too hot to handle. Go ahead and watch The Apprentice or laugh at a Ben Stiller movie—it beats having your heart broken on CNN.

© 2005 Veronica McCabe Deschambault. All rights reserved.

October 18, 2005

Comments

[Shirl Grrrl]

I think that is the exact reason I am so attracted to the silly, funny movies. There are days when I just so need to laugh after reading about yet another hurricane approaching or a mother throwing her babies into the San Francisco bay. How much more bad/sad news can we stand? So yes! Bring on Ben Stiller and Steve Martin, too. And while you're at it, some Adam Sadler might hit the funny bone.

[Shirl Grrrl]

Oops, that's Adam Sandler... sorry... too much NASCAR!