Since I’ve become a parent, I don’t watch movies or television. I read lots of books, and watch kids’ movies and programs and videos of kids and dogs and things that my kids like, but not anything I would fancy because I have a problem (beside no time): addiction to stories. I get swept away by whatever I’ve watched and can’t stop thinking about it, research it, google all the characters, read all the reviews. My husband was out of town for one week, leaving me with my kids solo. Of course, nothing got done as all I could so was take care of the kids and household. As reward for being a single mom during that time, I decided I would watch one show on Netflix — I chose ‘Scandal.’
I had heard about it, but didn’t know what the premise of the show was until I pressed play on the iPad. I had planned to just watch one episode and pretty soon that one episode turned into two and lo and behold pretty soon I had watched the whole first season (it was 4 a.m. when I finished the last episode of season 1). Staying up until 4 a.m. and getting 2 hours of sleep does not bode well for me, especially when my 2-year-old son starts yelling at me to wake up and that he wants breakfast.
What I realized about the show is that I could never be a character like Olivia Pope. While I admire her for passion and drive and smartness, she’s responsible for the livelihood of crazy important people and has no real meaning to her life. I guess it depends on how you define meaning, but i realized it’s not my cards to work a 60-hour a week job, commuting and racing around all the time and seeing my kids for one hour a day.
But I love being swept away in a story, and appreciate the story, the Olivia Pope’s who do the world a better place. And after all those scandals, it’s gotten a little boring. I’ll probably read a book.
-Eunice Park
poche de maman 