Nostalgia

A few weeks ago, I bought season four of the classic t.v. series, The Cosby Show. Now, if you had the good grace to have anything to do with the 80s, you knew this family intimately and, chances are, you still get a little nostalgic every time you hear the theme songs or stumble upon Bill Cosby's signature dance---maybe you've even tried it yourself (pursed lips and all!!). Bill, Clare, Sandra, Denise, Theo, Vanessa, and Rudy Huxtable. They were like real people to me. I still find myself wishing they were. But why is that? Why did I and so many other people wish to be part of the family?

For me, maybe it started with my dad's old LP of Cosby doing his stand-up comedy show entitled, Bill Cosby: Himself. I've tended to sentimentalize anything that once belonged to my father, appropriating his likes and dislikes, making them a kind of standard for my own life. Over the years, I've acquired more and more of his favourite things and made them my own. I suspect they'll all eventually make their way into this blog. Amongst them are the inimitable works of Charles Dickens, Homer and Shakespeare; a love for teaching and a belief in the importance of education as a life-long goal; the soulful, tribal, eclectic sounds of great African musicians such as Miriam Makeba; the joy of seeing things grow in a garden; of curling up with a good book; of writing. The list could go on....I guess my father gave me these loves like a legacy, and my mother refined them. Knowing that my father loved Cosby (and, incidentally, attended university with him in Philadelphia) makes me love him and his show too!

But I'd probably have loved the Cosbys anyway because of what they had to say about family life. The show strikes me more so now than it ever did, perhaps because present-day family life seems such a fractious thing. The Cosbys weren't perfect and they dealt with some tough issues---like when Clare found a joint between the pages of Theo's geography text book, or when a friend was battling cancer---but they seemed to deal with everything gracefully and, ultimately, with humour. Now there are a lot of comedies out there today, but they all pale in comparison to the Cosby Show---even my much-loved Seinfeld---because, in my opinion, their humour is aimed at ridiculing. Whether the ridicule is aimed at one's self or others, if you laugh at all, it's not because the joke is a hearty one but because someone's stupidity has just been showcased. I don't know if I'm able to express this well....I love The Cosby Show because it brought dignity forward. You felt that the members of the family truly cared for one another. The skill of the actors lay in their ability to bring out the very best about what it means to be part of a family.

And what about Cliff and Clare? Were there ever two more ardent on-screen lovers as they were? And yet, interestingly, there were never any steamy scenes or offensive innuendos. The extent of their love-making generally culminated in a closing scene in which Cliff, dressed in one of his many salwar-kameez-style pyjamas (ha ha!), turned up some jazz music on the old record player, and batting his eyes, sidled up to a smiling, gloriously garbed Clare. He would clutch her to him and the two would dance cheek-to-cheek as the lights faded and the audience applauded. Innocent, unassuming, beautiful, genuine.

There's not much that interests me on t.v. these days. Maybe that's a good thing. After all, there is so much to do in a day and so little time to do it! But, when I need to relax, the Cosbys are a sure bet every time. I suspect I'll be hunting out the other seasons in time---maybe putting them on my Christmas and birthday wish lists for the next few years (hint hint!). Anything which interests and inspires a person over decades is worth a little reflection. I like to think of it as being intentional about what I love and how I spend my time. I guess that's what this blog is, ultimately, for.