KNOW-HOW
I’ve always had the misconception that a person who reads many books is an intelligent person. And then something struck me. The question is: How?
How do you read books?
Were you one of those straight-A students? Were you the “nerd” of the school? Maybe that’s not such a good sign.
These star pupils were praised by parents and teachers but all they really did, was flick through history books without questioning a thing.
Well, my grandma does pretty much the same. She spends hours watching unspeakable telenovelas, serves you tea, then sums the latest episode up in fanciful detail.
It’s true, we’re not talking about Tolstoy here, but how would it be if my grandma told you the story of Anna Karenina?
[ Anna Karenina was a married aristocrat bla-bla-bla who has an affair with the charming Count Vronsky bla-bla-bla she leaves her husband but in the meantime bla-bla-bla. Anna becomes isolated and anxious while Vronsky goes out and about bla-bla-bla. The situation is unbearable, Anna commits suicide. ]
Would you like another cup of tea, darling?
In short; the novel explores topics like politics, religion, morality, gender and social class, but my nanna likes the gossip of it. If you take Tolstoy’s masterpiece that way, it’s true that it doesn’t fall too far from tea-time telenovelas.
How do you listen to music?
Let’s take The Beatles as an example. Why? Because there’s even a thing out there called Beatlemania. That’s right, I’m talking about maniacs. The delirious Beatles fan club.
Nothing compares to the hysteria that The Beatles created in the height of their careers in the 60s. They were mostly teens peeing their pants. Screaming schoolgirls pulling their hair out.
The term “fan” comes from Latin “fanaticus”, meaning “insanely but divinely inspired” or “marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical devotion”.
There’s a link between how my grandma reads Anna Karenina and Beatlemania.
How do you watch films?
Even movie-goers come in two flavours these days; “film geeks” and “cinephiles” (or movie snobs). The first preferring contemporary films based on comics or video games and the latter, being lovers of “the classics” and modernist or avant-garde cinema, up to the present, and tend to scorn geek favourites.
Film geeks are almost religious creatures, loyal market followers. They could even come off as sweet as they light up their Christmas crib with Batman instead of baby Jesus.
They know it all about their heroes; background, quotes, missions, superpowers and outfits. Meanwhile, a cinephile contemplates a slow-motion caress, heartbroken in a blurry romance.
All this considered, we can arrive at one important point. However you read books, listen to music, or watch films – never lose your child-like enthusiasm.
