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Framed Tales, Gregory House, and Aladdin

nk0825's picture

It was interesting for me as a House fan to take a step back from the series as a whole to digest the overwhelming thread throughout "Private Lives." To be honest, I have never really sat and tried to understand the connection between the title of the episode and the episode itself. I think this may be because I watch shows to relax and give my brain a rest. But, I realized how much I was missing, a lot of the little things, when I passively "watch" a show.

I realized that this episode did not merely question Frankie's privacy matters, but the entire casts as well. It was interesting to see House, Wilson, and even Chase's privacy incorporated. From House's questions about his biological father to Wilson's porno past, it was truly revealed that everyone has skeletons in their closets and privacy enables these skeletons to hide. It was interesting to see how an outside individual handled questions of privacy in conjunction with bloggers. Another view ultimately allowed me to grasp how the global blogging phenomena is presently growing.

Thinking about t.v. series as a descendent of "framed tales" I think it's very possible. Much like 1001 Nights, a viewer must have followed the series (for the most part) in order to understand the many nuances of relationships, personas, etc. However, viewers don't necessarily have to watch EVERY episode, or even many of the episodes, in order to understand the basics of what's going on in the episodes. Now, this is kind of a stretch but Aladdin appears to me very similar in its form to 1001 Nights, I mean it was incorporated into the collection of stories by French Translator Antoine Galland. On the Disney channel many years ago, Aladdin was a movie and even once a TV series. Does this create an even more direct (yet obviously society altered) connection between the TV series as a form and "framed tales?" 

 

Aladdin from framed tale....to Boob tube.

 

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