Camp by James Bidgood or contemporary by David Belisle. And while we’re on the subject, let’s not forget Charlie Kaufman’s opening lines for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind:
“Random thoughts for Valentine’s day, 2004. Today is a holiday invented by greeting card companies to make people feel like crap.”
Indeed, Valentine is the tackiest, nastiest piece of commercial mass programming the whole Main Stream is tapping into. It’ creates a whole fake atmosphere around the most universal and intense emotional experiences: Love. The word itself is not even trustworthy anymore. Even X-mas still has a general sense of social community, while this Valentine business re-inforces the idea that one is incomlete without a partner/lover to send cheesy pink greeting cards too. Typical also of the herd mentality that there needs to be a holiday designated to kind gestures instead of leaving it to genuine spontaneity.
Actually I don’t mind Valentine’s Day so much, it’s Christmas that aggravates me, especially when it gets drawn out for so long. Having said that, I noticed this year that shops had their Valentine’s stuff out already in the second week in January. Now that’s done they’ll be on the run-up to Easter.
I wonder if it annoys the companies who exploit this kind of fervour that there isn’t a convenient date between Easter and Halloween? Midsummer’s Day is probably too pagan for American corporations. Thank Cthulhu for small mercies.