Are there an Danielle Steel fans out there? I didn't think so. In all
honesty I've never read any of her novels, or, until recently, watched
any of the bigillion made-for-TV movies based on her books. But Monday
night I discovered that Danielle Steel may be a closet Brit car admirer.
I was playing coach spud and scanning through the channels for something
to watch when I chanced on a scene in a MFTV flick based on one of
Steel's stories. This YUPPIE looking guy was trying to talk his wife
into getting rid of her "old car" and replacing it with a new 750I (I
think). I have no idea what a 750I is but I'm guessing it's a BMW or
maybe a Volvo; or perhaps it's something the script writer made up.
Anyway what caught my attention was the phrase "old car". I had this
hunch. Could it be, I wondered? I watched for a while to find out what
kind of car was being discussed. But the story line got a little slow
and was mostly taking place indoors. Since I was grubby from puttering
around the yard most of the day I decided to take a shower and check in
later.
After the shower I settled in with a cold Anchor Steam and flicked on
the tube again. Pay dirt. The husband had just dumped his suitcase
into the back of his Turbo Porsche and was in the process of telling his
pregnant wife that he was leaving her. In the foreground was a cream
colored MG TF. Ah ha, I thought. Do I have a sixth sense or what!
The story continued like this mostly via dialog, but, after a bit, the
wife meets a new more caring and worthy dude when, you guessed it, he
yells over to her in a parking that he thinks she has a really nice car.
Naturally he's also driving something unusual and distinctive; a late
40's Ford (I think) woody station wagon. It's "electricity" at first
sight.
What I really liked the most about this story was the symbolism of the
cars. The cruel arrogant egocentric heartless husband snarling off in
his mean looking Porsche. The passive yet sensitive, warm and likable
wife gliding around in her modest looking MG with it's friendly purr.
She's obviously had the MG for a long time; it's a member of the family.
The Porsche on the other hand is just for show; a status symbol; a
get-out-of-my-way notice to the world.
Of course Ms Steel may never have had any of this her book. Or maybe
her original story had a Lincoln and a Studebaker instead; or maybe the
the director was a car nut and just stuck the MG and Porsche in to fill
some time gaps in the story; or maybe the cars belonged to his
brother-in-law's rent-a-speciality-car service and I'm reading more into
them than was ever intended.
After the movie was over there was a commercial for another Danielle
Steel MFTV movie to be shown in the near future. The plot sounded
suspiciously similar to the plot of the movie I'd just watched. I
didn't see one reference to a British Car. Most likely I'll be missing
this one. Besides, there's the Masterpiece Theatre segment I tape
during the DS movie; it even has subtitles.
Roland
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