The Arts & Entertainment section has decided to complain. We present an attack on architecture, travel entertainment, and terrible takes on television.
The CN Tower – Kellie Elrick, Arts & Entertainment Editor
I do not like the CN Tower! Visiting Toronto over reading week, I stood in King’s College Circle, admiring the oaks and arches and widow’s walks and—eurgh! There it was. It’s grey and bland and phallic (the positioning of the Rogers Centre does not help). I have no desire to go up the CN Tower, and I don’t want to rotate while I eat. Towers, in general, do not do much for me. The only tower I have climbed is the Tour Montparnasse, which is objectively not a very good tower (although perhaps one of the benefits of these aesthetically abominable towers is that once you’re inside, you don’t have to look at them). It feels wrong to bash a Canadian monument right now—and I do take great comfort in the fact that it’s taller than any tower in the United States—but the fact remains. Fucking ugly tower.
The (lack of) TVs on planes – Charlotte Hayes, Arts & Entertainment Editor
Look, I know everyone on the plane has a phone. And I know every one of those phones can download hours of Netflix, perfectly tailored to their taste and flight time, but I’m still mad about it. Where did the little seatback TVs go? What am I supposed to do when my phone inevitably dies after I spend three hours calling my mom because I got to the airport way too early? My readings? Don’t be ridiculous. The sacred art of the plane movie is disappearing before our very eyes. Future generations will never know the unique joy of flicking on that tiny screen and settling in for a mid-budget action-romcom—the kind you almost saw in theatres but never quite made time for. Sure, with a streaming service, I can curate my movie selection to match my taste exactly (and avoid awkwardly fast-forwarding through some risqué content with a child seated behind me), but it’s just not the same. The joy is entirely lost if I know what movies are available even a second before I’m in my seat. It’s a real tragedy.
TV isn’t real life—and that’s the point – Yusur Al-Sharqi, Managing Editor
Nothing on Earth irritates me more than the imbecilic complaint that “this would never happen in real life.” Okay? And?
Over the break, I heard from several people they disliked certain TV shows because they were “unrealistic”—Grey’s Anatomy, Euphoria, even Gossip Girl. But do you really want to see what the life of a surgeon or a high school student is like? Do you want to spend six hours standing in an operating room, elbow-deep in bloody intestines, or in a classroom watching a bunch of teenagers scroll through TikTok for an entire school day? That’s your prerogative, I guess… but personally, I love the drama.
The most absurd criticism I heard was that Keeping Up with the Kardashians isn’t realistic. No kidding. The show is a meticulously staged, champagne-soaked fever dream—and that’s what makes it a work of art. You can’t airbrush your face in real life, but Kris Jenner’s flawlessly digitally enhanced face on my screen? Iconic. If you’re looking for reality, then maybe reality TV isn’t for you.
The point is that TV isn’t meant to reflect our everyday lives. It’s made to entertain, captivate, and sometimes be totally absurd. While I’m escaping reality in the plane crashes and hospital shootings and cocaine-laden parties that grace my screen, you realism-lovers can go pay bills or wait in traffic for an hour. Enjoy that!
For favourable takes and recommendations, see our previous articles on ‘What we liked this break.’
