There's a movie I like very much: "84 Charing Cross Road."
In 1949 Helene Hanff, in search of obscure classics and British literature titles she has been unable to find in New York City, notices an ad in the Saturday Review of Literature placed by antiquarian booksellers Marks & Co located at the titular address in London. She contacts the shop and chief buyer and manager Frank Doel fulfills her requests. A long distance friendship evolves over time, not only between the two but between Hanff and other staff members as well, including birthday gifts, holiday packages, and food parcels to compensate for post-World War II food shortages in England. Their correspondence includes discussions about topics as diverse as the sermons of John Donne, how to make Yorkshire Pudding, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the coronation of Elizabeth II.
I was thinking about it the other day and it reminded me of the friendships that start on a blog, such as this one. We also discuss a variety of topics and many people go on to meet in person, becoming more than virtual friends. The need to connect is part of human nature and people always sought to communicate with each other by whatever means available at the time. Snail mail has been replaced by e-mail, chat rooms, comments sections on blogs and although many people dismiss virtual friendships as not "real," they are as real as those real life connections Helene made with people from across the ocean, even though she never met any of them. Their friendship lasted for nearly two decades, what's not "real" about it?
This movie is also dear to me because the two main characters encapsulate my father. He was bi-polar; sometimes he was as exuberant as Helene, sometimes as reticent and reserved as Frank. The day of his funeral, which I couldn't attend, I went to Blockbusters, rented the video, and watched it at the time of the funeral back in Brazil. It helped me feel part of it, connected to the rest of my family and friends. Needless to say, this movie was also one of my father's favourites.
I'm very grateful to Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the worldwide web and gave his invention to the world free of charge. "Berners-Lee made his idea available freely, with no patent and no royalties due. The World Wide Web Consortium decided that its standards should be based on royalty-free technology, so that they could easily be adopted by anyone."
Writing about a good movie which deals with long distance friendships and a good man who made these friendships easier makes me feel very warm inside, very close to all of you, my virtual and very real friends...
