Really. This post is about etiquette, and it is written by me, Ema Solarova, the chick with a loud mouth full of swear words and sex jokes, the one who calls black Vibram Five Fingers “business attire.” That’s just to give you an idea of how I tend to regard rules and such.
Regardless, I’ve been paying a lot more attention to etiquette lately.
Yes, there is a special reason for it, but it’s not what you might think–or perhaps it’s exactly the reason you’d expect me to do anything for: it has to do with movies.
So perhaps I should say that this post is about Etiquette. One of my great writing mentors at Chapman, Professor Mildred Lewis, is one of the creators of a new web series about etiquette.
It’s called Etiquette (shocking, I know).
The tagline, “A Surprisingly Relavant Guide to Good Manners in the Modern World,” is a very fitting description of the show. This isn’t about knowing the vegetable salad fork from the chicken salad fork, it isn’t even about holding the door open or picking up the check. It’s about not being a complete douche when interacting with others, and more specifically, dating. Not because it’s “proper,” but because it’s basic human decency and makes the situation so much better for everyone involved.
Wanna hear the real shocker? It’s based on a book from 1964.
Almost 50 years later, most women in the Western world earn enough to take a guy out to dinner, but not much has changed when it comes to treating other human beings with respect. Like, basic human respect, simple decent thing to do. The show makes this glaringly obvious with funny scenarios that show just how awkward things become when one acts like a douche.
It show feels fresh and entertaining, not just for something based on a 1964 book that has the word “etiquette” in it.
Check it out, won’t you?
Em Solarova 