I Get It

It's kind of amazing that it took me this long to get it. Just because I happened to go to a performance of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" last night, I finally realized that "Shortbus" is sort of a version of the "Dream." The "Dream" has built into the plot the elements of dream, magic, and fantasy that prevent most viewers from retreating into the default stance of literalism, but somehow a lot of viewers haven't gotten that about "Shortbus" and come away imagining that it advocates occasionally switching sexual partners as a solution to depression, insecurity, anomie, and the meaninglessness of life--not that that's such a bad idea, really. Well, yes, it does, to the same extent that the "dream" counsels running away from your parents into the woods and getting involved with a lot of fairies.