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Grey
Insight
Living colour Grey Marty: But you’ve just seen Myra on a chair with a bullet through her head. Hans: In some gray place. Marty: England? Hans: It seemed a lot worse than that. Marty: Wow. Seven Psychopaths (Directed by Martin McDonagh, 2012)
With the blackest of black humour, Hans (Christopher Walken) describes seeing his murdered wife in limbo—not quite hell, but definitely not heaven. Any day in England too foggy to see past one’s hands brings to mind thoughts of Helheim, one of the nine Norse underworlds that, despite its name, is said to be a land of neutral mist (“Hel” in Old Norse means hidden). The hidden lives of people with old money—so old it was long gone—were revealed in the documentary Grey Gardens, named for the late 19th century Arts and Crafts summer cottage of Little Edie and Big Edie Beale, the mother and daughter who lived in poverty from the late 1930s until Little Edie sold it in 1979. The house was purchased in its
www.thelancet.com/psychiatry Vol 4 May 2017
state of disrepair, with everything inside, by author and journalist Sally Quinn: “It was like finding a shipwreck and discovering unimaginable treasure buried among the detritus.” In 2010, Kelly Osbourne stepped out with lavender grey hair, kicking off a fad for silver, grey, and pastel hair among young, fashion-conscious women. The trend seems to merge with the growing decision among naturally grey women to stop colouring their hair, often for political as well as practical reasons. Both trends welcome a plethora of new hairstyling products on the market, and extremely expensive bleach jobs. “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust”: the English Burial Service, from the Book of Common Prayer, might seem grim, peaceful…or maybe groovy. In 1980, David Bowie sang: “Ashes to ashes, funky to funky/We know Major Tom’s a junkie.” In 1982, Visage sang Fade to Grey, which seems an appropriate ending for this month’s column.
Kelley Swain
e10
Living colour Grey Marty: But you’ve just seen Myra on a chair with a bullet through her head. Hans: In some gray place. Marty: England? Hans: It seemed a lot worse than that. Marty: Wow. Seven Psychopaths (Directed by Martin McDonagh, 2012)
With the blackest of black humour, Hans (Christopher Walken) describes seeing his murdered wife in limbo—not quite hell, but definitely not heaven. Any day in England too foggy to see past one’s hands brings to mind thoughts of Helheim, one of the nine Norse underworlds that, despite its name, is said to be a land of neutral mist (“Hel” in Old Norse means hidden). The hidden lives of people with old money—so old it was long gone—were revealed in the documentary Grey Gardens, named for the late 19th century Arts and Crafts summer cottage of Little Edie and Big Edie Beale, the mother and daughter who lived in poverty from the late 1930s until Little Edie sold it in 1979. The house was purchased in its
www.thelancet.com/psychiatry Vol 4 May 2017
state of disrepair, with everything inside, by author and journalist Sally Quinn: “It was like finding a shipwreck and discovering unimaginable treasure buried among the detritus.” In 2010, Kelly Osbourne stepped out with lavender grey hair, kicking off a fad for silver, grey, and pastel hair among young, fashion-conscious women. The trend seems to merge with the growing decision among naturally grey women to stop colouring their hair, often for political as well as practical reasons. Both trends welcome a plethora of new hairstyling products on the market, and extremely expensive bleach jobs. “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust”: the English Burial Service, from the Book of Common Prayer, might seem grim, peaceful…or maybe groovy. In 1980, David Bowie sang: “Ashes to ashes, funky to funky/We know Major Tom’s a junkie.” In 1982, Visage sang Fade to Grey, which seems an appropriate ending for this month’s column.
Kelley Swain
e10