Thinking through my love for The Philadelphia Story (1940)
For an eight-year-old girl growing up on the 100-degree sun that is Doha, Qatar, entertainment viewing options were limited. One of the few channels I remember with programs in English was Animal Planet. My parents still talk about the censored versions of the Lord of the Rings (2001-2003) trilogy they saw at our local movie theater. I have vivid memories of the treat that was my dad bringing VHS tape recordings of American TV home from business trips and the stack of box sets from Desperate Housewives (2004-2012) to The O.C. (2003-2007), whose blurbs I’d read like the back of cereal boxes. Long haul treks back to the States presented a distinctive “problem” to my overprotective mom: how to keep her four kids away from the plethora of R-rated movies available via Qatar Airways’ in-flight entertainment. Her answer? The classic movie section. It was here that I first discovered George Cukor’s The Philadelphia Story (1940). The Philadelphia Story follows wealthy socialite T
