Sensory Overload

I was just at a place in San Francisco called Teatro Zin Zanni, a dinner theater. The show takes place in multiple acts, between which multiple dinner courses are served. A small troupe of actors sings, dances, and performs cirque-like feats. (I've never seen someone so talented with cherry tomatoes, for instance...). Anyway, the whole experience is designed to be over-the-top: more fantabulous, exotic, delicious, and generally huge than you dreamed possible.

Although I laughed at some parts and enjoyed seeing the acrobatics, I was also aware of quite a bit of discomfort. It was, quite frankly, too much. The food was wonderful, but I couldn't focus on it because there was always some singing or action going on while we were eating. The acts were fun to watch, but hard to fully enjoy while eating. Five courses of food was simply too much for me to eat; I would never order an appetizer, soup, salad, a main course, and dessert in a restaurant.

If one sensory experience is good, having several good ones at once is not necessarily better. Arguably, it is worse. Simplicity and purity of experience are so much more satisfying than sensory overload.

For the same reason I didn't enjoy Teatro Zin Zanni, I didn't especially enjoy the movie Fantasia. I saw the version that came out in the mid-80's with a bunch of college friends. They exited the theater babbling with excitement about how great it was. But I felt overwhelmed and uncomfortable. Great music had been ruined by combining it with cartoon images. The distraction of having a visual experience along with an auditory one-- both of equal complexity-- detracted from both.

Like wearing plaid with stripes, both in bold colors... some things were just meant to exist by themselves.