Medium and Message (Story Development)
CLOTHING:
People dress like their favorite historical figure. There are popular historical figures of the day: Some groups all dress in one particular style. But some fads [appear to] occur spontaneously. The development of these fads [may] parallel a historical time line. But some can be attributed to [the development of] contemporaries [some of] who are relatively unknown.
Neckties, are they tributes to people who were hanged?
*The medium IS the message.
(Paper or Plastic?)
LANGUAGE
I have a ‘twist’ model [in limbo] that shows how phrases like ‘Paper or Plastic?’ apply differently to people at different social classes. The particular meaning indicates the person’s station in life. And the difference in meaning keeps the one from advancing to the next level (without going through some change).
I could create a new form of joke (the twist).
*The joke IS the language.
[The intension / intention is in the play of words... the word play / joke... teleology / tautology... teleo tautology... jokes and riddles... the geek (yet more list making)]
PLAY
The most obvious example of this is that when a war is about to break out, army toys become popular again.
*The toy IS the person.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT:
People repeat quotes from movies. Or remember plot lines. Interesting, because I can’t. They laugh with each other and discuss different movies… repeating lines from them. This sounds completely out of place in context [to the reader] because the context is an abstract ['fame' or 'importance']…
*The movie [drama] IS the context.
(the book is about the development of DNA Television).
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
likewise a poor person who says raahther instead of rather might have a strange effect on people though they might not understand why. Perhaps it portends his eventual rise to riches / though it makes him sound odd in the context of the group he’s in. Nonetheless, this shows a tendency toward [imprinting / impressing] (has he deliberately picked this up from someone… or does it just happen naturally).
*The lampoon IS the social structure (for example, the club scene is more real than real life)
In my case, cartoons seem to be mockeries of my own experiences (kind of a turn around on this idea).
OR: People mock others… say things in funny voices (the old man voice, the stupid person voice). Others laugh. People who do this are popular. ‘Look at me. I wear concert t-shirts. MAN! (ha ha ha)’.
*The cartoon IS the experience.
People seem to be caricatures. They may be known by nicknames that accentuate their oddities (big nose, elephant ears, Bucky [buck toothed], etc).
**The joke is the anachronism.
Even within a ’scene’ (an 80 s style disco), there is an order to things. A person might wear polyester bell-bottoms and a silk shirt with a big collar… but he wouldn’t wear cowboy boots or he’d look odd and out of place. Nickname: Urban Cowboy or Night Fever (Travolta… Hoffman)
But a 70 s style ‘pimp’ (with a velvet hat and fur coat) might fit in with both the gangster rappers and also the black panther movement of the early 80 s or even a 60 s hippy protest. If he also wears a cape, he’s ‘Rick James, bitch’.
*A parody is a scene.
And when (if) I put things into the book (pretentious to say that I’m writing a book)… if I create an anachronism, then how does it play?
As a character flaw?
As something unique?
As a thing that makes me pretentious?
As a thing that makes me historically significant?
I think the world of the characters in the book can be a mix of things taken out of context and so mistakes will read as a clues to the development of the story (ironically… because they are insights into the limitations and inclinations of the author)… clues to the historical trend.
Because the (Indy) movement makes it obvious that people are being pretentious. They can be part of a scene but not call themselves Indy. That is, the worst thing an independent could do is to step outside of his role (like a transgender has to be called a woman or else she’s a boy who dresses like a girl. VERY embarrassing!).
But, the scene itself is a parody of a person (Grunge IS Kurt Cobain). So the ideal would be to become that person; though this is also the ultimate insult (Who do you think you are? Kurt Cobain?). Thus the caricatures and nicknames.
[The person as contrasted from the scene within which he finds himself... this is the formula for determining the unique characteristics of the individual; and, re-creating the formula is as difficult for the copy as it initially was for the original].
One Response to “Medium and Message (Story Development)”
Curt - October 20th, 2011
The person who doesn’t scatter the morning dew will not comb grey hairs.
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