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| "Heart of Darkness? I dunno - I'll just check my GPS" |
I was reading somewhere how the end of Romeo and Juliet would have been completely different if they had just texted each other. And it made me think of other great stories that would have been different today: Jane Eyre could have come to Mr Rochester's side if she'd been following him on Facebook... or subscribed to the local newspaper's RSS feed. If Frankenstein's monster had blogged about how he felt, he'd have been hunted down by paparazzi and chat-show hosts, not irate villagers.
It isn't just the classics either - I know quite a few writers who have had to set their stories in the 80s and 90s because recent technology would bugger up the story. My own first novel - which currently resides both literally and metaphorically 'under the bed' - will always have to be set no later than the early 90s because the reclusive main character would never have to face the world if he could communicate freely by email and share documents over the internet.
So if good fiction means presenting your main character with problems to overcome, often compounded by miscommunication, misunderstanding and lack of information... does this mean modern technology is solving all our problems, clarifying our relationships and supplying us with all the answers?
I'm not sure it does, but do you think it is quietly changing the nature of the stories we tell? And how would other famous stories have panned out given access to Google, YouTube and Twitter?
This is so true. And books and films duck the issue with the old 'no reception' or 'battery dead' cop out if it's an emergency situation.
ReplyDeleteI find the whole identity thing very interesting; that people have two personalities - their in-the-flesh persona and their virtual persona. Sometimes subtly different, sometimes profoundly different. This is the root of a fascinating story in itself. I love your Romeo and Juliet theory. Banished is suddenly not quite so bad when you consider the possibilities with Skype.
...Although 'no reception' and 'battery dead' options are fairly common... and printers always know when you're desperate to print something important. *grrrr*
DeleteAs for different personas... it's interesting, but I have no good examples as I haven't done any blog meets or suchlike... too weird!
If only Moses had GPS, he could have been in the promised land before you could say "thou shalt not", and we wouldn't be lumbered with the bloody silly commandments.
ReplyDeleteGood point. Or we could text our votes to narrow them down to just one (mobiles considerably more expensive than thou)
DeleteAnd you can guarantee some Pharisee spin doctor would start a viral '#FreeBarabbas' campaign on Twitter
So true. It reminds me too of when I watch old tv reruns where the main character is using a cell phone the size of a man's shoe, or the old black and white shows where there was no such thing as microwaves, X-boxes, or digital recorders. It makes you feel like you entered another world--and I grew up in THAT world. LOL.
ReplyDeleteUh oh... you've started me off thinking about the old days now.... *shakes fist*
Delete(Second attempt due to misprints...)
ReplyDeletePeter Rabbit could have texted his mum for isntructions as to how to escape from Mr. McGregor's garden, and Anna Karenina could have phoned the Samaritans from her mobile, and might never have ended up under that train.
Ha ha! The Bennett sisters could have all gone on Match.com (or uniformdating.com for Lydia!)
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