The Reader on Ma(t)r(i)x

[Jonathan Sterne]

At 12:06 PM -0400 4/21/99, Carl Remick wrote:
>The art of special effects has advanced at the expense of
>characterization and plot development.  Movies have contributed vastly
>to the domination of imagery over the written word and to the
>stupefaction of people in general.  That's one reason I'm so
>enthusiastic about the rise of the Web -- the revenge of the literate!
>
>Carl Remick

I'm sorry, I know there's a war on and I've learned a lot just hanging out
and reading all the kosovo stuff coming through this list.  You all should
be commended.  But I have to respond to this foolery.

Dear Carl,

3.	When in human history has the written word dominated imagery except
for the smallest fraction of people (like academics, for instance)?  Why
should writing dominate images in moving pictures?

2.	On what grounds can you argue that the web is more word and less
image friendly?  Sure, streaming video isn't here yet and all, but all the
orthodoxies of web design I know about enphasize lots of images and visual
design, and keeping words to a minimum.

1.	What's necessary about linear plot and character development in
creative art anyway?  Frankly, I think this kind of aesthetic bombast is
completely elitist, ethnocentric, and incredibly reactionary because it
privileges the creative aesthetics of 19th century European elites (joined
later by American elites) over all other possible alternatives.

Flame off.

--Jonathan

P.S.	Catherine's right.  It was years before there was narrative and
character development in film.