or_timelords (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
or_timelords) wrote2009-03-04 04:54 am
or_timelords) wrote2009-03-04 04:54 am
Entry tags:
100 Question Meme, Take 2
Another one of those questions answered. The Doctor had to say quite a bit about this one.
Any entertainment is good entertainment. Well, that's not true, some entertainment is just boring, but if it's boring, it's not entertainment, is it? It's more... boredoment. English doesn't have a word for it. The Fergulan sub-dialect of the Glok continent on Elima Four does, but humanity doesn't make contact with them until the 576th--no, the 567th century. Nice people, the Elimana. They build the most beautiful houses out of unbreakable glass.
Anyway. Entertainment. I enjoy films. Films are good. And books, of course, any and all books. I have a big library, not quite as big as the Library, but big enough, considering. I used to make a point of taking a book with me from any planet I go to, and I still do, provided the planet has anything like books, and I have the time to find one that I want to take with me.
Films. I like them. They're so dependent on technology. Books, the written word, isn't. You can carve your words into a block of marble, or you can dictate them to a word processing device; the words are still all yours. With films, it's different. Before the invention of holo technology, they were restricted to two-dimensional screens. Before the invention of non-linear, digital editing, films had to literally be glued together; little scraps of story that an editor would cut down and then put together, piece by piece.
With films, it's hard to get across the most basic of messages. You can't just use a few, well-chosen words to stimulate the audience's imagination and put them into the mood you want them in; a film needs to show them what's going on and needs to stimulate their imagination at the same time. People are lazy, people don't want to use their imagination any more than they have to, so stimulating them becomes harder the more information you give them. Therefore, the better the technology, the more realistic the film, the harder it is for the film maker to make people think. It's ingenious what some of those film people came up with. Well, some of it is. Some of it isn't, but then, if you don't like a film, you can always turn it off and go watch something else.
Oh, and it's interesting to see how films became less and less like theatre. Because theatre, of course, it's dependent on technology as well, but not as much. Technology doesn't play as big a part in theatre as it does in films. A stage is a stage; they basically look the same no matter if you go to ancient Greece or to 23rd century London. Of course, with the invention of holo technology, theatre changed as well, but up until then, if an actor was supposed to die on-stage, it always had to be a rather obvious fake. At least on Earth. On Zerfa, they sentence criminals to death by theatre play. They're a very pragmatic people, Zerfanians. Anyway, the faking means that the audience is forced to use their imagination. The better the technology for films, the better the faking, the more tricks you need to use to make people use their imagination after all.
Where was I? Right, entertainment. I enjoy music and art and exhibitions and musical plays and anything, really, that shows the creator's mind pushing its boundaries. If the creator isn't pushing their boundaries; if they're just in it to make money or fame, you can tell. And then, their creative products are boring at best. But in that case, they stop being entertaining, and therefore don't fall into the category of entertainment anymore. So, as I said: good entertainment is any entertainment.
Any entertainment is good entertainment. Well, that's not true, some entertainment is just boring, but if it's boring, it's not entertainment, is it? It's more... boredoment. English doesn't have a word for it. The Fergulan sub-dialect of the Glok continent on Elima Four does, but humanity doesn't make contact with them until the 576th--no, the 567th century. Nice people, the Elimana. They build the most beautiful houses out of unbreakable glass.
Anyway. Entertainment. I enjoy films. Films are good. And books, of course, any and all books. I have a big library, not quite as big as the Library, but big enough, considering. I used to make a point of taking a book with me from any planet I go to, and I still do, provided the planet has anything like books, and I have the time to find one that I want to take with me.
Films. I like them. They're so dependent on technology. Books, the written word, isn't. You can carve your words into a block of marble, or you can dictate them to a word processing device; the words are still all yours. With films, it's different. Before the invention of holo technology, they were restricted to two-dimensional screens. Before the invention of non-linear, digital editing, films had to literally be glued together; little scraps of story that an editor would cut down and then put together, piece by piece.
With films, it's hard to get across the most basic of messages. You can't just use a few, well-chosen words to stimulate the audience's imagination and put them into the mood you want them in; a film needs to show them what's going on and needs to stimulate their imagination at the same time. People are lazy, people don't want to use their imagination any more than they have to, so stimulating them becomes harder the more information you give them. Therefore, the better the technology, the more realistic the film, the harder it is for the film maker to make people think. It's ingenious what some of those film people came up with. Well, some of it is. Some of it isn't, but then, if you don't like a film, you can always turn it off and go watch something else.
Oh, and it's interesting to see how films became less and less like theatre. Because theatre, of course, it's dependent on technology as well, but not as much. Technology doesn't play as big a part in theatre as it does in films. A stage is a stage; they basically look the same no matter if you go to ancient Greece or to 23rd century London. Of course, with the invention of holo technology, theatre changed as well, but up until then, if an actor was supposed to die on-stage, it always had to be a rather obvious fake. At least on Earth. On Zerfa, they sentence criminals to death by theatre play. They're a very pragmatic people, Zerfanians. Anyway, the faking means that the audience is forced to use their imagination. The better the technology for films, the better the faking, the more tricks you need to use to make people use their imagination after all.
Where was I? Right, entertainment. I enjoy music and art and exhibitions and musical plays and anything, really, that shows the creator's mind pushing its boundaries. If the creator isn't pushing their boundaries; if they're just in it to make money or fame, you can tell. And then, their creative products are boring at best. But in that case, they stop being entertaining, and therefore don't fall into the category of entertainment anymore. So, as I said: good entertainment is any entertainment.