Pop Culture Wishlist
As usual, the Onion A.V.'s Q&A discussion brings a wonderful topic up for consideration: If you had one wish, what would you change about pop culture? There are some excellent answers, mostly having to do with a pop culture utopia where people of all genders, races, and sexual orientations are better represented across the board, studios don't run things into the ground because of monetary/stupid reasons, and society as a whole tries to appreciate art better. I'd like to bend the rules and add a few more wishes of my own:
1) Comic books/graphic novels/manga/manwha/webcomics are taken more seriously by the mainstream publishing houses. Rather than being simple, cheaply printed afterthoughts, or supposedly dying industries (io9's recent article about the state of the manga publishing world made me so sad, coupled with Matt Thorn's comments about how poorly translators are paid these days), couldn't publishers embrace comics and graphic novels in any form for what they are: a diverse group of books with the power to reach untold numbers of new readers? Even from a base profit standpoint, luring new readers in means more people buying books and discussing them, which can only be a good thing, and it leads to my next wish:
2) Everyone, please stop talking about the demise of the traditional book in favor of the ebook format. I can understand that newspapers and magazines need to evolve to new print mediums; they're not meant to be long-lasting, time-withstanding physical items that you own forever. Books, on the other hand, as I am reminded every time we move, are things you keep around. And even though ebooks are wonderful for plane rides and waiting in lines, they don't feel substantial in the same way that books do. When I reread Sherlock Holmes on my Kindle, I don't have the same sense of satisfaction that I get when I page through the handed down, hardcover edition of the same text I own, with my great-uncle's notes scrawled here and there. Obviously, every cheap mass-market paperback doesn't have the residual meaning my Sherlock Holmes does, but it's exciting to put down a large, thick book and say, "I read that." Ebooks... you delete from your Nook or Kindle? I don't know what you do with them when you're done. I don't think, in the long run, that ebooks will completely win. People may own fewer real books, but they're never going to go away all together because the digital experience simply is not the same.
3) This may just be my city, but I am sad to see the demise of second-run movie houses with cheap tickets. Since I don't have the time these days to see everything right when it comes out, I would really, really like the option to go later on and still see a movie on the big screen. I would be much more willing to buy popcorn at a theater where the tickets weren't horrifically expensive, too.
4) Speaking of movie theaters, let's do away with all pre-show "entertainment" in favor of say... nothing. Or cartoons. Anything but commercials! I get that nonsense on the small screen; I don't want it on the large one.
5) Finally, can we please strike the phrase "beyond imagination" from all movie trailers? By definition, nothing is beyond imagination!
1) Comic books/graphic novels/manga/manwha/webcomics are taken more seriously by the mainstream publishing houses. Rather than being simple, cheaply printed afterthoughts, or supposedly dying industries (io9's recent article about the state of the manga publishing world made me so sad, coupled with Matt Thorn's comments about how poorly translators are paid these days), couldn't publishers embrace comics and graphic novels in any form for what they are: a diverse group of books with the power to reach untold numbers of new readers? Even from a base profit standpoint, luring new readers in means more people buying books and discussing them, which can only be a good thing, and it leads to my next wish:
2) Everyone, please stop talking about the demise of the traditional book in favor of the ebook format. I can understand that newspapers and magazines need to evolve to new print mediums; they're not meant to be long-lasting, time-withstanding physical items that you own forever. Books, on the other hand, as I am reminded every time we move, are things you keep around. And even though ebooks are wonderful for plane rides and waiting in lines, they don't feel substantial in the same way that books do. When I reread Sherlock Holmes on my Kindle, I don't have the same sense of satisfaction that I get when I page through the handed down, hardcover edition of the same text I own, with my great-uncle's notes scrawled here and there. Obviously, every cheap mass-market paperback doesn't have the residual meaning my Sherlock Holmes does, but it's exciting to put down a large, thick book and say, "I read that." Ebooks... you delete from your Nook or Kindle? I don't know what you do with them when you're done. I don't think, in the long run, that ebooks will completely win. People may own fewer real books, but they're never going to go away all together because the digital experience simply is not the same.
3) This may just be my city, but I am sad to see the demise of second-run movie houses with cheap tickets. Since I don't have the time these days to see everything right when it comes out, I would really, really like the option to go later on and still see a movie on the big screen. I would be much more willing to buy popcorn at a theater where the tickets weren't horrifically expensive, too.
4) Speaking of movie theaters, let's do away with all pre-show "entertainment" in favor of say... nothing. Or cartoons. Anything but commercials! I get that nonsense on the small screen; I don't want it on the large one.
5) Finally, can we please strike the phrase "beyond imagination" from all movie trailers? By definition, nothing is beyond imagination!