“If It Works It’s Obsolete”

Reading over Marshall McLuhan’s “The Medium is the Message” yet another time I finally found my trigger phrase and the title of this post.  About halfway through the piece McLuhan is speaking about the message of movies and the impact of technology on filmmaking and the message of films.  He remarks that the phrase “if it works it’s obsolete” has become completely truthful.

What got my gears grinding was that McLuhan made his remarks on that phrase back in the 1960’s, if such as phrase was truthful then it has potentially become even more so in today’s society.  I was especially surprised to find this statement in our readings as I have already written a post about the impact of technology and digitization on the world of filmmaking.  McLuhan’s observations about the impact of technology on the message of film are frighteningly accurate.

Technology has irrevocably changed the film industry, from the invention of moving pictures and sound, through Technicolor and now HD and 3-D movies viewers are both receiving the benefit of the latest trends and the adverse effect of a less meaningful product. 

Don’t misunderstand me.  I love new movies just as much as the next young person but, from my perspective, I find older films to be much more meaningful and emotionally complex.  This is not to say that there aren’t plenty of terrible old movies filled with terrible dialogue and plot but what I am trying to say is that it is much easier to find meaning and substance in a film with the removal of flashy graphics and various other visual effects.

This all brings us back around to McLuhan’s statements.  He believes that the message of films has to evolve and utilize the latest technologies  or else the medium could potentially become obsolete. 

In my lifetime I have seen multiple incarnations of trends in filmmaking and distribution.  In the 90’s, movies were split between trying to capture some sort of gritty realism and romanticizing everyday life.  More recently we have seen a return tp escapist films and a resurgence of science fiction and fantasy films.  Distribution, however, is where I see the phrase work the most effectively.  I have seen home movies change from VHS tapes and Betamax, to DVD and Blu-Ray. 

We have just accepted HD televisions and Blu-Ray players as part of the list of middle class necessities and the more wealthy have begun pursuing 3-D home viewing potential.  In the early days of film it would have been almost unheard of for a viewer to have a means of watching movies in the home, yet today we all have that potential capability. 

The other trend that has almost imperceptibly changed the way we interact with the media of film is the online market.  Not only do we have access to thousands of shops online from which to purchase movies and have them shipped directly to our home we can also catch up on the latest episode of our favorite television show online.  My roommates and I all use Netflix and recently we have started using HBO GO to keep up with our favorite premium cable series (mostly True Blood). 

As I remarked in my post about digital filmmaking I once again can only marvel at the sheer rate of technological advancement. Whereas I was raised on classic, mostly hand drawn, Disney animation children today live and breathe digitally animated films such as Cars, Shrek, and Tangled.  So, “if it works it’s obsolete” I wonder what happens if what we think is working is in fact flawed?

Will Pottermore change the way we read?

Despite the formal end of the Harry Potter series with this summer’s release of the final film installment, J.K. Rowling introduced a new online interactive reading experience called Pottermore.

Pottermore is currently in the midst of beta testing and will launch sometime in October.  Many of my friends have either already been accepted into Pottermore and many more still are eagerly awaiting the upcoming launch.

The media frenzy surrounding Pottermore has been tremendous but I found the description of the site by Carol Memmott of USA Today to be the most intriguing http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/story/2011-08-31/JK-Rowlings-Pottermore-promises-plenty-of-excitement/50208432/1.

Memmott captures the excitement of the fan community while touching on the “big fish” of Pottermore’s potential.  She describes the site as a combination online community and interactive pop-up book.  What I love about the concept of Pottermore is twofold.  First, I think it is great that the magic of the Harry Potter experience for my generation is evolving to include children of the web boom (also because it gives me a chance to interact with the story in a new way).  Second, I love that J.K. Rowling is using this unique opportunity to include details and richness that would have been nearly impossible to convey in formal print.

Pottermore users are able to explore locations such as Diagon Alley, Privet Drive, Hog’s Head, and Hogwarts.  Users are also able to choose a wand and be sorted into appropriate houses based on their answers to personality questions created by J.K. Rowling.

The potential of Pottermore, though, is even greater than the fun-filled experience.  By providing an interactive reading platform readers become part of a completely immersive world, something that I am certain readers of other novels would also enjoy.

Also, Pottermore enhances certain sections of the readings with stunning visuals.  While I am all for stimulating children’s imaginations purely through reading I remember that many of my friends in elementary and middle school bemoaned the fact that all the “good” books needed pictures.

I would be hard pressed to find another series more conducive to attempting such a thing as Pottermore. But then again, Harry Potter has already changed the way the an entire generation of children learned to love reading.  I can only hope that Pottermore will be just as influential to today’s children as it was (and will always be) for all of us.