skykiii
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2018
This is something I've discussed with people lately and might be fun to discuss with Kiwis as well.
I feel like these days the art of literature is being lost and that, primarily, is down to people not recognizing the advantages the medium has.
One thing I always point to as something that only works in literature is this one scene in one of Robert E. Howard's Conan stories (I want to say Hour of the Dragon but it could be a different one) where Conan has to travel through a completely pitch-black dungeon, and has to feel along the walls and floor and at one point almost falls into a pit because he couldn't see it. Obviously in a movie you can't do this, or scenes where a person in darkness hears noises, because in a movie you need to see things (and most movies today have crap audio so creepy noises in darkness wouldn't work anyway).
Recently I've been reading Tolkien's Silmarillion again and that reminds me of more things that really don't work: basically... "mythology" stories. For me the defining aspect of mythology is it runs counter to any modern scientific understanding. Like the idea that the world somehow simultaneously exists in a state of being both round as per our modern understanding, but actually if you sail a ship a certain way you find the true, "unround" version and can find Arda. Or to use the Bible, the ancient understanding that outer space was basically an ocean (which it kind of is, but not, ya know, the "full of water" kind of ocean).
(Also the early parts of the Silmarillion, when its just the gods and demigods, are just... really hard for my brain to understand. Like I can't tell if something is supposed to be metaphorical or literal. Which to me is kind of another hallmark of mythology).
I find in visual media this tends to not work because once you can see something, you have to therefore stipulate on how it works. That brings with it the inherent, long-lamented problem that magic is somehow less magical in fiction these days--something I've seen people blame Dungeons & Dragons for. Which itself brings up that its hard to do this kind of thing in gaming, as well.
That said, every time I read relatively recent literature (say, post-1990) I notice a lot of actual writers seem to not get this. To me the decline came about because of the rule "show, don't tell." And also many writers are clearly movie-watchers first and readers second, third, fourth, or not at all. So I see many books that are clearly just movie scripts hastily rewritten in prose format, with all the limitations that entails.
But what do you think? Do you think its possible for a movie, or a game (video or otherwise) to do these kinds of things? Is there anything you think is strictly the domain of the written word that I blanked on?
I feel like these days the art of literature is being lost and that, primarily, is down to people not recognizing the advantages the medium has.
One thing I always point to as something that only works in literature is this one scene in one of Robert E. Howard's Conan stories (I want to say Hour of the Dragon but it could be a different one) where Conan has to travel through a completely pitch-black dungeon, and has to feel along the walls and floor and at one point almost falls into a pit because he couldn't see it. Obviously in a movie you can't do this, or scenes where a person in darkness hears noises, because in a movie you need to see things (and most movies today have crap audio so creepy noises in darkness wouldn't work anyway).
Recently I've been reading Tolkien's Silmarillion again and that reminds me of more things that really don't work: basically... "mythology" stories. For me the defining aspect of mythology is it runs counter to any modern scientific understanding. Like the idea that the world somehow simultaneously exists in a state of being both round as per our modern understanding, but actually if you sail a ship a certain way you find the true, "unround" version and can find Arda. Or to use the Bible, the ancient understanding that outer space was basically an ocean (which it kind of is, but not, ya know, the "full of water" kind of ocean).
(Also the early parts of the Silmarillion, when its just the gods and demigods, are just... really hard for my brain to understand. Like I can't tell if something is supposed to be metaphorical or literal. Which to me is kind of another hallmark of mythology).
I find in visual media this tends to not work because once you can see something, you have to therefore stipulate on how it works. That brings with it the inherent, long-lamented problem that magic is somehow less magical in fiction these days--something I've seen people blame Dungeons & Dragons for. Which itself brings up that its hard to do this kind of thing in gaming, as well.
That said, every time I read relatively recent literature (say, post-1990) I notice a lot of actual writers seem to not get this. To me the decline came about because of the rule "show, don't tell." And also many writers are clearly movie-watchers first and readers second, third, fourth, or not at all. So I see many books that are clearly just movie scripts hastily rewritten in prose format, with all the limitations that entails.
But what do you think? Do you think its possible for a movie, or a game (video or otherwise) to do these kinds of things? Is there anything you think is strictly the domain of the written word that I blanked on?
