Story Congestion
I recently saw an old friend and after we got caught up on what has happened over the last year, we shared our media lists. Have you seen...
ME: ...Lost? You should rent it. It's great.
FRIEND: No. I'm not going to do it.
ME: But, it's not what you think...
FRIEND: No. Don't have the time.
ME: I know.
FRIEND: How much storytelling do we really need?
As traditional advertising and marketing moves to good-ole-fashioned storytellling with all kinds of interactive goodies, we may all get so tired of stories. Maybe whole new genres of anti-story stories will emerge - where Gus Van Sant is headed. Do we really want movies for their stories? Movie stories are just containers for the deeper contract we make with cinema: a relief from the tyranny of narrative.
A remedy: yummy carp caviar
Comments
Remember, Gus Van Sant is really just riffing off some pretty solid reference points (and excellently so, don't get me wrong), people who have been pursuing the anti-story, as you put it, for quite some time; most notably, in Van Sant's case, Bela Tarr, but also, I would argue, people like Tsai Ming-liang and his ilk.
Posted by: Matt | January 11, 2006 8:56 PM