Context changes everything. Yes, yes, deconstructionism. OK. Fine.
But while streaming ‘All the President’s Men’, (released in 1976 detailing events earlier in the 70′s), I was distracted repeatedly by the amount of paper present everywhere - palpably present – in the film.
OK, sure it’s a film about a newspaper – the newspaper business – so that’s a stylistic choice that makes sense – the film opens and closes on macro-closeups of ink on paper. But I doubt anyone involved in the production suspected that in the lifetime of the film’s stars the newspaper/newsprint industry would begin to collapse.
It is collapsing. The New York times won’t have a daily printed version in a decade’s time. Sunday sure. Who doesn’t love reading the Sunday New York Times with a cup of coffee and a bagel. But the rest of the week? You can read that on your iDevice.
We’re speeding ahead here folks – there’s been a break – a fissure between the analog and digital worlds – and we’re heading towards…what?
-
Related links:
Jeff Jarvis’ blog detailing the death of the industry that used to employ him
How Long Till Blu-ray is Declared Dead?
Nixon Resigns – Or, Is this One Clip Better than Frost/Nixon?
