We were watching a movie the other night, one from the early ‘90s, I believe, and I realized most viewers probably didn’t recognize what the rotary-dial phone was, much less the busy signal.
It’s the sort of detail I had to watch carefully in revising my novels about the ‘60s, ‘70s, and even later, and it’s something I have to address in much of my poetry, especially when I’m reading pieces to a younger audience. Like the time I had to describe “transistors,” which were as big a leap forward as microchips a bit later.
Quite simply, authors of “contemporary” fiction are unintentionally writing history. Life is changing that fast.
On a related front, I comprehend very little of the dialogue in the online serials and movies we’re streaming. They’re not sentences with subjects, verbs, or supporting color. They’re often not even logical, in a traditional sense. They’re even contradictory. I certainly couldn’t recreate it.
I first noticed it back in Dover when listening to the young lifeguards together and wondered how on earth I’d diagram their communications.
Even worse, I hate feeling left out. Is there even a trail to follow? Anyone else with me here?
Jnana's Red Barn 