Hacker News Reader

> The medium by which books are conveyed hasn’t really changed meaningfully (holding fixed what is being written about). They’re still words. That’s not true of movies and video games.

Movies are still a lot of still images shown fast enough to give the impression of movement. Video games are still interactive electronic entertainment.

'Old' books, movies and video games can have just as much to offer as anything created recently.

View on HN

I was going to expand on this point. “Moving images” abstracts away a lot of large improvements in both the technology for producing and for consuming movies. Same with “interactive electronic entertainment” for video games. And the more limited technology in 1941 placed constraints on storytelling such that, if Citizen Kane was made today instead of 1941, just with better resolution and color (but the same shots, same dialogue, same story), it probably wouldn’t even be in consideration for GOAT by most movie critics.

In contrast if LOTR (the book series) was released today instead of 1954-1955, it would have a serious chance at being a mega best seller. It’s such a good read independent of its influence on subsequent fantasy novels.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com