7 ms·

"Pretty much everyone in the West learns stuff from TV and cinema" I think that's universal of all stories in all cultures. I remember a speaker at Gen-Con in

"Pretty much everyone in the West learns stuff from TV and cinema" I think that's universal of all stories in all cultures. I remember a speaker at Gen-Con in the 90's claimed that the original reason for campfire stories of heroes was to inspire the young men to defend the group in times of danger (overcome the flight with a heroic fight). Cinema is just a very effective way in the line of delivery methods. VR is going to be really interesting to watch.

TeMPOraL 11y ago
I agree it's probably a human universal. But the TV and cinema are special here - as you said, they're a very effective delivery vector, but moreover, movies usually cover vast range of things, and we watch shit ton of them. For instance, have you ever seen a real assault rifle? Maybe you have, but I haven't - so all I feel about them, i.e. my intuitive knowledge (as opposed to stuff I read on Wikipedia) comes from movies and videogames. I haven't seen a live round fired from a gun in my life, but I "know" how it sounds, how the bullets behave, etc. Half of it is probably wrong, but barring a real-life experience, that's all I've got. And while campfire stories could cover things in the abstract, movies let you cache images of just about anything - from how to bake pancakes, to how to deal with angry people, to how planes work. I think we're underestimating just how much "life experience" of an ordinary person comes from TV - and thus how much of it is wrong.
- protomyth 11y ago
  True, but I think TV and cinema are the last generation's special with the internet now this generations like a couple of generations ago radio was the thing. The vector is a little more amped now with the imagination level down on the audience. I guess frequency is up mainly because of external factors (e.g. fear of strangers for parents). I have seen an AR-15 (which is not really an assault rifle, but the media is not very accurate) and handled a gun (my mom's) and shot one when I was 7 (I sucked) and hunted (we apparently ended up tracking Sun-Tzu the deer). I'm very worried by our "I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express" level of knowledge.

TeMPOraL 11y ago

I agree it's probably a human universal. But the TV and cinema are special here - as you said, they're a very effective delivery vector, but moreover, movies usually cover vast range of things, and we watch shit ton of them. For instance, have you ever seen a real assault rifle? Maybe you have, but I haven't - so all I feel about them, i.e. my intuitive knowledge (as opposed to stuff I read on Wikipedia) comes from movies and videogames. I haven't seen a live round fired from a gun in my life, but I "know" how it sounds, how the bullets behave, etc. Half of it is probably wrong, but barring a real-life experience, that's all I've got. And while campfire stories could cover things in the abstract, movies let you cache images of just about anything - from how to bake pancakes, to how to deal with angry people, to how planes work. I think we're underestimating just how much "life experience" of an ordinary person comes from TV - and thus how much of it is wrong.

protomyth 11y ago
True, but I think TV and cinema are the last generation's special with the internet now this generations like a couple of generations ago radio was the thing. The vector is a little more amped now with the imagination level down on the audience. I guess frequency is up mainly because of external factors (e.g. fear of strangers for parents). I have seen an AR-15 (which is not really an assault rifle, but the media is not very accurate) and handled a gun (my mom's) and shot one when I was 7 (I sucked) and hunted (we apparently ended up tracking Sun-Tzu the deer). I'm very worried by our "I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express" level of knowledge.