GIGANTISM I MEAN DYNAMISM
When I was about done compiling my presentation for mid-semester reviews, I thought it would be a good idea to have a slide that sort of pointed toward “The Future”, IE Thesis, etc. Sort of to say “Here’s where I think this shit’s going…”. So the idea I’ve had is that a lot of my work this semester has been about translation of media. And it’s been interesting, if challenging, to work on this concept. Anyway, I have this idea of creating come kind of “all encompassing” media form in which one experiences different media forms simultaneously…or at least the best bits of each form. In trying to sum this up, I wrote
THE POSSIBILITY OF ADAPTING WORK FROM OTHER MEDIA INTO THE REALM OF DYNAMISM.
Now, I was going to say “The realm of Dynamic Media”, but of course that term is played out, not as bad as “New Media” but getting there, so “Dynamism” popped into my head. Seemed like a word I’d heard before. Checked it in the dictionary:
dynamism |ˈdīnəˌmizəm|
noun
1 the quality of being characterized by vigorous activity and progress : the dynamism and strength of the economy.• the quality of being dynamic and positive in attitude : he was known for his dynamism and strong views.
2 chiefly historical Philosophy the theory that phenomena of matter or mind are due to the action of forces rather than to motion or matter.
Seemed kind of cool and not totally inappropriate. And so of course Jan asks me about it during my critique…”You mentioned Dynamism….of course this word has a history with the Futurists and so forth…what did you mean by that?”
Shit.
Thoughts like maybe I should have taken that Art History class that I dropped out of after one day…but no the hell with it the guy teaching it had a ponytail and was showing slides of Roman arches no way they would have gotten to the Futurists, etc. I stand by the decision.
But anyway I was kind of being a wise-ass by including Dynamism rather than some of the DMI buzzwords and got called on it. But, in researching the term further, I think it might not be totally inappropriate in describing what I’m interested in pursuing.
My wife just finished Infinite Jest and ended up being about as profoundly affected by it as I was. The book has a distinctly all-encompassing-ness to it that I have yet to experience by any other work/form of media. So, why does it have this effect and is it possible to achieve the same effect via other media forms? I mean, a filmed version would invariably suck unless it was directed by me. Or Paul Thomas Anderson. And it would have to span like five seasons of one-hour HBO format. But I still don’t think it would come close to that feeling of experiencing the book. Possibly this is one of the reasons that short stories or novellas make for better filmic adaptations than novels.