"Were seeing the end of civilization as we know it" (Frank, You've Got Mail, 1998)
I am sure this quote above was meant to be hyperbole by rob reiner and nora ephron, but their is a grain of truth to it. I say this because after this movie we had the events of making it to the year 2000 and all things not coming to end, 9/11, multiple recessions, another war, and the dumpster fire of the us that has turned into some sort of dystopian nightmare. I am with Frank that bringing technology into our lives did not necessarily save us when it came to the events listed above. The world has become smaller and people are meaner, more socially awkward, and we have to deal with trolls for speaking ones mind, and rules being enforced that make me wonder what century I am in living in.
It is do all this above along with with joe fox represents in this movie of capitalism, and profits over people that has pervaded us so much that ceo’s are making more than they ever have in the past couple decades. While, yes people are finally fighting back and or trying to, we still have so many reforms that need to be made, but I digress. To add insult to injury, loneliness has turned into an epidemic. People are lonely in their marriages, relationships, with groups of people, to the point that I am not sure if people even know how to communicate with one another any more. Honestly, the only perk I can see of technology is remote work, but not all people are as enthusiastic about that as the workers are. But due to this loneliness and social awkwardness, remote work continues to make this some sort of crutch in a way, so we got a win-ish.
While, Kathleen represents the world we are trying to revert to know with more independent book stores, mini libraries in neighborhoods, and the access of ebooks, this at the very least has made people informed of the world, while to try to focus on good customer service and helping rather than caring more about profits can be made off causing them harm. If you need any examples of this watch the show Leverage and Leverage redemption, you might have bad guys as acting as good guys but they have more ethical and honest about the kind of scrooges and swindlers we are up against while showing that indeed the emperor has no clothes.
So, this battle of wills among the big bad super bookstore against an independent children’s book store is more significant than some people think. Also, the fact that it is a children’s bookstore makes it seems like the corporations and we are tiny children put on this earth to both patronized, oppressed, and made obsolete in this world. Too the point that one wonders if we will infact end up like the people of earth seen on Wall-e, sheep’s that being placated into following the herd, and we will need robots ironically to save us. This place in fact needs a substack about utopias (their is one I am a free subscriber to I just forgot the authors name) in this world so that we have something to aim for, no matter how far fetched it seems to us. While, I am sure this analysis of a nora ephron movie from 20+ years ago, might seems depressing to those who are reading thing, I think in a way that is a good thing, it if nothing else makes us thing about where we were in history, where we are in history, and what great/horrible frontier we have to look forward to in the years to come.
I think my questions for the day is if their are any pre or post millennium movies, books, etc that foreshadow the madness we have face daily, or if their some forms of media in the past that can maybe give us hope for the future, I am open to any suggestions, so void thanks for listening an I am hopeful one of these days I will receive a reply, xoxo the multifaceted nerd