Entering Isolation, A Year on Discworld: Book 10(kinda) — Moving Pictures
In a quest to escape the reality of 2020 and recapture my youth, I’ve set myself the goal of reading all 41 Discworld novels in one year. Join me on this voyage of discovery which definitely isn’t a complete waste of time. Mild spoilers, probably.
If you read my last instalment you’ll know that I cheated a little and skipped a book in this challenge. Or rather, I gently engineered my circumstances so I could change the reading order. I’m not saying what is happening in the world right now is the universe punishing me for bending the rules but the timing is deeply suspicious.
Speaking of timing, Moving Pictures took me forever to finish. The premise is simple enough, alchemists invent cinema, a new kind of magic and chaos quickly ensues. Solid stuff. It’s not that the book is particularly difficult or long. I enjoyed the host of new characters and the frequent nods to Hollywood (here called Holy Wood) history. It’s just that escaping into fantasy is much harder when a pandemic has forced you into isolation. It created the alchemical blend of boredom and constant cognitive preoccupation.
I’ve been using Pratchett as a means of ambling down nostalgic neural pathways in my mind, but what I noticed in Moving Pictures very much existed in the current. The first thing is that later in the book, the lead characters, Victor and Ginger, the stars of the newly invented clicks, realise that they are famous for fame’s sake — something I have always hated. It’s also something I’ve seen rise out of people’s boredom with isolation.
Lots of people are taking the opportunity to do something creative with this time, though how they can be that active and positive in such a time is beyond me and likely the sign of a sociopath. Most of that impulse comes from a good place, but I keep catching a glimpse of people creating something with the aim of going viral… poor choice of words. Sorry.
There is a sect of people seeking Tik-Tok and Instagram fame right now. They just want to be seen and admired — which I entirely understand. As in the book, there is a magical seduction to fame and admiration. It does draw you in. But I guess what I’m seeing is people, out of boredom, seeking admiration where others are pursuing creativity, and there is something about that I find to be sinister. Certainly, I’ve made things I’ve secretly hoped would make me respected and wealthy. I know I have that dirty urge. But after a few attempts, you realise being creative is an awful path to follow if you crave those things and much better if you use it as an outlet and something to be studied and improved at.
Perhaps, when I was free to go about the world, it was easier to look inside. Now I’m trapped inside I’m looking out at the world more?
The other idea surfacing in reading Moving Pictures was how fiction, film, in particular, does a great job of replacing reality. In the book, an alchemist named Silverfish creates the clicks as an educational tool but merchant and entrepreneur Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler turns then into heavily sponsored, entertainment pieces. There is nothing wrong with that in particular apart from Dibbler going to extremes of utterly ruining clicks with extended product placements but once again it got me thinking about “influencers”. Everyone has got to make money, fair enough, but why don’t we call them what they are living adverts. They sell an imaginary reality paid for by corporations but people willingly follow them? People want to be sold stuff they know isn’t real? Everyone is insane.
I’m spending too much time looking at my phone. Isolation; it’ll drive you nuts.
Back to the point about the clicks being educational and becoming entertainment. There are countless films, books and TV series about plagues. We live relatively safe lives so a pandemic has, for a lot of us, been a subject of fiction. I don’t know about you but I’m still trying to reframe that fiction as reality. I know it’s happening but I’ve still not quite accepted I’m living through historic times. It still feels slightly unreal. Like an alien invasion of something. Sure, pandemics can happen, but they don’t right?
Maybe I’m just lucky. I hope if you are out there reading this you are safe and well and that these bizarre times were living though aren’t too real for you. Hopefully, you’re the main character in the movie version of this reality and you make it past difficulties and come out stronger and with movie star good looks. Good luck(s).
