Hi, I am currently working on several rather big projects that are hopefully coming to fruition sooner rather than later! In the meantime I have been semi-regularly updating my patreon page with some interesting shorter essays. If you like what I write and would like some more, as well as support me financially in the process, please consider taking a look!
Tag: essay
Essay: the mushroom and the soil
Today’s essay partly comes around thanks to a wonderful series of video essays, exhibitions and talks hosted on the Serpentine museums official youtube site. Many of the speakers helped me to open my eyes to what soil can be and what it means to us as humans and living creatures.
In this text I would like to share with my readers my love for all forms of fungal life. More specifically will I try to sell you on the wonder of soil dwelling fungi! These forms of life, for those that are not aware of it, do not fall within the animal or plant kingdom. But rather form their third kingdom, that of the micilia, here we find mushrooms, molds, lichens and until recently, slime molds.
The kingdom of micilia is a deeply fascinating one, and one that still holds many mysteries, we so far only know of, and have been able to to catalog a very small percentage of the worlds fungi, lichen and molds. These species are highly adapted and adaptable to the areas in which they inhabit. From the symbiosis between fungi and algae found in the lichen to the rapidly growing single cell organisms of the microfungi, is it truly a varied and complex world of wonder and mystery!
These various kinds of life forms are, while looking a lot like plants, indeed a lot more closely related to the animal kingdom. For one is the micilia not made out of plant fibers, but rather microscopic chitin, the same materials that crustaceans and many insects form their outer shells from. Furthermore, these lifeforms do not perform any form of photosynthesis, instead extracting nutrition from the surrounding areas by sending out acids much in the same way that our stomachs do to ingest nutrition. In this way many fungi and other mycelia have an incredibly important role to play in the decomposition and reuptake of dead organic material, be that animal or plant life.
This essay in particular will focus on the many kinds of micilia, that is the large networks of string-like structures found underground, as well as microfungi, and their impact on soil health. I will begin by defining what I mean with soil, and how it is different from dirt. Dirt in the most simple terms is the combination of clay, organic matter, stones and sand. What makes soil different from dirt, scientifically, is that soil is teeming with life. Soil teems with fungi, insects and thousands of different forms of microbial life, all which does its part to turn dead organic material into nutrition for the plants that grow upon it.
As mentioned before, fungi work to decompose and pick up nutrition from many of the dead organic material found in and on the grounds, from animals to dead flowers and fallen branches. They do this by the spreading of their micilian networks. This not only keeps the ground clear, but also makes sure the minerals and other nutrients found within can be reused by the rest of the ecosystem. Recent science has taught us that these micilian networks are capable of seeking out nearby dead biomatter to feast upon, and will to a much greater extent move in that direction.
Even more so, it is not uncommon for fungi of our forests to create symbiotic relationships with trees, flowers and other plants. In return for sharing some of the nutrition of the decomposition in return for sugar from the plants photosynthesis. Furthermore, it has been shown that the mycelial networks of many fungi have managed to connect several species of trees and other vegetation together, and created a form of communication network between them, sharing nutrition as well as electrical signals, this wondrous discovery will be the topic of a future essay!
While you might rarely see a mushroom body as you wander the woods, know that the soil living fungi is always there, just underneath the surface, and their presence is vital to ours, and every other living organisms existence. Sadly these complex organisms and their relationships to other lives are being disturbed by deforestation, acidification and most of all monoculture farming. Thankfully things are changing, and many interesting projects of so-called permaculture are starting to flourish across the globe, something I would love to return to another day. For now, know that the fungi is everywhere, even if you can’t see it.
Further reading:
https://www.youtube.com/@SerpentineGalleriesUK
Stamets (2019) Fantastic Fungi, ISBN 9781647221720
Essey: Alcohol and the self: A study in drug use and self perception
Trigger warnings:
Alcoholism, mentions of abuse and implied assault.
Disclaimer:
I want to begin with a series of disclaimers. First and foremost, I must make it clear that I myself do not drink alcohol and have not been truly drunk even once in my life. However, I, like most people, have had experiences with seeing both the positive and negative effects of the use of alcohol. Furthermore, I want to also clarify from the start that I will denote alcohol as a drug in this text as this decision to do so is vital for the point of this essay. The purpose of this text is to discuss and elaborate upon the discussion and culture of perceived alcohol use within a Swedish context.
Introduction
I am not a drinker. I have been drunk once or twice but I just never got into drinking myself. As someone who does not use alcohol, I have had countless discussions of why I chose not to partake in this socially acceptable and expected drug. This text is meant to be an exploration of these discussions, and why they so often turned sour or hostile.
It has dawned on me more and more that these discussions were never about me and my abstinence, but rather what that abstinence does with the narratives around alcohol and drinking. Alcohol use is common in Sweden- about three out of four adults consume alcohol (The Public Health Agency of Sweden, 2022). Although the dangerous consumption of alcohol is decreasing, between 16 and 30 percent of Swedish adults, depending on which study you refer to, still claimed that they had consumed unhealthy amounts of alcohol. Despite these concerning numbers, the topic of alcohol abuse is not something that is often discussed, and when it is indeed raised, it is often framed in a negative light, decrying those that have fallen to this so-called vice. Documentaries, tv series and commercials often depict those who are afflicted by alcoholism as being failures of sorts; that it is due to their personal failings and choices that they find themselves where they are.
Shame and normalcy
I will begin with unpacking two concepts that will be integral to my discussion. The first of which being the notion of shame. I will use shame here in the context of doing something that you have an ethical, emotional or social aversion towards doing something. This shame can be internally motivated (i.e. the action can go against something that you believe or feel). It can also be externally motivated from actual or perceived expectations of wider society the subject exists within.
Alcohol seems to be uniquely positioned in Swedish and western society as a bridge between what is and what is not considered shameful behavior in my experience. The trope of the drunk ex sending embarrassing texts, unwise plans made while inebriated, drunken fights and unfortunate drunken hookups are commonplace in media, especially in romantic comedies. Doing dumb things under the influence of alcohol is almost expected, and in some ways, welcomed. With that said, these actions are simultaneously tied with the shame that comes with the confrontations that will inevitably occur once the effects of alcohol have worn off.
This leads us to the next term- normality, or normalization. As mentioned in the introduction, alcohol is an almost universal part of most Swedish citizens’ lives. Over eighty percent of adult Swedish citizens have used alcohol at least once within a year, according to the Swedish health department’s latest report. This trend seems to be changing, partly due to influences of other cultures, but it’s also due to a change in the outlook of alcohol by younger generations. The same study shows that comparatively, older Swedes take up a larger percentage of alcohol consumers, and the notion that ‘alcohol is dangerous’ is much more prevalent amongst younger individuals. (The Public Health Agency of Sweden, 2022)
The ambiguity of the use of alcohol makes it hard to look at in the same light as tobacco or cannabis use for example. Alcohol is, and has been for most of its history, a part of Swedes’ daily lives. As mentioned before, the shame and difficult situations that arise from the use of these drugs are not only seen as normal, but often quite comical. This can sometimes make the shameful and painful parts of alcohol use difficult to express earnestly in day to day conversations.
Pain and addiction
Much of the discussions around alcohol that I have been a part of, inevitably comes back to two topics- addiction and pain. The first topic, addiction is something that many that I have spoken with about alcohol have had, or at the very least, have had second hand experiences with. Alcohol is after all, an addictive substance, and is the only truly psychoactive drug that is both socially accepted and juridically legal. (The Public Health Agency of Sweden, 2022)
Alcoholism is also often hidden in plain sight in Sweden. We can all see the cues to the alcohol store when it opens, hear about tales of binge drinkers and on and off alcoholics, but like so much else, it is easily ignored because, once again it is both normal and shameful. The prevalence of individuals who suffer from alcohol makes it unfortunately easier for others to ignore it, as well as to see their suffering as normal or expected. Very much like as it is with homelessness, does an alcoholic also represent what would happen if an individual would fail to meet social expectations. To become addicted to alcohol -to fall from grace so to speak- is often depicted as a personal failure. This shame of becoming the other, of becoming someone that has failed, also makes it harder for most people to empathize or even acknowledge those who suffer from alcoholism. To do so would be to acknowledge the risks in their own behaviors and choices.
The effects of alcohol can sometimes lead to dangerous behaviors and poor decision making skills. Accidents due to loss of motor skills, lack of self awareness and a heightened sense of invulnerability are all well attested effects of the drug. These injuries or other pain caused under the influences can often be easily laughed off by the surrounding population, and is once again, somewhat normalized and accepted. This normalization makes it harder to verbalize and discuss openly what happened during said painful events. This may lead to more internalized regret and shame over the individual’s actions. This, tied with the addictive nature of the drug, can easily lead to a spiral of dependency and disgust of the substance. (Pietrangelo, 2023)
Alcohol affects different people differently, while some gets solemn and quiet, others gets loud and boisterous, and others get angry and violent. Many have each of these reactions at different times. When violence and anger shows up, it is not uncommon for those closest to the intoxicated to be the one that suffers the most. This, like many other negative effects of alcohol use, is something that everyone at least has a third hand account of. Many I have spoken to have tales of someone who has suffered at the hands of someone with alcohol dependency, or simply with especially aggressive or violent reactions to alcohol. The shame is present here as well, both in the shame of the perpetrator and their victims. I want to be very careful with my claims here, as I have not been personally affected by this form of tragedy, nor do I have expert knowledge in the subject. I, like many others, have second or third hand experiences, as well as experiences of ingesting several media presentations of alcohol and violence. (Pietrangelo, 2023) I will end my discussion of this particular topic here as a result, as it is such a big subject that there is no way I can even begin to do it justice in this short essay on my personal experiences.
Alcohol and the self
I would argue that very few people initially see themselves as an addict, and often need help from others to see this. The argument often goes like this, “alcoholism, abuse and other destructive behaviors are something that happens to others, not me”. Among the people I have spoken to regarding their alcohol use, all of them are clear that they are more or less in control of their alcohol consumption. This is not to say that the people I talked to were wrong or lying. It is simply a trend I have noticed.
I will once again tread very carefully here, for I have very little experience in talking to individuals that have been, or currently are clinically addicted to alcohol. What has become apparent, if the rest of my conclusions are to be believed, is that to be an addict, is to become an other, in the eyes of those around you.
The self and other as non drinker
There are several tropes I have encountered regarding the non-drinker in Sweden. Non-drinkers are often seen as prudes, being boring, not fitting in or wanting to just make a point. Many of these negative tropes I would argue, can be linked to shame and normalcy that we have discussed earlier. Seeing how normalized the use of alcohol is, it is not surprising that one would be seen as somewhat of an outsider for not drinking. Seeing someone not drinking would also confront someone who drinks with several of the concepts discussed earlier. The self image of the non drinker, is in all intent and purpose unimportant to the text.
Conclusions
This text has not meant to present a complete image on how alcohol culture looks in Sweden, or how this pertains to Swedish society in general. I aim to share some of my personal experiences with alcohol as alcohol discourse as someone that doesn’t personally drink. I likewise would like to air some of my grievances I have had with said discourse, and try and formulate them in text.
In this text I have tried to argue that by normalizing the use of alcohol, it makes it hard to criticize the use of the drug without criticizing the users of the drug. This may lead to individuals finding it hard to express their feelings on things that have happened regarding their use, or others use of alcohol. I do not wish to demonize alcohol or alcohol use as completely evil, but simply to try and open up and change how we discuss alcohol, both its good and bad sides.
Note that I have not discussed the more positive aspects of alcohol, both as a drug, and as a social construct, this is simply due to the fact that I believe such a topic deserves its own chapter, as it is way too complex and nuanced to fit in here.
The Public Health Agency of Sweden. (2022.). https://www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se/the-public-health-agency-of-sweden/living-conditions-and-lifestyle/andtg/alcohol/
Pietrangelo, A. (2023). What Are the Effects of Alcohol on the Body? Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/alcohol/effects-on-body#physical
Essey: mellodifestivalen, a tale of big egos and low expectations
Melodifestivalen is the Swedish regional part of the eurovision song contest. Here is where Sweden’s representation is chosen in a several week long media spectacle. Seeing how this is the Swedish broadcast networks (SVT) biggest crowd pusher of the year, it is no surprise that the company wants to get as much out of it as possible. This can be most easily seen by the extension of the contest that has happened over the many years of its run.
Melodifestivalen is one of, if not The must see television show on Swedish TV. This can come from genuine enjoyment, scorn, an unwillingness to miss out, or a combination of all the above. In this essay I will use the series as a way to deconstruct two major themes that can be found in many of SVTs productions. One being that of a sense of ego and inflated importance, as well as a sense of entitlement to lowered standards. There is this air of SVT productions that are expected to be measured with a lower standard because they are “just public television”. I will in this essay aim to discuss how these two modes of thinking often contradict each other.
Low standard and the sense of being “just SVT” is something that is easy to spot in the production of Melodifestivalen. Despite being played in a grand arena, having a grand budget, almond raking in millions of views, is it always a sense of amateurish feeling over the production and script writing of the show itself. The jokes are corny and not very well thought out, the presenters give off the feeling of uncomfortable convention hosts. Many of the jokes that are pulled from this real or perceived amateurishness, like the ironic use of comic sans, or the fact that a joke did not land, being the punchline to the joke more often than not.
This is not an opinion I am alone with, and as I have alluded to, are there many that watch the show to groan at the bad jokes and corny performances, as well as the often sadly misguided musical performances. This is a fact that SVT is well aware of, and has on more than one occasion made light of in their comedy often at the expense of their detractors.
A good example of this is the year that SVT used muppets to present their different viewers and their reason to watch. One pair of these puppets being an elderly, upper class and intellectual couple that watched the show seemingly in pure duress, and spent the entire show berating and degrading it. This would have been a fine thing to do, even though the Muppets did it first and better with the peanut gallery, if it wasn’t for the fact that the old couple that “just didn’t get it”, were always right!
This attitude of casually dismissing criticism as overly intellectual snobs is something that can be found in other productions then just Melodifestivalen. Many of their shows like Uti Bugda and similar comedy show as a distinct lowbrow, and yet mean spirited tone towards their perceived audience. This is furthermore followed by yet again a notion that any low production values or bad quality from their part should be forgiven due to their state of public television, and as a result, not as fancy as commercial television.
SVT was, for a long time the only television that was available for the Swedish population, as the first and only tv channel made in, and for Sweden. They were from the beginning, and still are fully funded by Swedish tax money, and operate, at least in theory, fully free from both government and commercial interest. SVT is considered to be a public service, much like the BBC in the UK, and as a result is meant to work in service of the public. This project involves trying to cater to as wide an audience as possible, and to make sure to give something for everyone, or in other words, for the general public. This runs the gambit from low brow comedy shows, to high concept discussion shows on art, faith and science. In later years has this responsibility been spread over several channels where SVT 1 remained the most focused towards, in lack of a better word, mass audiences, where SVT2, Knowledge channel, and the SVT kids taking over many of the more specialized roles. It is not perhaps surprising that Melodifestivalen is hosted only at SVT 1. This sense of being in the service to the public, as well as being the first TV channel available has, I would argue, led to an elevated sense of importance amongst the executives of SVT.
SVT today does not exist alone. And for decades they have now had to contend with the competition of other, nonprofit and for profit TV stations and conglomerates, and it is in this relationship that both of their self images can be found and understood. On one end does SVT tout their role as, free (in a way) entertainment, education and culture for the public. That they serve a higher purpose than the commercial TV stations as their role as public services. On the other hand does it also seem to exist a certain defensiveness in SVTs many shows about, not being able to, and in fact, that they should not be expected to be as good as the big commercial stations with their enormous budgets and talent pools.
Nowhere else I would argue, is this dichotomy more apparent, then in the case of Melodifestivalen. There is a grand sense of being the People’s entertainment festival, and there is indeed in theory possible for anyone to join and possibly win the entire contest. There is a sense that SVT is almost doing the nation a service by providing the Swedish people of something to gather around, be proud of, and more importantly then all, to take part in, And yes, here I have to give credit where credit is due, as Melodifestivalen does rake in thousands of dollars for charity every year. At the same time the show is mired with flat comedy, self referential and erogatory comedy and an overall sense of, Don’t bully us, we are just the silly show Melodifestivalen.
This contrast is what, in my opinion, makes Melodifestivalen uniquely frustrating to watch, and I have to admit, I do still watch it every year.
Essay: Ebooks, and the tactile feeling of turning a digital page
I have thought about why the sensation of reading things on Archive.org or in games like Skyrim had a much more satisfying feeling than reading something on a pdf. The reason is the tactile feeling these texts have. In this text I will explore the sensations of tactility, and their effects on the sensation of, and appreciation of reading.
Introduction
Tactility is something that has often been touted to describe the superiority of physical books over digital ones, and I have to agree with them. There is a completely different feeling to reading a physical book, flipping the pages, and holding the book, than scrolling through pages on a phone or PC. The feeling of flipping a page, of pulling your finger through the page. The ability to earmark a page or put in a bookmark. There are of course other senses that also play in on to this, smell sight and sound are some of these senses that can not fully be integrated into a reading on a digital book. This text will focus almost primarily on the sensations on touch, and how they relate to the feeling of experiencing a book. I personally find that I can draw a much closer connection to a book if I am able to touch it, flip through its pages, and run my hand along its spine. Just the sensation of flipping a page is enough to highlight the importance of touch when it comes to reading a book.
By tactility, I will in this text relate to the sensation of physical touch or feel, or as you will read, the digital approximation of this sensation. I aim to show that tactility is not limited to the sense of physical touch, but also the digital recreation of it. Heat, pressure and texture are all important parts of the sensation of touch, and tactality as a result. The sensation of a book can be as varied as the books themselves. From the brittle pages of an old tomb, to the rough pages of a cheap paperback novel. Many of these sensations, such as heat, can currently not be transferred to a digital medium, but I will argue in this text, that some approximations of other tactile sensations can still be found.
The PDF
The first type of text I will discuss is the one that most people are familiar with, and that most of my viewers have used in their daily lives, the humble PDF document. This document type is designed to be read only and is not written over, making it difficult to be modified (though exceptions do exist). A PDF document by default is meant to look like a physical piece of paper, with the text represented on it as if it was printed. The text itself is presented in the centre of the program, and may take on a number of forms. Different colors on the background paper, and the typeface may have been used, as well as different fonts, just as with any physical book. The program itself is made out of the previously mentioned central reading area, as well as a black and white border, where several options of reading can be found.
The PDF reader has a few options on how you may read your file, size, amount of pages on the screen at once etc but the base is still going to be of a number of pages on a blank background for you to scroll through. I bring up the PDF primarily to have something to compare the later texts with. While I do find reading a PDF document slightly less tiring than say a word document, it is still not what I would call an enjoyable experience. Why I find PDF files less tiring, I could not say for sure.
Epub and Kindle
A slight step above the humble PDF document is Adobe’s own digital book reader. Note that the same problems and advantages can be found with things like kindle readers and the like, but I use Adobe digital editions simply because it is the one I am personally the most familiar with, which is why I have chosen to use it as my example.
These platforms will present the text in a slightly more book emulated fashion, but still not very close to the actual feeling of holding a book. You are still reading text documents much in the same way as you would in a PDF document, though with a few more bells and whistles a more customizable outline of the book’s pages. Note that the books often retain some of the page layouts and typefaces of the physical books they are based on, which do lend a bit more of a tactile feeling to the experience, though this can equally be done with a PDF document.
Project Gutenburg
First and foremost, must I say that Project Guthenburg is an amazing initiative and that has done wonders for the academic world. It is an amazing project to digitize and make available enormous amounts of materials from the public domain. Most, if not all of these can be downloaded and read in formats such as Epub and kindle, which makes these texts very easy to work with. Their dedication to continuing to make available otherwise difficult to reach texts is truly the be commended.
With that said, their reader on the website is atrocious to say the least, large blocks of text with huge margins on each side makes the writing stretched out in a strange column, and the empty spaces makes it hard to focus on any area in particular. Not to mention that the font choices were not chosen to primarily be read on a screen. It is unfortunate that such a wonderful collection of texts should be limited in its use by a less than user-friendly interface and reading experience. This is a good example of the importance of tactility, even in digital reading materials.
Archive.org
The project of archive.org is similar to that of Project Gutenburg, though larger in scope, as their efforts stretch way beyond books and other printed materials. But for this text I will simply focus on the texts, and at that the more professionally scanned and presented texts that can be found within the website’s archives.
These books have not only been masterfully digitized using state of the art techniques, they have also been recreated and presented in such a way to have the books be readable, as physical books.
With this I mean that every single book to Archive.org in this way has pages that can be flipped through as if it was a physical book. Each page can be flipped back and forth, and the process of doing so is fully animated. This seemingly simple addition gives a dimension to the reading that is not present in any of the other digital alternatives I have mentioned so far.
The fact that the book itself is scanned and not just the text, means that the color and texture of the page itself is also preserved, for better or worse. Due to the books being recreated from photographs, also means that any notes, scribbles or stains are kept from the original. These slight imperfections further create the illusion of dealing with a physical book rather than a digital recreation. The addition of front and back covers, that can be flipped open and closed, also adds to the experience of reading through a physical book.
The Elder scrolls
The Elder Scrolls series are far from the only game series that has readable books, and not the only one that presents them in such an interactive way. I choose this series for a number of reasons, first of all is it a series that many of my readers are familiar with, it is also one that I have a lot of personal experience with personally.
I furthermore think that the Elder Scrolls does an exceptional job at presenting its texts in an immersive and enjoyable way. The books are written in a distinct handwritten style, the paper of the books in Skyrim and onwards are unevenly cut, making the illusion of thickness to the book even more apparent. The books also have clear animations for each page being flipped, accompanied by a satisfying page turning sound.
Many other games have presented their written in universe materials in similar ways, and one can argue that there are examples of it being done better, but the Elder Scrolls is non the less a good example of what I aim to show with tactality. Their plentiful books and journals are easy to find in all the later iterations of the games, and can in some cases be rather integral to solving certain puzzles and quests in the games.
Conclusions
I wished to show in this text, that the tactile feel of reading a book, or for that matter carrying out most tasks, is not necessarily limited to the physical touch of that item. Digital recreations of certain items can come close to, even if not fully replacing the tactile notion of the real thing.
This same feeling of tactality can be found in certain puzzle games, or simulator games, such as the The Room series of games. Virtual reality technology like the Oculus rift will most likely take this tactile experience even further, but for this text I have chosen to solely focus on the recreation of flipping a page.
I furthermore wish to show the importance of these tactile elements being taken into account when designing a digital reading experience. By giving the reader a more, sensuary complete experience can they come closer to the text, and hopefully get less fatigued from the reading experience. At least, both of these outcomes have been true for my own experience, but further research is needed to say anything definitive on the subject.
The use of hallways in Fiction
The hallway has been used as a number of symbolic objects in fiction, from doorways to other worlds, to extensions of characters mood and emotions. I will in this essay present three genres of fiction, and their use of hallways in wildly different ways. Namely will we examine fantasy, science fiction and horror, and their uses of the hallway as a way of telling a narrative.
Fantasy
Many types of fantasy, especially those that follow the trope of “two worlds”, use some sort of doorway or hallway to access the different worlds. The use of hallways can be used to extend the notion of distance between the “real” and “other” world. A good example of this would be the wool corridor between the other mothers world, and the world of everyday life. The transportation through it, both with time and space, can create a larger sense of distance, and otherness.
Science fiction
The blog post created by Curley (2015), discusses the idea of the corridor as a canvas to create world building and set dressing. The corridor can be used to present the tone, setting and themes of the narrative. Two examples would be the sleek corridors of the enterprise showing the futuristic utopian world that the story takes places in, where minimalism and simplicity of life has taken hold in the confederacy. This can be juxtaposed with the shops if the Alien franchise, where the ships are seemingly created from a lot of different manufacturers, and clearly made with a small budget, where price comes before safety.
Horror
The corridor in the is almost a staple of the series, where it is used to great effect to show anything from loneliness, to claustrophobia and disorientation. A classical example would be the corridors in Saltney Cambrics, the Shining uses corridors very effective to create a sense of dislocation, and otherworldliness to the hotel of the movie. Nightmare of Elm Street uses the hallway as a way to enhance the sensation and feeling of nightmares and otherness.
The corridors have been used as hunting grounds for monsters and villains to set harrowing chase scenes, or once again be used as a portal between the natural and the supernatural world. (Ripatrazone, 2015)
Romance
The corridor in romance films are used to show closeness as well as distance, separation and togetherness. By empathising the size and distance of the hallway can the physical distance between characters work as an allegory for both emotional and mental distance, as well as the actual distance between them in space and time.
Conclusions
We have here seen how the hallway has been used to create a series of different moods and narrative cues, and concepts. Many of the themes are somewhat bleeding in to each other, and are used in similar ways, but I have in this chapter tried to show a distinct tradition and history of using the hallway in narratives. I wanted to show in this chapter that even a seemingly arbitrary set piece as the hallway can have a rich use of narrative and symbolic use within film making.
References:
Let’s explore science fiction’s glorious hallways, Christopher Curley, 2015, taken from: https://news.avclub.com/let-s-explore-science-fiction-s-glorious-hallways-1798283284
The Long, Lonely Walk: Hallways in Horror Films, Nick Ripatrazone, 2015, taken from: https://themillions.com/2015/08/the-long-lonely-walk-hallways-in-horror-films.html
The scribe: A comparative look at the writing professional
The concept of the professional writer has changed wildly over the years, and are indeed still changing to this day. What this texts is going to focus on specificity is the invention of the printing press in Europe, and what that meant for the world of the written word, both socially, cultural and economically.
The manuscript and the ideal text
The ideal text is a concept within many fields of research, and has number of different connotations. In this text we are interested in the concept in therms of literary and writing history. The concept of the ideal text in this context is a text that is as close to the authors original intent or “original text”. In order to create these ideal texts are usually many different translations and editions used, to see which parts and passages that seems to correlate the best with each other. From these different editions is a so called Ideal text created. This text would then work as a basis, or a reference point for further studies.
One good example of such an ideal text would be certain plays made by Shakespeare, of which we only have second hand notes and recordings off. Plays being a personal property of the theatre troupe, and never shared outside the company, was the only way to acquire other theatres plays, to sit in the audience and try to record it line for line.
To understand the cultures of the medieval scribe work, and how the printing press changed it, one must first understand the concept of the Manuscript. The Manuscript of the medieval European scribes, and their coupes across the world is in and of themselves unique items. Each and every one of them created by a person, at a specific point in time. Things like spelling and grammar errors, translations errors, as well as corrections to these errors, al leads to the further differentiation of a text. Furthermore were many scribes not just tasked with creating an item of functionality, but also of creating an articulacy of value and beauty.
One of the results of this is the fact that we need to conciser that, unlike a published and printed book, was these manuscripts made for a specific individual, or a small collection of individuals rather then for a public.
Many manuscripts were made for specific nobility or other inportant individuals, and it was not uncommon for historical or religious texts to be custom tailored to collaborate the stories and features of the ancestors of the chosen patron. These texts were, and still are considered great works of art for a very good reason, as many features large masterfully made artworks, as well as pretentious and rare materials, such as gold and rare pigments.
The medieval scribe
The image most have of the medieval scribe is of an elderly monk sitting hunches over his text books and slowly tracing the words and images of his predecessors. The work of the medieval scribe was indeed a lot mover involved then that, and often included correcting spelling errors or factual problems that the author has left in, (and accordantly creating their own errors from time to time). The work for the scribe was often seen to be of just as an inportant and vital task as the original author, and the two were seen as co creators for each work. It was indeed a common practice for the scribe to make themselves a small portrait in the manuscripts themselves.
The creation of each and every manuscript was as a result a unique and one of a time production, and each object that was created in this was was as well, a unique artefact. This will be put in to contrast of the mass produced series of identical texts possible with the invention of the printing press.
The printing press and the question of ownership
The concept of copy rite and ownership relay came to a head when the printing press and its use became more and more widespread. It became more and more easy to copy, redistribute and acquire the written word. This did do a lot of good for he spread of art, culture and science, as well as differing political ideals. One group that was both gained from, and suffers at the hands of the printing press was the authors of these new texts.
The authors of the renaissance had a vast new audience of hungry readers, but no clear way of safety monetizing said market. It was not uncommon to acquire books form other printers, and then undersell them by producing cheaper copies. These infringements was mostly done over national borders, and a few duchies of the holy Roman empire was nutritious for these bootlegging printers. They acquired books form across the border, and then managed to make significantly cheaper copies, due to them not needing to pay the original author.
The difficulty of the author, and publishers to properly monetize their products lead to the invention of more clear and universal copy write law. In order to properly push their newfound claims. To be able to properly make these claims, a new image of the author had to be created.
Copywriting and the idea of the author
The idea of the author of a author as a a unique genius, that springs original concepts from their very essence is a relatively new one as well, one which origin can be argued to be traced to (at least in Europe) the invention and refinement of the printing press.
In order to protect the writers livelihood in this new environment, was an image of the proses of writing, and the author was needed. German authors in particular was hurt by the introduction of the printing press, and its consequences for their ability to protect their economic safety. The concepts of a writer living solely on sales of reprints of their books are a relatively new concept in Europe. Before was writers usually paid on commissions, or even more often, by patronage of a noble or other rich individual. This new writers found themselves completely without any sort of safety net. In order to make sure these writers could protect their income and works, would they need to reinvent the very role of the author (Woodsmansee 1994). I will here present two different definitions of the author, and how it relates to the medieval manuscript.
The inspired craftsman
The renaissance, and pre printing press idea of the writer, was mainly that of a craftsman. An individual that has learned a trade, and applies heir tools, experience and the knowlage of previous craftsmen to create new works out of existing myths, stories and narratives. Much like a carpenter works with already existing wood, so does the writer work with pre existing themes and ideas. (Woodsmansee 1994)
When a writer seemingly created a completely new topic or concept, this was not attributed to the individual themself, but rather to some sort of divine or supernaturally inspirational force, be it a deity or a creatures such as a muse. Note that this puts the professional writer, in the position of a vessel for other ideas and beings, rather then being the originator of said ideas themselves. (Woodsmansee 1994)
The lone artist
After the introduction of the printing press, and the coming of the enlightenment, did another concept of the writer, the artist. This individual worked towards unevenness and individuality, they were the sole source of their work, and as a result the sole owner of it as well. Their inspiration came from within, lacking any mundane or supernatural force of inspiration. Because the writer is the single originator of the text, they also held the single credit and responsibility for the text, and as a result, also the single monetary and intellectual rights to it. (Woodsmansee 1994)
The influences of craftsmanship also disappeared gradually, and was instead replaced by the concept of solitary artistry. A similar trend could be found in al of the disciplines that would later be known as the “fine arts”. These being dance, theatre, paining, sculpting and writing. In al these disciple was there a clear move made to make a distinction between the crafts and the arts, as well as elevating the later over the former.
Conclusions
What I have tried to present here is a n introduction is a shift in mentality and reality of both the author and the book as an item when the printing press was fully introduced in Europe. With the artefact created going from a physical unique item, to the ethereal idea of the Text, so did the image of the writer go from the craftsman scribe, to the artist writer.
Sources
P.F.F. (2006). Manuscript, not Print: Scribal Culture in the Edo Period. The Journal of Japanese Studies 32(1), 23-52. doi:10.1353/jjs.2006.0016.
Woodmansee, Martha (1994). The author, art, and the market: rereading the history of aesthetics. New York: Columbia University Press
Consider a city, part 2
We continue by examining other buildings of our city. The buildings in which we do not live, but yet spend much of our time. These would be the buildings of professions, either of ours, or of those needed for our lives and well being.
Let us begin with the prior category. This is your location of business, note that for some this is also our home, tough for most it is not. Here we perform a service, or produce a product for consumption. Services can range from selling to repairing, and selling can range from physical items such as food and toys to abstract concepts such as stocks and insurance.
You may or may not enjoy this work. Though for the process of these texts, all these facts are secondary. The main point is that you have an occupation, in which you spend a set amount of time. For the time and effort you are compensated a monetary sum, which you can buy goods and services from the second category of buildings.
These transactions will inevitably be handled by another individual, currently at their job. For the time and effort of handling your monetary transaction, they too will be compensated.
After a set number of transactions this individual will be able to make a purchase of their own, and the monetary flow stretches out, flown and intertwined throughout our city. This transactional chain does not stop in our town of course, but rather sprawls out in the world, as said worlds transactions sprawl back in.
In this way our imagination is not only interconnected through the physical lines of traffic, but through the metaphysical means of the exchange of goods and services.
Lastly there is one more group of buildings I would like to take up. These are the buildings of government and services. In some cases funded by public means, in other words the citizens of said city, or in other cases they are funded privately privately. In this category do I put everything from police, to libraries and garbage collection. These are here due to, the are in their very core to more or less mean to serve the public.
Note that these buildings are also where individuals work, and are part of the previously mentioned monetary web. Even though some of these buildings (in some areas) have a need to stay profitable, this is not their main goal. Their goal is to provide the services needed for others to make a profit. See them as a foundation support for your city, which the rest of the city is built around.
Here is where I will conclude my contemplations of a city for now. My hope is that you will not see your city or town as a collection of blocks and stretches of land. But rather a collection of homes. That you will see the workspaces, where people like yourself work to meet similar ends. Roads full of individuals, as well as people and work of numerous services, making it all possible.
My hope is that you will look out upon your city or town and see, something more.
This blog post was spell checked and edited for readability at 2021-06-07
An Unused Frequency 