Wild and Weird Crimes and the New Rudeness
I’ve been reading crime fiction and observing a great deal about the genre lately.
It seems there’s more and more blending of crime novels with horror, the occult, with paranormal events, romance, and science fiction. The genres are coalescing.
It seems to coincide with the proliferation of computer generated imagery in action-packed thriller movies. We’ve all watched scenes in which actors engage in amazing feats of skill far beyond any human capabilities (I’m not talking about Spider Man or the other media cross-overs from comic books to the silver screen). I’m referring to the computer-generated imagery (CGI) in so many thriller films these days.
I guess the blending of book and movie genres makes sense in the context of the cross-pollinating technologies that are part of our lives.
Everything blends and streams: your cell phone; your computer; your television; your iPad; Twitter; Facebook; Goodreads; laptops; IMs and texting--it all merges into an ever-expanding, increasingly-integrated information highway. There are very few stand-alone technologies now, which coincides with the increasing role of near-magical gimmicks and technologies in many novels and movies.
Much of it is great; some is not-so-good.
We’ve all seen people in restaurants not talking to each other as they press the pads on their smart phones, texting and e-mailing others. It’s as though they fear they’ll miss out on what other people (who aren’t even there) might be saying as opposed to talking with the one’s they’re with! (A friend calls it FOMO—Fear Of Missing Out). It’s part of our culture in which some people have cell phone conversations (loudly) on elevators, in doctors’ waiting rooms, and in restaurants, completely unaware they’re intruding into other peoples’ space. It’s been termed The New Rudeness.
So, while the blending of genres and technologies can be fine, some isn’t so great. What do you think? Please feel free to comment.
Mark Rubinstein,
Author of Mad Dog House (October 23rd)
It seems there’s more and more blending of crime novels with horror, the occult, with paranormal events, romance, and science fiction. The genres are coalescing.
It seems to coincide with the proliferation of computer generated imagery in action-packed thriller movies. We’ve all watched scenes in which actors engage in amazing feats of skill far beyond any human capabilities (I’m not talking about Spider Man or the other media cross-overs from comic books to the silver screen). I’m referring to the computer-generated imagery (CGI) in so many thriller films these days.
I guess the blending of book and movie genres makes sense in the context of the cross-pollinating technologies that are part of our lives.
Everything blends and streams: your cell phone; your computer; your television; your iPad; Twitter; Facebook; Goodreads; laptops; IMs and texting--it all merges into an ever-expanding, increasingly-integrated information highway. There are very few stand-alone technologies now, which coincides with the increasing role of near-magical gimmicks and technologies in many novels and movies.
Much of it is great; some is not-so-good.
We’ve all seen people in restaurants not talking to each other as they press the pads on their smart phones, texting and e-mailing others. It’s as though they fear they’ll miss out on what other people (who aren’t even there) might be saying as opposed to talking with the one’s they’re with! (A friend calls it FOMO—Fear Of Missing Out). It’s part of our culture in which some people have cell phone conversations (loudly) on elevators, in doctors’ waiting rooms, and in restaurants, completely unaware they’re intruding into other peoples’ space. It’s been termed The New Rudeness.
So, while the blending of genres and technologies can be fine, some isn’t so great. What do you think? Please feel free to comment.
Mark Rubinstein,
Author of Mad Dog House (October 23rd)
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Tony wrote: "Blending of genres is happening everywhere though, and I think it's a good thing - if nothing else, it breathes new life into flagging genres. The western? Dead as that horse with flies on it..."The western is alive an well and continually evolving - not that I have any objection to steam punk westerns (remember Wild Wild West) or paranormal westerns (some of my good friends write those) or sf-westerns (Space Cowboy was fun) but the straight up western isn't dead any more than any historical fiction. You might as well say Shakespeare is dead - which of course he is but his plays are not.
Okay, now that I've climbed off my soap box, I will add that I agree with the rest of your comments Tony.
Ha ha! A fair point! I'm not a fan of westerns, so I probably shouldn't speak of that-which-I-know-not-of. As for Shakespeare being dead... I think I read in The Enquirer that he's shacked up with Elvis... :0)
Tony wrote: "I think I read in The Enquirer that he's shacked up with Elvis... :0)"Funny, I thought I saw them performing at a local coffee shop. "He ain't nothin' but a hound dog, forsooth."
Blending of genres is happening everywhere though, and I think it's a good thing - if nothing else, it breathes new life into flagging genres. The western? Dead as that horse with flies on it... but here comes a bit of steampunk and we've got a whole new hybrid, bringing back gunslingers and their trusty steeds to tackle crazy mechanical monstrosities... of course, it can't all be good! :0)