Tuesday, February 24, 2009

I once read a quote discussing the longevity of literature versus the evanescent existence of drama/ film. It boldy stated that the realistic classic characters of literature greatly outlive the modern famous characters of movies in the long run. But as I sat there and thought about my short acquaintance with movies, I was caught in the middle. Yes, it is true that the lifelike characters and stories from childhood books and timeless novels such as Anna Karenina and Vronsky and Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy constantly remain in the back of our minds, popular movie icons from the Sound of Music or Titanic also touch our hearts. Although many movie characters do slowly trickle away, similarly as many characters from novels, the individuals from film that do survive the sands of time bring more life and vigor to that persona. Movie roles are as equally long lived as famous story characters, if not sometimes more timeless. And movie characters are capable of coming to life on screen and are capable of reaching out to a larger population. So the question is, what audience will be doing the remembering?