For various media, winter is a big deal. People have time off, so the year hits the glut where studios release a hundred different Christmas movies, developers debut the games of the season and so on. Everyone is trying to get a bit of that holiday cash, and rightly so. It's the one time of the year where everybody's consumption habits are up across the board.
But I caution you, world-weary friend of the library, to not take too much in at once. I don't want to be the Luddite pushing messages like down home values
so I won't. Enjoy movies. Enjoy television and books and games and music.
Just know that we have some time off. We have a month and a half, in fact. This is the perfect time to jump start your novel about, I don't know, a tale of redemption and what it means to be a woman in the 22nd century as told through the time-honored genre of space station under attack by dinosaurs. Maybe you've always wanted to write, direct, produce and star in an indie shoegazer short film where you hook up with a crazy pixie-cut girl who changes your life in predictable ways. If Zach Braff can do it, you can.
There's going to be a lot of things to take in, but now is the time to release as well. Make the thing you've been kicking around in the back of your head. The only thing stopping you from doing so is yourself.
Resources aren't an issue. In these wacky postmodern times, typing the phrase low budget into Google produces more than five million results, all trying to help you make a thing cooler than what already exists. And when the season is piled high with things like CGI Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel (coming this December) people will be looking for something heartfelt and homemade. Hoist upon them your wares and rejoice! You have enlightened this existence.
Of course, you're going to take a lot in. There's a whole ton coming out this winter that looks decent in the realm of movies, games, music, comics, what have you. But I ask that you not inundate yourself with the blockbuster releases. Pick up a fun $20 indie game along with your copy of Call of Duty. When you go to see the $300 million Avatar, don't be afraid to delve into whatever foreign language freakout is playing at the Athena.
Don't just let this stuff roll over you. While watching or listening or reading something, really try to take in what it's trying to tell you. Analyze the methods it used to convey that message, and determine whether or not it was successful. Do you care that the original Night of the Living Dead is a complex tale about race in America, or do you just want to watch a zombie movie?
I fear writing this next paragraph, because it will truly reveal my too-good-to-feel-about-anything facade for being just that; a facade. But I do passionately care about every one of you, gentle readers. As such, I'm going to whip a little bit of message at you. Forgive me for doing so, but it is an opinion column.
Media are not made solely to entertain, but to enrich. Never let these sorts of things bog you down, and never let them get in the way of your own ideas and passions. Take them for what they are, and apply what they teach you. Never be afraid to make something, and never, ever be afraid to do what you love doing. I'll watch it.
Greg Mercer is a junior studying video production and columnist for The Post. Send him feminist space dinosaur literature at gm295306@ohiou.edu 4
Opinion
Greg Mercer
