Friday News: Updating Disney, long books, Charlie Hedbo and free speech, and an instant paradigm shift
Publishing Newsbranding / conduct / Disney / epic books / gender / paradigm shift / speech10 Comments
THE MESSY BUSINESS OF REINVENTING HAPPINESS – What a fascinating story about the attempt to modernize — and incorporate new technologies into – Disney theme parks. You would think that a franchise famous for concepts like “Tomorrowland” would find this process to be a snap. And yet it was really more the opposite. Simply the notion of a so-called “magic band” practically turned Disney inside out. Not only was there pushback to the concept (and the costs it entailed), but there were conceptual problems around what such a band would do and in what way it would be “magic” (beyond magically emptying your wallet, from all the crap you could buy instantaneously). Anyway, a really great look at how a famous brand tries to update itself, and the unintended consequences and unforeseen issues that arose during the process.
In the mid-2000s, however, Disney executives had reason to worry about the future of the business. Disney World, Parks’ crown jewel, seemed to be losing its luster. According to multiple sources, certain key metrics, including guests’ “intent to return,” were dropping; around half of first-time attendees signaled they likely would not come back because of long lines, high ticket costs, and other park pain points. Simultaneously, the stunningly fast adoption of social media and smartphones threatened the relevance of the parks. If Disney wanted these more tech-oriented generations to love it as much as their parents, who had grown up with fewer entertainment alternatives, had, it would have to embrace change now. “We were failing to recognize key consumer trends that were starting to influence how people interacted with brands,” says one former executive. Inside the company, Disney World became known as a “burning platform.” As the former executive explains, “If we miss out on that next generation of guests, suddenly our burning platform is fully on fire—panic mode.”–Fast Company
Never-ending stories: Would you read a 1m-word book? – While we are so often looking at shorter books in genre Romance, the general trend seems to be growing in the opposite direction. As this article points out, to some degree this seems to be a split between literary and genre fiction right now, but there is also indication that despite our technology dependence, the fact that people are watching multiple episodes of television shows at once and playing many-hour computer games suggests that people are, in fact, still game for lengthy singularly focused experiences.
Though it can’t quite compete in terms of pagination, Jarvis’ novel is part of a mini-trend that seems to be gathering momentum – and bulk. In the next few months alone, playwright Larry Kramer publishes the first of his two-volume fictionalised history, The American People, which comes in at 800 pages (he’s been working on it for 40 years and at one point the manuscript was 4,000 pages long), Amitav Ghosh completes his Ibis trilogy (the final instalment is 624 pages), and review copies of Hannah Yanagihara’s A Little Life have been sent out filled with Post-It notes attached to flag representative passages, presumably because the book’s girth is so daunting (at 736 pages, it’s really not so little at all). In July, you can expect to hear bookshelves groaning as William T Vollmann’s new novel, The Dying Grass, is published. Set in the Wild West during the 1870s, it totals 1,376 pages. And next year, British graphic novelist Alan Moore publishes his second non-graphic novel, Jerusalem, which is billed as a fantastical exploration of his hometown, Northampton. It’s said to be a million words long.–BBC
Free all speech – In the wake of the protests by some authors against the PEN nomination of Charlie Hedbo, this article is a pretty balanced treatment of the distinction between the way in which French society struggles with certain double standards in regard to religious tolerance and the impetus behind the Hedbo murders, which was really about the idea that some speech is simply intolerable. This is, of course, a particularly USian idea, as evidenced by the famous SCOTUS wisdom that “the best remedy to bad speech is more speech.” So is some speech too dangerous, or is there simply not enough of it to bring clarity to the issues initially raised by the cartoons?
There is no question that France has done a poor job integrating its immigrant population into the country’s mainstream. French Muslims have good reason to feel aggrieved at the double-standard that permits mockery of Islam but criminalises Holocaust denial (yet another good reason to decriminalise Holocaust denial). And, unfortunately, anti-Islamic, anti-Arab sentiment is indeed prevalent in the West. But the Kouachi brothers did not kill Charlie Hebdo’s staff because they disagreed with French immigrant policy; they did it because they believed Islam ought to be beyond the bounds of satire, and this letter’s signatories seem to agree.–The Economist
‘It was never a dress’: Women’s bathroom symbol gets a clever update – Want to experience an instant paradigm shift? Then check out the photos in this story. –Today
I like epic fantasy, so long books doesn’t seem like a new trend. (LotR is over 1000 pages.) I suspect rising prices have a lot to do with it. $7.99 seems like a better deal for a long book.
I am a true believer in free speech, any kind of speech, no matter how ugly or hateful I or anyone else may find it. I never want to live in a society where there is a panel set up to judge what can be said, printed or thought. Furthermore I want to KNOW what people are thinking, really thinking. Banning certain speech doesn’t change people’s minds or hearts.
Loved the “It was never a dress” :)
Curious that DA links to “subtle” and ” nuanced” commentary on Charlie Hebdo and no mention at all of Pamela Geller. I tend to prefer moral clarity in these situations. Really, would a moral statement condemning assassins trying to kill people for exercising free speech rights be too much to ask for? What about a statement from the “romance community” along the lines of “we will not be silenced!” Except in this case, the silence being referred too is very much silence of the grave.
People are scared. I get it. But let’s stop pretending all the people sniffing and looking down their noses at the content Charlie Hebdo and Pamela Geller produced are anything more than frightened people. Sadly, they have good reason to be frightened.
Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series ended up having almost 4.5 million words (and a few of the books have over 900 pages), so 800/700 pages doesn’t sound all that impressive. Also, IIRC Stephen King’s Under the Dome had 1100 pages or so, and it was released a few years ago. So I agree with @Lostshadows, I don’t think big books is anywhere near a new trend :)
@Barbara: Are you aware that Charlie Hedbo does not want to be associated with Geller: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/05/charlie-hebdo-rejects-pamela-geller-comparisons.html
The section quoted from the Economist piece is not one of the stronger arguments in that piece. As one commenter noted,
The rest of that comment is right on point, too. It’s certainly possible to discuss whether holocaust denial should be criminalized, but not because of a supposed double standard between mocking a religion and denying a historical atrocity in which millions were murdered and many others victimized in other ways.
Mocking a religion – any religion – is not against the law in France, as some of the material published in Charlie Hebdo clearly shows.
I’ve read a number of good pieces on Charlie Hebdo and the PEN controversy – Katha Pollitt in The Nation and Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic both come to mind, but there were others. Between my high school French and lack of familiarity with French culture, it’s difficult to understand what exactly CH tries to convey and the context for their work, but then same can also be said for many of the magazine’s critics.
I’m all for giant, meaty reads that you can get lost in for days–Lonesome Dove and The Doomsday Book are two that jump to mind–but I read so many books that seem to be trying to hit a word count and just meander around aimlessly for pages and pages. if the story needs the space, by all means, but smart editing is always appreciated, too.
The Malazan series is over 3 million words and I’ve re-read it several times — yeah it’s beefy, but when something is so good there’s nothing better than more. I’m always impressed when authors can put in so many words and yet still not waste a single one.
I know that a lot of genres have fairly strict word count expectations, and it’s a shame when I hear a favourite author had to axe 1/4 of the book to meet them! I do get that there are market trends and such but really, if their track record is good, why not give them more space?
@Barbara:
I’m not *frightened* of bigots like Pam Geller. I’m disgusted with them.
No one should use guns in response to speech. No one. But please don’t pretend that Geller isn’t thrilled at the turn of events, justifying her fear mongering.