Thursday, October 10, 2013

Artistic devices

Hands up everyone who remembers the iconic 80s teen-angst John Hughes film, The Breakfast Club. You know—one of the Brat Pack classics.

Well, the question arose on social media (in this case, imgur) around whether you could remake it today and still have the same, oh, story arc.

The conclusion, obviously, is that you can’t, since no one in detention would give a toss about anyone else there, being so wrapped up in their self-entertaining devices.

That got me thinking about how smartphones and tablets might alter other classic images of isolation and dysfunction. I’m sorry I’ve not got the Photoshop skills, but just imagine what Edward Hopper’s stark “Nighthawks” would be like if there were a couple of iPads in evidence.


Or Edgar Degas’s “The Absinthe Drinker”.


Or Jacques-Louis David’s “The Death of Marat”.


I mean—there’s a whole universe of new interpretation here.



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