From: Bullard, Claude L (Len) (clbullar_at_ingr.com)
Date: 24 June 1998
Hi Alan:
I don't think we are differing just emphasizing different aspects. Certainly the presentation affects the presentation, but a bad story presented well is still a good telling of a bad story. Call this my heritage of SGML where separating content from rendering is the holy grail. A good story is needed first. Boiling it down to the punch line does not make the meaning clear. The context is required or it does simply become a homile.
I agree that the quality of the presentation is affected and that is precisely why I emphasize pacing, devices, etc. in these threads. The child cannot tell a joke (in fact, many adults can't) because the quality of their presentation lacks control of pacing, emphasis of the right words, tone of voice, etc. (There is a famous episode of MASH on that subject).
Yet, I think that stories as content have intrinsic qualities apart from medium or quality of medium and that sensitivity to these before building the presentation is important. OTW, the presentation suffers as well in that the audience is sensitive to the "great effects but wooden dialog" or the "wow, that took a long time to get going" complaint. They will speak in terms of presentation, but what they are sensing is the story is suffering because of it.
What you are saying about multiple threads in a story is a good point. It is another way to create a world that depending on the entry point, one gets a different presentation. Some have suggested putting a list of characters in select box or setup world so the user can decide whose point of view they want to experience. In the movie you mention, in linear narrative, the author went to some trouble to get the main characters into the steerage area to emphasize the difference in classes of travelers. In an ironic sense, it emphasized that what was perishing that night to remember (the gilded age) was better off going to the bottom with the ship.
Len
Ekam sat.h, Vipraah bahudhaa vadanti.
Daamyata. Datta. Dayadhvam.h
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