Zachary Pincus-Roth had an interesting story in the LA Times on Sunday: Remembering movies before the cellphone.
He isn’t talking about the disturbance caused by ringing; the article speaks of the impact on story lines when access to communications is ubiquitous.
How do writers build suspense when cell phones are so widely available?
A powerful sign of cellphones’ impact is the number of famous stories of the past that wouldn’t work in the post-Verizon era. For instance, how would they affect the end of “The Graduate,” when Benjamin Braddock sprints through Santa Barbara to find Elaine before she gets married?
…
To some audience members, cellphones signify so many of society’s ills — the reliance on technology, the faster pace of life, the disconnect among fellow human beings — that the device is distasteful no matter how it’s used.
Buck Henry co-wrote The Graduate and was a creator of Get Smart where TV audiences were introduced to Maxwell Smart’s shoe phone 20 years before the launch of cellular service. He groans when he sees a mobile phone on screen.
It reminds the audience — or a large percentage of it — that they might have a message in their pocket.
You can listen to an interview with the author of the article by going to the National Public Radio website.
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