Count Steeler
03-17-2013, 09:09 AM
I appreciate the art of storytelling.
I won't go as far as saying that art is long gone, as some book snobs suggest, but it's definitely less important in today's culture. I admit I'm a victim of that, but it's also fair to point out even the broad spectrum of human imagination can eventually be limited.
I remember a guest lecturer in a literature class I took in college presenting a 50-minute theory on how an original story hasn't been told since "Beowulf." Seemed ridiculous, but it was entertaining.
It dawned on me about halfway through it he was making a deeper point; in the segment where people in the class would suggest something they felt hadn't been written before, and he would invariably shoot them down through one reason or another. He was doing something original. He was getting us to think critically about storytelling.
Eventually, just to get his reaction, I asked him if he thought the movie "Hoosiers" was original. He laughed, and said the classic underdog story has been told since neanderthals discovered the ability to carve images on caves. My response was the originality is in the fact people are still copying that formula. It depends on the definition of "original." Something being original and something being unique are two different things, and that's a key difference in culture today and in the past. But the one thing they have in common, as I pointed out, is the reaction.
That's always the same. That's what makes a story a classic. That emotional connection and response.
That was going through my head when I read Tribune-Review reporter Alan Robinson's piece on the Steelers' sales pitch becoming harder to buy.
His take is currently unique, but it's far from original. The Steelers and Bill Cowher didn't re-invent the Steelers after a few miserable drafts and a lack of success; they locked down and remolded the team into something more tangible.
I can't imagine the reactions from SteelerNation would have been much different if the 24-hour news cycle existed at the same level in 2000 as it does now. While there would have been scores of people writing how Troy Edwards isn't worth the 11th pick in the draft, much like Tavon Austin isn't worth the 17th pick in the draft.
read full opinion @ http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2013/3/17/4114880/steelers-free-agency-transactions-roster-depth-chart
I won't go as far as saying that art is long gone, as some book snobs suggest, but it's definitely less important in today's culture. I admit I'm a victim of that, but it's also fair to point out even the broad spectrum of human imagination can eventually be limited.
I remember a guest lecturer in a literature class I took in college presenting a 50-minute theory on how an original story hasn't been told since "Beowulf." Seemed ridiculous, but it was entertaining.
It dawned on me about halfway through it he was making a deeper point; in the segment where people in the class would suggest something they felt hadn't been written before, and he would invariably shoot them down through one reason or another. He was doing something original. He was getting us to think critically about storytelling.
Eventually, just to get his reaction, I asked him if he thought the movie "Hoosiers" was original. He laughed, and said the classic underdog story has been told since neanderthals discovered the ability to carve images on caves. My response was the originality is in the fact people are still copying that formula. It depends on the definition of "original." Something being original and something being unique are two different things, and that's a key difference in culture today and in the past. But the one thing they have in common, as I pointed out, is the reaction.
That's always the same. That's what makes a story a classic. That emotional connection and response.
That was going through my head when I read Tribune-Review reporter Alan Robinson's piece on the Steelers' sales pitch becoming harder to buy.
His take is currently unique, but it's far from original. The Steelers and Bill Cowher didn't re-invent the Steelers after a few miserable drafts and a lack of success; they locked down and remolded the team into something more tangible.
I can't imagine the reactions from SteelerNation would have been much different if the 24-hour news cycle existed at the same level in 2000 as it does now. While there would have been scores of people writing how Troy Edwards isn't worth the 11th pick in the draft, much like Tavon Austin isn't worth the 17th pick in the draft.
read full opinion @ http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2013/3/17/4114880/steelers-free-agency-transactions-roster-depth-chart