Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Radio Controlled]

Changing things is not "Modernization" and "updating" is not "Modernization"

Also Adventure time uses autotune mostly because Fin can't sing... at all. And also because it sounds bad.

adapt (something) to modern needs or habits, typically by installing modern equipment or adopting modern ideas or methods.

This is the dictionary definition of modernisation. If you don't go by that definition, then I ask of you a similarly clear and well-defined definition. Without that, there is no real point in going on.

[wierd]

Here's my take on "Modernizing."

Take something perfectly useful and hasn't changed much, but is Iconic.
Completely change how it looks and feels, just because it hasnt changed much over time.
Market the shit out of it, leveraging the iconic status of the original.

A good example of this is the aptly named "Modern" UI in windows 8. 

Another is basically every "Babies!" and "Edgy TEENS!" version of every popular cultural classic show out there.
Likewise with every "Modernized!" version of cultural literature classics, like works of Shakespeare. (Hey, let's do a Romeo and Juliette, but with THE INTERNET and stuff!--- etc.) It CEASES being "Romeo and Juliette", and becomes "Modern lovers have parents that just dont understand-- but with a classic title!" because of this.

Romeo and Juliette has been the victim of countless also-ran "modernizations" that are simply not memorable, because the core components of the story that make it compelling and profound have been outmoded in modern settings. 

Take the whole apothecary scene.  Romeo buys an actual poison from the apothecary, and laments about how a man will be willing to sell something like that. The best analogue you are going to get in a "modern" retelling would be a drug dealer, but a drug dealer is NOT what the apothecary WAS at the time the work was made. The REAL analogue is your pharmicist/compounder/chemist down the street.  THAT is what made the scene compelling!  It was PERFECTLY LEGAL to buy deadly poisons, hence the lament! The "Modern" version? Falls flat on its face when it tries to modernize the scene as a consequence.

[Neonivek]

weird kind of gets the basic idea.

[Radio Controlled]

Ok, so that would be 'keeping the plot structure and story elements, but with more contemporary aesthetics and visuals/environments instead of the classic ones'. Am I seeing that correct? Because that I could maybe get behind... but I'd also say a useful definition of modernised should be wholly separated from the inherent quality of a thing, to prevent muddling the idea.

And if we go by this definition, then it's just Sturgeon's law all over again. Don't forget that for every classic that gets rebooted, 9 more old works are left forgotten because they sucked like a vaccuum cleaner.

[Neonivek]

I'll put it this way

Penny's Book Computer being replaced with a Laptop is "Updating" you are switching the element for the exact same element. If you were to ask people the difference they would basically say it was the same thing.

Penny's book computer being replaced with a fashion magazine computer is "Modernization" you are switching the element for a similar but modern element.

Modernization is... "Good enough" so to speak.

Modernization isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination... But that is why I said "a lot of the time" rather than "All the dang time!"

[Radio Controlled]

Ok, in that case your thesis is a special case of the more generally applicable Sturgeon's law, and the solution is to learn to be more selective and picky with what media you consume, at the expense of not seeing everything and not always being fully up to date with what's new and shiny.

[Neonivek]

Ok, in that case your thesis is a special case of the more generally applicable Sturgeon's law, and the solution is to learn to be more selective and picky with what media you consume, at the expense of not seeing everything and not always being fully up to date with what's new and shiny.

I don't understand what you are suggesting here exactly.

Mostly because there is a direct accusation in your premise.

[wierd]

No, a modernized version of Penny's portable computer would be some kind of super BCI (Brain-computer interface) that looks innocuous, but is really "OMG, No way a little girl has something like that on her, and is really proficient with its use!" type element. Say, her little hair clips that go on her blonde little head-- (instead of piggy tails.) Perhaps even access to nanotech minifabrication using mundane feedstocks.

Penny's "Laptop" was conjured up in a time period when "Computers" were still very much bulky luggables at their most portable. You know, things like an Osborne I. As such, Penny's laptop was "CRAZY FUTURISM!"  To capture that vibe, you need much more than just "Hey, she's got a laptop, like the kind many 8 year old girls actually already own."



 

[nenjin]

Ever noticed how things just aren't the way they used to be?

Get off my lawn you damn kids!

To capture that vibe, you need much more than just "Hey, she's got a laptop, like the kind many 8 year old girls actually already own."

It would probably be sentient, and be able to transform and walk around and would probably have a wise crackin' AI or one with a British accent. Maybe they could roll the dog into it too for one big dog/sentient laptop robot combo.

[Neonivek]

Ohh GAWD NOO!! Nenjin how could you?

Dear goodness that is Grade A terrible... and I could totally see it to!

[wierd]

While I could totally see hollyweird doing that..... (vomits in mouth)..  That does not really modernize "Penny".

Penny, the character, is clearly a genius slaving under a culturally imposed more'. Making her be little more than a dumb user of a super AI removes the genius part, and diminishes her character.  I like the BCI route better; She is the thing doing the hacking.

[Radio Controlled]

Ok, in that case your thesis is a special case of the more generally applicable Sturgeon's law, and the solution is to learn to be more selective and picky with what media you consume, at the expense of not seeing everything and not always being fully up to date with what's new and shiny.

I don't understand what you are suggesting here exactly.

Mostly because there is a direct accusation in your premise.

I guess you could view the advise of "be more picky in what you consume, instead of consuming everything and later on complaining about the crap" as an 'accusation' if you want, but I'm not sure it'd really fit ('accusation = a charge or claim that someone has done something illegal or wrong'). The accusation, if I really had to make one, that I think would be more applicable is how your complaining about stuff often clogs up threads (eg anime thread). But since I am totally at liberty to ignore those posts, that's not really something that holds much water, so eh. If you are happy watching shit and then complaining about it on the internet, more power to you!