I bought two tickets, a senior citizen one for me and a child’s for my 10-year old step-niece, Stella, to Pixar’s “Toy Story 3” the same week that the Barnes & Noble board announced that it was considering putting the giant book retailer up for sale, and it got me to thinking about why young people need books any more in the age of the internet and Pixar.
Everyone I have talked to who saw “Toy Story 3” has said it was their favorite Pixar film – a brilliantly conceived and executed story with themes that communicate on several levels. It had the two of us entranced and in tears for the same and different reasons. There might be a dead-tree book that could be this meaningful and relevant to both of us, but a book would not have been as engaging, and we couldn’t have enjoyed at the same time, unless I read to her, which always puts me to sleep in two, maybe three, pages.
Many of the great Disney movies of the past re-told fairy tales and myths – stories passed on from the Dark Ages that told children the lessons they needed to live upright lives. Classics such as “Snow White” and “Cinderella” were thrilling re-makes of the ancient stories. But what makes Pixar modern is that it doesn’t re-tell or try to update stories that tell pubescent girls how to behave in order to find a prince charming and be swept away to live in a towered castle on a mountain. Today what few kings and princes that are left are mostly in countries that have lots of oil and don’t treat their women like Snow White or Cinderella, so what young girls can relate?
Pixar tells stories of a modern world of plastic toys, and superheroes, heroic old men, and robots that clean up a trash-filled Earth. There are stories that tell modern children (and adults) in an internet age how to live their lives, defeat evil autocracies, and clean up the planet – lessons we need today, not lessons of the Dark Ages.
Mass-produced books are a medium born in the Dark Ages and have survived with the stories of those ages. But, like those fairy tales, books are not relevant in the age of Pixar, the iPod, and iPad. Both the technology (printing) and the stories are outmoded and don’t serve the needs of today’s children and adults. Neither do huge bookstores that sell books that are out of date the moment they are printed – printed on dead trees and that are ridiculously expensive compared to an e-book.
When we look back five years from now and ask who killed books and bookstores, we can say, “Steve Jobs: Pixar, the iPod, and the iPad.”
I have to respectfully disagree. Yes, you were my favorite professor in college, but I think today’s lesson is off the mark a bit.
While there is a LOT of room for the iPad to play in our current lives and future civilization, there’s still so much to be said for good old fashioned books. And I think the two can continue to play nicely for a number of years to come. Let me share just a few from my own recent personal experiences:
Every other night for the past few years I have put my daughter(s) to sleep in this way: take a bath, brush teeth, put on pajamas, read a story from a book, tell her a story about my own childhood (sometimes fiction), and then it’s lights out. When it’s not my night, it’s my wife’s night. And we can’t imagine doing that with a bright television-like iPad glaring us in the face. And frankly my 2-year-old is not going to be able to flip through an iPad when what she needs to picture books with cardboard pages to turn (and maybe drool on). All of these books are stored in their pocket bookshelf (the covers face you) and they serve as a good reminder of stories previously read, and to be enjoyed again. iPad doesn’t let my daughter see a 4-foot by 5-foot walk down memory lane.
A number of times even over the last few months I have been walking through the stacks at the library and have stumbled upon interesting pieces that I would have NEVER thought to look up online. There’s a giant difference between flipping through covers online and walking through the stacks at the library (or a book store for that matter). To me its the same as shopping for clothes online versus the store racks. I can see hundreds of choices on the racks, quickly, while the online version is slower and limits me to thumbnail images which are much less impressive than touching the full-sized item.
Two weeks ago my mother-in-law told me she was going to see Anthony Robbins in LA. I was able to grab a Tony Robbins “Personal Power” book from my personal library and loan it to her… so she could prepare for the conference, AND have something to read on the way. She doesn’t have an iPad, and I wouldn’t have loaned her an iPad for three weeks.
I could easily come up with 7 more reasons that tangible books are still needed and valued. And I could just as easily come up with a variety of reasons that iPad (and forthcoming tablets) are a great supplemental / alternative channel to provide the same book message. I enjoy the fact that digital book sales in general have sky rocketed and that people are reading more now as a result of tablets. Increased reading is good for all of us. But…
For me, at the end of the day, iPad is an alternative and not a replacement of traditional paper books. If I was in college now would I want an iPad instead of 12 enormous books to lug around? Yes. Would I want to be able to click a keyword and research the topic on the spot? Yes. But I still want to be able to discover books at the store or library. I still want to be able to loan a book to my mother. And at the end of the day (literally) I still want to cuddle up to my kids with a real book and help them have a good night sleep.
As it is, we use the TV too much, use the computer too much, play too many video games, etc. Sure, I like Steve Jobs, I love Apple, and I am on the computer almost all day long. Certain things (like a quiet afternoon, church, dinner with the family, or even a book) keep us ridiculous humans grounded to the firm earth and help us maintain a sense of normalcy. In a couple of months I am going to a 4-day weekend retreat where there will be no TV, no phones, no iPads, no radios, no facebook, etc. Sadly, I am already anxious about it. It’s terrible that I can’t seem to imagine what it would be like to be so “disconnected.” And this is all a result of our overly-electronic, social-media-filled, internet-connected world.
With great respect, your conclusion that “books are not relevant in the age of Pixar…” is narrow, myopic, and, by the way, inaccurate. Some books are, possibly; many are not. Would you conclude that Shakespeare’s admonition by Polonious, “to thine own self be true” has no meaning today, even though through the mouth of an old fool? Or that Macbeth’s lament that “[l]life is but a stage” induces no reflection today? Or, what about contemplation of Ernest Hemingway’s serial encomia to human courage? Shame on you if you think these thoughts are irrelevant.
In addition, for those of us who sometimes engage in nonbillable research, there is no substitute for rummaging through a library searching for in depth vignettes about; e.g., the Meuse-Argonne campaign with a genealogical motive.
So…we book lovers may be quirky, but I think we are the better for it. Maybe it’s a good thing there are some of us left.
As always, your comments are intelligent, thoughtful, and full of wonderful literary quotes and references. Often I’m a little outrageous statements in order to stir up discussion on a topic I think is relatively important. With the blog post in question, I wanted to get people thinking about several things: 1) Pixar movies have modern themes that are more relevant to children today than princes, castles, and that there are other ways for girls to find fulfillment other than through marrying a rich prince. 2) That Pixar’s films tell wonderfully complex stories that are engaging and involving on several levels, more so than many old fashioned fairy tales. 3) That the book publishing and book selling businesses are in trouble because of the rise of ebooks – they are cheaper, more portable, and environmentally friendly (don’t kill trees).
Shakespeare’s words won’t die when printed books die, they will just be distributed in different, cheaper ways. Researching books will become easier as they are digitized and available to many more people. Think of reading Macbeth on an iPad and being able to watch Judith Anderson as Lady Macbeth or Orsen Wells as Macbeth read the lines. Also, on an iPad, who can read the play, watch great actors play the parts, and read the analysis on Wikipedia to enhance the understanding and appreciation of “the Tragedy of Macbeth.”
I have over 100 books on my iPod because I have found that I enjoy it more and get more from listening to a book than reading it – sort of like listening to the tapes about the Second Manassas battlefield. My learning style is more auditory than visual, I think.
Books will never go away. I think books will eventually become collectors’ items for wealthy people who like the tactile experience of a book and appreciate the binding and typography, sort of like collectors like mechanical watches, which don’t tell as good time as a digital watch, but which are much more elegant.