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| Thread: Sold to the Highest Bidder | |
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markkur
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Once upon a time
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posted January 01, 2016 05:26 PM |
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Edited by markkur at 17:27, 01 Jan 2016.
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Sold to the Highest Bidder
There once lived a man of inspiration and determination that spent long years crafting a story. The story was well-received and after some nudging, eventually published. The story was much-beloved and became a huge success.
Before the author died, he already had witnessed the intrusion of fame into his family life and saw many corruptions of those around him. People called in the wee hours to ask a loan, people that had never shown a care for him, or worse, had found his opinions contemptible, were now strangely transformed into people acting as friends and long time pals.
Everywhere he turned strangers were in his face and asking questions. To his utter horror letters where arriving daily explaining that names in his tale’s were given to new-born babes, to pets, to cows in the fields.
Once, when this creator yielded to an interview, he learned a lot about ‘media-intention & control’…unfortunately too late. He would seldom give interviews after.
One final note about this creator; he never saw it necessary or even ‘wise’ for that matter, to dig-in at all costs to learn about Him, to him what mattered was the story and if you liked it or not. He saw the story as ‘a world’ in and of itself and his life, though important to the making of the story was not part and parcel to the success or failure of the story; he had written it chiefly for himself and family. What was difficult for the real world to understand, is that his invention was a varied group of educational disciplines combined into the high-art of ancient story-telling. In other words, those ‘disciplines’ would be worth pursuing and not the face nor habits of the author.
Now the creator of this story died and he trusted in only one person to represent his wishes concerning the story. This person was not only a son but a student and companion that knew most everything behind the tale and the resulting pandemonium. However, deeply underlying the writing lay a moral, or ethic if you will, that strongly told about learning and dedication to language, myth and lore; storytelling as an art form, and learning as the way of life.
As with any success story, time does not stand still and the clock that struck the hour of the death of the author has turned once young heads grey.
Each of the children of the author, not only respected the author’s wishes but understood his intent; they knew the creator intimately.
The grand-children come along and some are grand and some are not. The first fraying of the original-author’s intent begins. After all, things said to be important by Parents, are not really important are they?
The great-grand-children are then born, grow up and care for nothing but the money to be gained by their own ‘lucky’ association…their birthright. After all, the great-grand-author’s intents were dismissed by most of their parents, how could anything of his original intents remain? All made worse, that grandkids seldom talk to grey-heads about anything important these days. Each successive generation of a family left with a legacy, seems to, by nature, focus more and more on profit.
The hard facts of this little story is that the old man left in charge of the dead-author’s estate has been a thorn in the side of the youngsters who enjoy the fame and notoriety that they’ve been blessed with, even if totally provided by anyone but themselves. Does the great-grandchild of the dead author comply (on two counts) with his grandfather who is also the family’s estate executor’s wishes? Of course not, “He’s old and doesn’t understand”.
Yes, the old codger does understand and far better than privileged offspring. Let the younger man do as his forefather’s did and dig in and learn how to craft beauty into story and write his own tales to finally dictate to the world how it should be understood rather than profiting without merit, or challenging ideals not bothering to learn.
Within my own life I’ve ran into this same experience; “It is not for the young to understand the aged members of family; it’s for the old to understand the young.” This ignorant self-centered notion exists; as if the old were never young themselves and have not been learning a damn thing along the way. The whole purpose of grandparenthood is trashed today.
Give yourself and your family a blessing; remember the needs and purpose of the aged and infirmed this coming year, for all too soon they will no longer be near you. And surely, even outside the family…is worth a great deal.
Markkur, New Year’s Day, 2016
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"Do your own research"
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Drakon-Deus
Undefeatable Hero
Qapla'
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posted January 01, 2016 05:45 PM |
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Great post, Markkur. A Happy New Year to you.
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friendofgunnar
Honorable
Legendary Hero
able to speed up time
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posted January 01, 2016 08:27 PM |
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Recent events has made me think about this even more. Can the creator or the legal holder of a fictional universe be displaced as the primary caretaker from a moral standpoint (not a legal standpoint)? Yes, and here's why: Any story, and by extension any fictional universe, has a set of rules that it establishes at the beginning of the story. Frequently this set of rules is expansive, and it could include nonobvious things like having no technological evolution, 4th wall breaking, consistent unexplained coincidences etc... If the creator or one of they's successor's breaks those rules in the fictional universe then they lose the moral right to be holder of that universe. At this point the public can and should decide who the best holder should be. Although fan-fic is frequently terrible it occasionally goes in the direction that most adheres to the original rules. Unfortunately in this litigious society even people that create something and give it away for free can be sued, which is a massive cultural flaw. For example:
I care little about Star Trek but I can feel the anguish of Star Trek fans when not only has the current holder decided to turn the franchise into mass market action drivel but also to sue the fan-fic Star Trek prequels that that were funded recently on Kickstarter. (Advice to Trekkies, Star Trek is now dead, get over it and channel your creativity into creating something new that has similar thinkie ideals.)
Back to your original post. While I've seen descendants consistently bask in the money of their antecedents, I've never actually seen any descendant ever enjoy the fame and notoriety of an antecedent's creation. I believe you're correct though that the first generation is usually more likely to understand the spirit of the creation and thus have a higher likelihood of being the best caretaker.
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Svartzorn
Known Hero
Dead struggling with death.
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posted January 02, 2016 12:37 AM |
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Death of traditions, death of myths.
We no longer foster the past. Our ancestors knew something we don't.
This brought me to the novel I want to write, but I'm pretty stuck with a lot of ideas and no disposition to put them on paper.
Thanks anyways dude.
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Death to the world.
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artu
Promising
Undefeatable Hero
My BS sensor is tingling again
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posted January 02, 2016 03:09 AM |
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Markkur said:
Let the younger man do as his forefather’s did and dig in and learn how to craft beauty into story and write his own tales to finally dictate to the world how it should be understood rather than profiting without merit, or challenging ideals not bothering to learn.
And although, ideally, it's a two-way street, that's why mostly “it is not for the young to understand the aged members of family; it’s for the old to understand the young.” You've been where they are, they haven't been where you are.
A very fine post, btw.
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Are you pretty? This is my occasion. - Ghost
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Homer171
Promising
Supreme Hero
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posted January 02, 2016 08:45 PM |
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That gave something to think about, thanks 
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Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.
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markkur
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Once upon a time
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posted January 03, 2016 03:22 PM |
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My thanks to each that enjoyed, hm, maybe 'appreciated' is a better word, and responded.
friendofgunnar said:
Recent events has made me think about this even more. Can the creator or the legal holder of a fictional universe be displaced as the primary caretaker from a moral standpoint (not a legal standpoint)? Yes, and here's why: Any story, and by extension any fictional universe, has a set of rules that it establishes at the beginning of the story. Frequently this set of rules is expansive, and it could include nonobvious things like having no technological evolution, 4th wall breaking, consistent unexplained coincidences etc... If the creator or one of they's successor's breaks those rules in the fictional universe then they lose the moral right to be holder of that universe. At this point the public can and should decide who the best holder should be. Although fan-fic is frequently terrible it occasionally goes in the direction that most adheres to the original rules. Unfortunately in this litigious society even people that create something and give it away for free can be sued, which is a massive cultural flaw. For example:
I care little about Star Trek but I can feel the anguish of Star Trek fans when not only has the current holder decided to turn the franchise into mass market action drivel but also to sue the fan-fic Star Trek prequels that that were funded recently on Kickstarter. (Advice to Trekkies, Star Trek is now dead, get over it and channel your creativity into creating something new that has similar thinkie ideals.)
Back to your original post. While I've seen descendants consistently bask in the money of their antecedents, I've never actually seen any descendant ever enjoy the fame and notoriety of an antecedent's creation. I believe you're correct though that the first generation is usually more likely to understand the spirit of the creation and thus have a higher likelihood of being the best caretaker.
Thank you FoG, you added some depth to this thread.
I had not known about the Star-Trek bit. As you no doubt observed I was aware of a trend, and of course that trend will hit all genres. I grew-up with Space stuff. UFO movie re-runs, Star-Trek, Battlestar-G and of course did the frantic rush-run among mobs to the movies to see the first Star Wars. Star Wars' beginning is just before when my Space-interest had it's end.
I didn't know that Lucas' original story has now been tainted because I've not followed the series. I teleported-out when the whole Spock plot banned my interest from returning; everything is always about "milking the cash-cow". Squeeze a little more from the green...nevermind.
There is an even sadder legacy about the story I've 'kept under wrap' but with respect to the original author I will steer clear. What's done is done, I just wish it were possible for the greatest wealth on Earth to actually matter today.
I do not understand people today. When growing-up I absolutely loved talking to 'ancient' neighbors and hearing long stories about how they had lived, what they had seen and often in the process I learned something important. Instead, today?...hell with that, google the Byte-God! Arrgh!
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"Do your own research"
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Drakon-Deus
Undefeatable Hero
Qapla'
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posted January 03, 2016 04:45 PM |
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On Star Trek, I can confirm as a Trekkie.
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