A question.

[tablesaw]

Here's an indirect quote from Talan Memmott taken from an article in Wired, brought to my attention by hyperlit:

Memmott, who also edits the online hypermedia journal Beehive, said that people growing up with the Internet, video games, and television are looking for the kind of multi-sensory experience they'll find inside caves.

If this is true, then why are these people looking for the kind of multi-sensory experience they'll find inside caves and not the kind of multi-sensory experience they'll find within immersive theatre (the only medium I know of to effectively use all five senses simultaneously)? Is it the only interactive or multi-sensory aspects that are seen as being of interest, or is there something else, such as an acquired comfort with machines and discomfort with live performance? Or are those people who are seeking out a Cave-like experience also seeking out similar live experiences? Are they not finding one or the other, or either?

Any thoughts (he asked, electronically)?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Caves are cold and damp.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, also it's easy to keep fantasy and reality separated when you're only interacting with electronic gadgets. That separation becomes more blurred when you're forced to interact with real flesh-and-blood humans. The breakdown of the heretofore rigidly defined performer-audience roles are intimidating to most, who want to sit back and passively take the fantasy all in, not to become a part of it and, ultimately, part of its reality.

Um, I went to college. I pulled this smart-sounding crap out of my bum without even knowing what this "immersive theater" is. I just took a shot in the dark. So my smart-sounding crap might sound dumb. Yeah.

[(Anonymous)]

I just did a Google search on "immersive theater" and am now more confused than ever. I hope the stupid Francophile spelling doesn't make a difference. I refuse to spell theater with that blasted -re ending. I am an American, dammit.

I'll now stop polluting your journal with my blather.