The Hollywood Reporter’s Steve Bryant says he’s been a huge fan of the movie Borat. He’s IM’d video clips to friends, linked to deleted scenes on YouTube and blogged about it ad nauseam. The DVD will be released next week, but Bryant says he won’t buy it. Why? “The cultural moment has passed. What can we do with that DVD that we haven’t already done?” Very good point, but Bryant isn’t finished. “Media is changing from entertainment into utility. Media that can’t be manipulated is almost useless,” he writes (frame that quote). “Those tiny transactions I make online make a greater imprint on my psyche than any single media event inside a theater — or inside a DVD — could have. It’s simple reward/response psychology. Online, I can track who watches my clips, who reads my posts, who liked my mash-up. The Internet flatters us with attention in a way Hollywood no longer can.” Wow. Well said.
Adds Erik in comments: “I think it would be a bit premature to think that Bryant represents the zeitgeist. ‘Media that can’t be manipulated is almost useless’ packs a punch, but it assumes a great deal. It assumes that all media output should be hackable in the way that Borat is. While one-liners and quick outtakes are fun to play with, that doesn’t mean that Flags of Our Fathers or Chocolat or A Fish Called Wanda are inferior cultural products because they aren’t so amenable to IM/Digg/YouTube hackability…”
