Thread by @GailSimone

We watched A Bug's Life last night, it doesn't hold up quite as well as Toy Story, but still great fun.

But I have decided the best thing in the movie are Tuck and Roll. They made me laugh every time they showed up.

One thing got me thinking, however...

1/

I haven't seen the movie in forever, but because of the Disney anniversary thing, we are watching the Pixar films in order. And the opening shot of A Bug's Life is just an establishing shot of the area where the ants live. It's lingering, and static, it does nothing. 2/

It's perfectly fine, but nothing remotely noteworthy.

Which makes it a very odd shot to open the movie with, especially as it just lingers with a fixed camera.

It's like looking at scrub brush in your back yard.

And yet...

3/

I had this odd emotion of awe looking at it, but couldn't think of why. It was clear this lingering still shot was there for a reason.

Then I remembered, when this first came out...that shot blew people's MINDS.

4/

CGI was taking huge strides, and this was something almost completely new to audiences, I remember audible gasps seeing it in a theater.

Pixar put everything into this shot and wanted us to EXPERIENCE it.

Which is putting me on an interesting thought track.

5/

It got me thinking about how some art will have a lifetime of centures, but some, particularly tech dependent art, will fade in impact in a few years. It doesn't make the art less meaningful or the artist less talented.

But a kid seeing that shot won't feel it the same way. 6/

If they think of it at all, it will be, why are we holding steady on these weeds and this tree?

But when the movie came out, gut reaction from the whole audience.

It's interesting.

7/

For a job I have been offered recently, I've be research a particular story-based action video game series. But the problem is, the consoles where the early games were released are long since banished to storage. Steam catches some of these things, but for others...

8/

Whole novels, whole fantasy worlds, created by writers and programmers and craftsmen, are very nearly gone from the record, difficult to find, let alone play.

Talented people put everything they had in them, but, you know, it was for the NGage or whatever, so, gone.

9/

Meaning sometimes it's not the efficacy of the art or the talent of the artist, sometimes it's the tech, it's the platform, that makes it vanish from its sole function, to be enjoyed by the audience.

Kinda sad, really.

10/

It also reminds me of CITY OF HEROES, the only MMORPG I really fell for. There were whole communities of people whose primary social outlet was playing that game with friends.

I know people have brought it back, but...

11/

...it's sad to think of the level of dedication of the people who built it, who worked so hard, and created something so incredible that meant so much to so many, with very little monetization.

And it just...ended...one day.

12/

I hate to think of all the artists and writers putting their hearts into all this beautiful work, and it has to go into the shadows where people can't explore it, can't discover it.

Comics is weird, some stuff doesn't get collected and gets forgotten.

But games and tech. Ow.

Just something to think about, I hope in the future, there's a way to keep these things viable and available.

Art is art, it shouldn't be quite so temporary.

end/

PS. There's famously a story where the BBC used to wipe video tapes so they could be reused, and the original episodes of Monty Python were scheduled to be erased forever.

Think of that for a moment.

That's happening with a lot of tech-related art.