The Participation that Writing Allows
The funny thing that the summaries on the back of some DVDs and VHSs have is how they always invite the viewers into partaking in the events of the movie: “Join Shrek as you help him retake his swamp” on the back of the oldest Shrek DVDs is funny given that the movie’s plot has already been set in stone, even before it got released. The assumptions that those summaries unconsciously make that the audience can change such events is funny. The plots of movies are always “set in stone” because it is basically the act of someone writing a history (fictional, nonetheless), which a history cannot be rewritten since we common folk lack the wherewithal to alter such events, but it is history in that it is something a person had written and is available for reading. Furthermore, this means that the kinds of stories that people can write based on exist...