Picked this up off of a listserv, David Lynch speaks hilariously of remediation here.
I wonder if he is equally not down with films on DVD? Does Blu-ray up the quality to an appropriate level? Is it the screen size that is pissing him off so much? Is David Lynch, one of my favorite filmmakers, really just a grumpy old man?
As a collector of antiques and industrial design objects, I’m a slave to “original condition”. Refinishing a dresser from 1930 in the year 2008 makes it a cultural artifact from 2008. It no longer represents the maker’s intent. It has been tainted by the “now”.
Where do we draw the line with remediation? When is it really just a matter of letting people watch the movie in a convenient context? When do you stop and say that you’d prefer to have a dresser with a glossy coat of varnish on it that an original piece with a few nicks and dings?
