The book, the movie and the radio play

We ponder how the medium affects the story.

Last week we noted that the video, as a form of teaching, has its limitations. To be more fair, we should say that there are things it does well, better than the written word; and things it’s not so good at.  Or perhaps we should just say it’s different.  To explore the difference a bit, we’ll use a book and movie as an example.

The Lord of the Rings was first published about 1950, and became very popular in the mid-1960’s (prompting a second edition).  Although there were previous attempts, it was only made into a successful series of movies in the first years of this century.  A major difficulty was, of course, that it is a long story, too long to fit onto the screen entirely; one must choose what to leave out, and what is vital for the story.  That is one difference imposed by the medium.  Another is the portrayal of the embodiment of evil, Sauron.  In the books he is an immensely powerful and fearsome figure.  In the movies, we thought he was much less so.  Why?  Largely because it’s harder to create an image that inspires fear as well as a description of fear itself can.  In the latter case, the reader’s imagination does most of the work.

Now consider another medium: radio.  Its characteristics lie somewhere between those of the book and those of the movie.  It is limited by time in the quantity of story detail it can present, and must make definite decisions about sound that a book can leave vague; in these ways it’s like a movie.  But it still has an ally in the listener’s imagination.  A brief description and a sound effect can conjure up a picture with more power than almost any video effect.  During the heyday of the radio play, roughly the middle third of the twentieth century, a phrase was coined for this: radio was the “Theater of the Mind.”

So we suggest that during those years there came into being an audio culture.  It may not ever have been dominant; movies already existed, and the written word remained powerful.  But radio was everywhere and inexhaustible.  It was certainly how people received much of their news and most of their entertainment.  We speculate that they developed their ability to process sounds into information to a degree not present before.

Does the audio culture still exist?  Radio still does, and indeed audio programs are even more prevalent than they were in the mid-twentieth century.  Many people get their news by radio, for the very practical reason that they can do other things at the same time as listen (drive a car, for example, or cook).  So we propose something, not exactly a challenge, more an experiment.  See if you can find a local station that broadcasts radio plays, either new ones or those from last century; no doubt they’re available on-line also.  Do you enjoy your own Theater of the Mind?