The Godfather of Manx House Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 GGGGRRRRRR !!!! Are we really *this* dumbed down ? ... ...GOMH*... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tribz Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 GGGGRRRRRR !!!! Are we really *this* dumbed down ? ... ...GOMH*... Each to their own. Another way to look at it is 300,000 people are reading a book this week. In this day and age of celebrity shite in the media, that cant really be a bad thing ... can it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhumsaa Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 at what stage does fiction stop being dumbed down? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 at what stage does fiction stop being dumbed down? When it reads like it was written by a palsied gorilla? Or are you suggesting that all fiction is dumbed down? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onchan1 Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 Hey, live and let live - I'll probably not read this (but I might if enough mates give it a good review) but I know quite a few people who will and I can't see any harm in that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhumsaa Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 at what stage does fiction stop being dumbed down? When it reads like it was written by a palsied gorilla? Or are you suggesting that all fiction is dumbed down? well a bit of both really.... in the sense that fiction is there to entertain it's all relative? you always make a view from your standpoint so whilst GOMH may view these books as dumbed down you might find people who feel it's an intellectual roller coaster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 Is fiction neccessarily to entertain? Does entertaining equate with dumbed down? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhumsaa Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 I would suggest the purpose of fiction is to entertain, yes - what other purpose could it hold? I personally feel that dumbing down comes from the way fact is imparted or explained rather than the celebrity culture that is developed today... the replacement of celebrity with quality knowledge could be linked to the above in a dumbing down idea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 I would suggest the purpose of fiction is to entertain, yes - what other purpose could it hold To shine a light on the human condition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhumsaa Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 would this be an entertaining light perchance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 Not neccessarily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemonday Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 His next book is going to be about a group of mutants who gradually take over a small country. Oooh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terse Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 From The Daily Mash: GUARDIAN READERS PREPARE FOR DAN BROWN SNEERATHON GUARDIAN readers are gathering in North London this weekend for the first Dan Brown charity sneerathon since 2003. 'Who can tell me what 'middle-brow' means?'From Islington to Primrose Hill people who think they are better than you because you enjoyed The Da Vinci Code will be sneering at his new book in a bid to raise money for George Monbiot's psychiatrist. Cafes and galleries will host a series of events including the popular North London parlour game 'I Sat Next to a Dan Brown Fan at a Dinner Party and This is What He Said'. There will also be discussion groups where Guardian readers who say they want to write a novel but won't because they can't will talk about how Brown's success is killing literature by encouraging millions of people to read books that are not about spies or fucking. Event director Tom Logan said: "We'll have a contest to see who can read from The Lost Symbol the longest without bursting out laughing. "We'll also have a panel of academics dismissing Dan Brown's theories about symbolism in art as slightly debatable and then we'll play a game where someone reads out a paragraph from one of his novels and you have to guess which words were in italics." The organisers have also laid on a creche and a soft play area with freshly pressed apple juice, carrot slices and hourly readings from the Guardian bookclub bestseller A Child's Guide to Sneering at Popular Culture. Stephen Malley, a Guardian reader from Highgate, said: "All he does is write books where lots of things happen. Novels should be a series of stilted conversations and semi-internalised dream sequences that reveal a series of interwoven themes about the need to rebalance globalisation in favour of the developing world." Emma Bradford, from Clerkenwell, added: "I actually enjoyed The Da Vinci Code but of course it was in much the same way as one would enjoy a Constable painting or a Steven Spielberg film or a Cornish pastie. "Covered in HP sauce." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La_Dolce_Vita Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 They sound really boring. I don't see what the appeal is in his books. Real people with fake stories appended on. Why not read into something about unsolved mysteries that are non-fiction? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GringoQ Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 Really don't see what the problem is, it's just another novel. I think it's great if his books are encouraging more people to turn off the tv and read a little. Why is Dan Brown being criticised in particular? He writes entertaining, easy to read books that people enjoy, the one that I read was a lot better than some of the other shite out there. What would the GOMH prefer the nation to read? Mixmag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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