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๐Ÿ“ฐ ๐Ÿ” Pessimists Archive Newsletter

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๐Ÿ“ฐ ๐Ÿ” Pessimists Archive Newsletter

๐ŸŽจ Art Isnโ€™t Dead, ๐Ÿ‘‘ Camera Shy King and ๐ŸŽญ other Drama

Pessimists Archive
Sep 23, 2022
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๐Ÿ“ฐ ๐Ÿ” Pessimists Archive Newsletter

newsletter.pessimistsarchive.org

๐ŸŽจ Art Isnโ€™t Dead

Suddenly everyone is talking about AI threatening creative work, the rise of Dalle, MidJourney and other systems has quickly changed the conversation about technological displacement, taking it in a direction few expected. It reminded us - and others - of how photography was received by some.

Twitter avatar for @stopsatgreen
Peter Gasston @stopsatgreen
News from 150 years ago
Screenshot of a headline, with some words lined through and replaced: [An AI Generated] A Photographic Artwork Won First Place at a State Fair Fine Arts Competition, and [Artists] Painters Are Pissed
8:30 AM โˆ™ Sep 5, 2022
31Likes5Retweets

We asked Annabelle Pollen, a Professor in Visual and Material culture, if she could recall any good examples of photography being treated as a threat to artists. She cited a great - if unconfirmed quote - from a French artist after seeing photographs for the first time:

The Guardian London, Greater London, England 30 Aug 1972, Wedย โ€ขย Page 7

๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿผโ€๐ŸŽจ โ€œFrom today, painting is dead.โ€ - Paul Delaroche, 1840

Notably it appears from the archives that it was mostly treated as an aide to painters, rather than a threat. In fact photography had trouble being considered art at all for a long while.


๐Ÿ‘‘ Camera Shy King

111 YEARS AGO KING GEORGE V BECAME THE NEW KING OF ENGLAND, at the time photography was prohibited inside Westminster Abbey during his Coronation - the same was true for his successor George VI, father of Queen Elizabeth II. It would take until 1953 for the rules to relax.

When Princess Elizabeth finally became the Queen, not only was photography allowed to capture the sacred ceremony, so were motion picture cameras - with the footage to be later aired in cinemas across the commonwealth. However, live television broadcasts were prohibited, until public outcry forced a policy change. Our last newsletter explored this in more detail.

coronation

If you missed the piece, read it here on the Wonderful Tedium Newsletter:

Twitter avatar for @ShortFormErnie
Ernie Smith @ShortFormErnie
Queen Elizabeth played an important role in mainstreaming the television, and the innovation has to do a lot with the television. Todayโ€™s @readtedium is a timely syndication from @PessimistsArc:
tedium.coQueen Elizabeth IIโ€™s First Move: Allowing TV Cameras at Her CoronationHow the British public overturned a live television ban on the coronation of Queen Elizabeth IIโ€”a monarch who often embraced tech during her long reign.
3:35 AM โˆ™ Sep 17, 2022
10Likes5Retweets

๐ŸŽง Leaves Those Kids Alone

A tweet decrying the number of kids with iPads at Disneyland got a lot of traction on Twitter, the author posited we were all doomed because: how could kids crave stimulation in such a stimulating place?! Ignoring of course the long lines and waiting those without a โ€˜fastpassโ€™ have to endure.

Twitter avatar for @andreavhowe
Andrea Howe @andreavhowe
At Disneyland with the family and probably 50% of toddlers are strapped in their strollers on iPads or phones. At Disneyland. We are so screwed
2:51 AM โˆ™ Sep 19, 2022
16,698Likes1,301Retweets

This reminded us of a similar sentiment about Walkman use at fairgrounds in the 1980s, the author of the below article opined:

"Of all the saddening signs of a troubled society, I saw perhaps the most chilling of all the other afternoon. There, on the midway of the Ohio State Fair, strolled teenagers wearing sony walkman headphones.โ€

Read the full article via our tweet:

Twitter avatar for @PessimistsArc
Pessimists Archive @PessimistsArc
1981: โ€œOf all the saddening signs of a troubled society, I saw perhaps the most chilling of all the other afternoon. There, on the midway of the Ohio State Fair, STROLLED TEENAGERS WEARING SONY WALKMAN HEADPHONES.โ€
Image
Twitter avatar for @andreavhowe
Andrea Howe @andreavhowe
At Disneyland with the family and probably 50% of toddlers are strapped in their strollers on iPads or phones. At Disneyland. We are so screwed
5:48 PM โˆ™ Sep 19, 2022
126Likes51Retweets
Twitter avatar for @andreavhowe
Andrea Howe @andreavhowe
At Disneyland with the family and probably 50% of toddlers are strapped in their strollers on iPads or phones. At Disneyland. We are so screwed
2:51 AM โˆ™ Sep 19, 2022
16,695Likes1,301Retweets

๐ŸŽญ Am I the Drama?

We were under the impression that concerns about the corrupting influence of theatre was left in previous centuries - however we stumbled across a 1964 clipping this week that shows these concerns being raised as recently as the 1960s.

Similar concerns from prior centuries:

Twitter avatar for @PessimistsArc
Pessimists Archive @PessimistsArc
DANGERS OF MODERN THEATRE (1878) โ€œMoral assassins to stab the purity of our childrenโ€ news.google.com/newspapers?id=โ€ฆ
Image
6:23 PM โˆ™ Dec 27, 2020
16Likes8Retweets
Twitter avatar for @PessimistsArc
Pessimists Archive @PessimistsArc
1896 critique says theatre is corrupting children: โ€œThe moral principles which have cost a Christian mother months of care are banished in an hour.โ€ newspapers.com/clip/46104169/โ€ฆ
Image
4:51 PM โˆ™ Mar 4, 2020
26Likes9Retweets
Twitter avatar for @PessimistsArc
Pessimists Archive @PessimistsArc
In 1903 a 15-year-old drew a revolver on his mother and sister, the blame was laid on TOO MUCH THEATRE ๐ŸŽญ newspapers.com/clip/35488819/โ€ฆ
Image
1:20 PM โˆ™ Sep 1, 2019
47Likes26Retweets
Twitter avatar for @PessimistsArc
Pessimists Archive @PessimistsArc
1910 sermon against theatres: "Too much theatre-going exercises a lowering influence on the mind" โ€œ...also condemned in a measure the idea of taking young children to the 5-cent theatres so frequently as it fill their little heads with ideas for which there should be no room.โ€
Image
3:07 PM โˆ™ Dec 4, 2020
17Likes5Retweets

Twitter avatar for @sapinker
Steven Pinker @sapinker
Pessimists Archive is invaluable in putting todayโ€™s tech moral panics in historical perspective.
Twitter avatar for @PessimistsArc
Pessimists Archive @PessimistsArc
VELCRO IS RUINING KIDS MOTOR SKILLS!!! (1990) https://t.co/bqKA1xHdF0 https://t.co/2mky8rosga
2:23 PM โˆ™ May 11, 2019
617Likes178Retweets

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