How many times have you watched a movie where part of the backstory is told by magazine covers or newspapers headlines that make up part of the eyecandy of the film? I got my latest dose yesterday when watching Iron Man 2.
Hey, I loved the movie. Really loved it. But let me ask you this. You’re this super smart physicist in Russia, with the ability to create your own Iron Man suit. Lots of computers all around. But rather than print articles about Tony Stark being Iron Man from the web, apparently you’ve been running to the local newsstand each day to clip hard copy articles about him for your Wall Of Pain.
Well, those print publications do look better than web publications. Heck, I always feel sad walking the halls of Google, where you’ll often find magazine article-after-magazine article framed and posted for visitors to see. Articles from web publications like my own Search Engine Land rarely get such treatment. It’s understandable. We just don’t look as good.
So as long as we have movies, I think newspapers and magazines will continue to have a long life. Really, they needn’t worry until the day we have Iron Man 3, where on the wall are printouts from places like Engadget, Gizmodo, TechCrunch and the Huffington Post.