The Dumbing of America

I logged into Amazon today and found my new favorite feature, PLOGS (Personal web Log) had been updated with a new excerpt from Diana Killian, one of my favorite authors, who unfortunately, is not as prolific as I'd like her to be right now so I could find more of her writings to read!

Anyway, she said that her latest book in her Poetic Death series has not been renewed by the publishing house that picked up her first three books, (YET, we will give them chance to see the error of their way by stipulating a "YET" in there) so she branched off into a different kind of story while her agent continued to market her 4th in the series book that some of us are salivating over ...

She did get her new series picked up, but received numerous rejections from other publishing houses because her cozy mystery wasn't funny enough, or as light as they'd like it to be.

Now this brings me to the question of who decided that the only way you can present a murder is in classic comedian style?

In my opinion, a cozy should present a mystery with very little or no blood/guts/gore, as you'd find in some of the more hard-boiled ones. It should be well written, have a structured a plot and likeable characters. Some authors I have read try too hard to be funny, which distracts from the story. I would like to ask some of these authors (who shall remain nameless, because, again, this is just my opinion, not a bashing session) what they are trying to write? A mystery--which usually involves the death of a character, a pretty somber occasion, wouldn't you think?--or a contender to be the next Irma Bombeck?

Personally, I think the publishing industry could benefit from holding up the Poetic Death series and saying to potential authors "THIS should be what you strive for! A tight plot, good character development, the creation of believable characters who wrestle with morality. Intellectual and well-researched. Don't contribute to the dumbing of America by assuming that all readers are looking for the same thing that teens are looking for in a mindless movie."

I actually read and go to the movies for fun and some harmless escapism. Doesn't everyone? However, I don't consider myself an intellectual flunky, although I'm now wondering if movie producers and publishing houses would differ with me?

Have you ever watched a movie from the 1940's? Yes, they are in black in white, but don't let is scare you. Sit down and watch one. You should be prepared to be amazed and astonished by the vocabularies and accents of the various characters you will see onscreen. Now flip the channel and watch a mainstream movie of today like, oh, I don't know, say "Dumb and Dumberer" "Scary Movie 200" (or maybe one of the many 'gangsta' movies, if you really want to see an assessment of the intelligence level of today.) Just to compare a comedy to a comedy, go see one of the many Marx Brothers classics, after you view one of today's offerings.

The average person in 1940 seems a whole lot smarter than the average person in today's world, based purely on Hollywood's interpretations.

If you can comprehend that, take note and think about changing. If you could understand all of the words used in the 1940's movie thank a teacher for not letting you slide through the cracks and become a victim of the Dumbing of America.