September 30, 2006

Please insert change

I knew that Every Day is Mother’s Day would cure all that ailed me. It was wonderful and horrifying; Hilary Mantel has such a gloriously sick mind. In this book, Colin is having an affair with Isabel, and, as it’s the mid 1970s, he frequently needs to come up with reasons to nip out to the phonebox and call her. And I couldn’t help thinking about cellphones as a plot device, a topic that has fascinated me, mainly in film actually. There are all kinds of movies, books and television shows that wouldn’t have been remotely plottable before cellphones came into use- CSI would struggle, 24, various ransom stories. However the phonebox is a plot device all its own- I’m thinking Rosemary’s Baby, Superman of course, and obviously Phone Booth. In addition, I can’t help but think of all the old storylines that could have been cleared up in just five minutes, if a cellphone had only fallen from the sky.