Why I Use the Word ‘Must’

I have written a number of articles about Books you Must Read and Movies you Must View.  I use the word ‘Must’ because these are ‘Iconic’.

There are certain things, be they written works, music, paintings, motion pictures, or, television programmes, which pass into culture.  They make up part of the folklore, are often referenced, and by being unaware of them, one limits their understanding.

For example, the book, 1984 has become a best seller, Again.   Published in 1949, never out of print, many of the ideas have passed into daily life, never more so than with the election of Donald Trump, who is a practitioner of ‘doublethink‘; with his ‘alternative facts.’

If you never read the book, you don’t see what is happening, you don’t catch the innuendos, the effects.

If you saw the motion picture, The Matrix, which is a Must View, and never read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, you miss many of the references; from ‘follow the white rabbit’ to ‘eat this’ to ‘down the rabbit hole.

The point is, unlike ancient days when people would tell stories, and then, reference them to indicate particular parallels or morales,  today, there are books, there are motion pictures, there are television programmes, and adding to the list, websites, which if you don’t know exist, you are not truly experiencing reality.

People may say things and you will not catch the reference, so miss the depth of their words or their meanings, and be ‘left out’, to some extent.

A person who has never used a computer, for example, would hear someone say; “After she said that, I had to reboot,”  and try to understand ‘what does changing their shoes have to do with the statement’ being referred to?

The books, motion pictures, (and soon to be listed, television programmes and websites) are those which shape society.  If you don’t know the references, then you are, like the computer-illiterate, not hearing what is being said.

What I refer to are not just good books or motion pictures, television programmes, or websites, these are necessary, just like those books which are ‘required reading’ at school