Steve Jobs: The Man Who Killed Books and Bookstores - Charlie Warner - MediaBizBloggers

I bought two tickets a senior citizen one for me and a child39s for my 10year old stepniece Stella to Pixar39s quotToy Story 3quot the same week that the Barnes ampamp Noble board announced that it was considering putting the giant book retailer up for sale and it got me to thinking about why young people don39t need books any more in the age of the internet and PixarEveryone I have talked to who saw quotToy Story 3quot has said it was their favorite Pixar film amp8211 a brilliantly conceived and executed story with themes that communicate on several levels It had the two of us entranced and in tears for the same and different reasons There might be a deadtree book that could be this meaningful and relevant to both of us but a book would not have been as engaging and we couldn39t have enjoyed at the same time unless I read to her which always puts me to sleep in two maybe three pagesMany of the great Disney movies of the past retold fairy tales and myths amp8211 stories passed on from the Dark Ages that told children the lessons they needed to live upright lives Classics such as quotSnow Whitequot and quotCinderellaquot were thrilling remakes of the ancient storiesBut what makes Pixar modern is that it doesn39t retell or try to update stories that tell pubescent girls how to behave in order to find a prince charming and be swept away to live in a towered castle on a mountain Today what few kings and princes that are left are mostly in countries that have lots of oil and don39t treat their women like Snow White or CinderellaPixar tells stories of a modern world of plastic toys and superheroes heroic old men and robots that clean up a trashfilled Earth There are stories that tell modern children and adults in an internet age how to live their lives defeat evil autocracies and clean up the planet amp8211 lessons we need today not lessons of the Dark AgesMassproduced books are a medium born in the Dark Ages and have survived with the stories of those ages But like those fairy tales they are not relevant in the age of Pixar the iPod and iPad Both the technology printing and the stories are outmoded and don39t serve the needs of today39s children and adultsNeither do huge bookstores that sell books that are out of date the moment they are printed amp8211 printed on dead trees and that are ridiculously expensive compared to an ebook When we look back five years from now and ask who killed books and bookstores we can say quotSteve Jobs Pixar the iPod and the iPadquotUntil he retired in 2002 Charlie Warner was Vice President of AOL39s Interactive Marketing division Before joining AOL he was the Goldenson Endowed Professor at the Missouri Journalism School where he taught media management and sales and he created and ran the annual Management Seminar for News Executives Charlie can be contacted at charleshwarnergmailcomRead all Charlieamp8217s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Charlie Warner MediaBizBloggersCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBlogger

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Steve Jobs: The Man Who Killed Books and Bookstores - Charlie Warner - MediaBizBloggers

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