A Surprising Bond Born On a Quiet Evening
October 10, 2020 9:27 AM Subscribe
Two strangers forge a surprising connection as they climb a steep Lisbon street in a short film by Atsushi Kuwayama [AEON]
I thought this was really interesting. It's a nightmare from an accessibility perspective, with this human connection that comes out of dealing with it.
[Spoilers ahead! Beware if you haven't watched the film yet!]
Chip Delany's Times Square Red, Times Square Blue talks a lot about how the 'cleaning up' of Times Square ended up removing all of these cross-cultural human connections. New York goes from being a common experience of mixing via random experiences* to a multitude of individual experiences, depending on what's playing on your headphones. (probably some embellishment here; it's been a while since I read the book.)
For older people with difficulty moving around, the random connections means people who expect to see you at various times, who might check up on you and make sure you're safe. (hopefully.) Putting in an elevator removes the accessibility hurdle, but also removes the human connection. The elevator is essential, don't get me wrong; if things get 10% harder, this woman may just stop going to the cafe, which is a bigger loss. But it makes me wonder about designing accessibility solutions that preserve or generate human connections in other ways.
I also gotta say that I'm impressed by the woman's dedication to the soup of the day.
* - To be true to the spirit of the book, I should say that 'random experiences' more or less means 'blow jobs.' But also other things!
posted by kaibutsu at 10:55 AM on October 10, 2020 [2 favorites]
[Spoilers ahead! Beware if you haven't watched the film yet!]
Chip Delany's Times Square Red, Times Square Blue talks a lot about how the 'cleaning up' of Times Square ended up removing all of these cross-cultural human connections. New York goes from being a common experience of mixing via random experiences* to a multitude of individual experiences, depending on what's playing on your headphones. (probably some embellishment here; it's been a while since I read the book.)
For older people with difficulty moving around, the random connections means people who expect to see you at various times, who might check up on you and make sure you're safe. (hopefully.) Putting in an elevator removes the accessibility hurdle, but also removes the human connection. The elevator is essential, don't get me wrong; if things get 10% harder, this woman may just stop going to the cafe, which is a bigger loss. But it makes me wonder about designing accessibility solutions that preserve or generate human connections in other ways.
I also gotta say that I'm impressed by the woman's dedication to the soup of the day.
* - To be true to the spirit of the book, I should say that 'random experiences' more or less means 'blow jobs.' But also other things!
posted by kaibutsu at 10:55 AM on October 10, 2020 [2 favorites]
That was sweet, I loved that. I expect things like that do happen in the world, I just fear it's not very often. Perhaps I am jaded, and perhaps that's because I'm an American, living in America where the elderly seem invisible at best. Thanks for posting.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 2:27 PM on October 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by WalkerWestridge at 2:27 PM on October 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by aniola at 10:32 AM on October 10, 2020 [1 favorite]