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eftychia at 11:07pm on 2007-11-30Okay, I already know that bombs in movies and on television have blinking LEDs or visible countdown displays, and that the "looks like a bomb" meme<->image linkage has led to various extreme reactions from authorities to "OMGitLooksLikeAbooooomb" decorative electronic devices.
What I don't get is why Every Television Bomb[*] must do this thing which makes so little sense for most practical bombs.
I mean, I can understand the occasional movie bomb doing this -- nothing sets the stage for "will they make it in time?" suspense like a countdown timer, after all, and even a simple blinking LED reinforces the audience's perception that "oh noes, time passeth toward de-to-nay-shun!", as well as giving the main characters Something To Notice so they can find the bomb in time ... But really now, every damned bomb? WTF? And for how many decades of television and movies? Is the art form that formalized stylistically that bombs in live-action must blink just as bombs in comedy animation must be round with a fuse or three sticks of dynamite taped to a mechanical alarm clock? Is there no hope that the audience might be able to understand that "dat t'ing over dere, it's a bomb" if it lacks the blinkenlights?
Or are writers and directors just that lazy?
[*] Okay, mostly time-bombs or delayed-trigger bombs, sometimes for other types of bombs, not so much for letter bombs. Roll with me here, okay?
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I agree there's scope for more imagination here. I'm sure I saw something a while back (can't remember what it was) where the tension-ramping device took the form of one of those drinking bird thingies. But if it isn't the main point of the plot, if it's just something along the way, then I can see the blinking timer or LED as being a useful and readily understood storytelling device, and useful devices are, well, useful. In other words, from the storyteller's point of view, it ain't broke and therefore doesn't need fixing.
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I don't know what you were watching, but I *thought* you might be referencing the fact that a man with a supposed bomb strapped to his chest took over a Clinton campaign office in NH today, taking hostages and demanding to speak to Hillary. After about six hours he surrendered to police. I watched it play out all day on TV.
http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO67965/
It's the audience that's lazy -- or the writers think they are.
I am waiting for movie writers (at least) to start taking a hint from the very concealed and very scary IEDs we're seeing in Iraq...they look like, y'know, carts full of vegetables, or a road, or someone's grandmother. But they'll have to communicate to the audience what's going on right before the blast, and blinking lights and numbers are still the way to do that. (Or a transmitter. _Speed_ didn't use a count down timer, IIRC.)
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15. I will never employ any device with a digital countdown. If I find that such a device is absolutely unavoidable, I will set it to activate when the counter reaches 117 and the hero is just putting his plan into operation.
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