“their smiles are lifeless,” “as if these people have died and their shadows have been condemned to play cards in silence unto eternity.” “unnervingly silent.”
These are not reactions to a recent AI clip.
These words belong to a young Maxim Gorky, who saw the Lumière films at a Russian fair in 1896. Working as a journalist at the time, he sat down to write his impressions and began his article with: “Last night I was in the Kingdom of Shadows.”
What he saw, simple scenes of daily life, felt disturbing and strangely lifeless to him.
Lately, I feel like we are in the Kingdom of Shadows with AI and everything.
And now he is the one playing cards in the shadows.
(Image created using AI. Irony? Closing a loop? I guess I love them both.)
A Screenwriter’s Journey 
Leave a comment