Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The best term I’ve ever heard for a Cory Doctorow book is didactic– He is in some ways a “tell” writer over a “show” writer. He pushes a point, which is fine, and tries to teach his audience a lesson about, usually, technology and the way we interact with it as a society. I’ve been able to go along with it before, but this one didn’t quite do it for me.
I’ve enjoyed the other Cory Doctorow young adult books, Little Brother and For The Win, which had a bit more of an adult sensibility to them. What I found with Pirate Cinema was that the adults tended to be a bit incidental and the plot was a bit too neat to really stick. It’s kind of interesting that a book that’s so set against Hollywood has such a Hollywood ending.
Spoilers ahoy
The main character, Trent, is a bit of an auteur of remix videos. Living in a Northern village, Trent has compiled a number of remix videos based around a single actor and got a bit of internet cred up. Basically, Trent gets his family booted off the internet for downloading, so runs away from home and starts living on the streets of London. Joining up with some other squatters, Trent moves into an abandoned pub and immerses himself into an underground movie scene based off real Pirate Cinemas, which leads him to a) meet a girl and b) run afoul of big copyright holders.
Doctorow is obviously gunning for Hollywood types here, which after Homeland Security and Gold Farming Sweatshops seems a bit of a smaller target. I never really felt the stakes were that high, as I always felt that Trent was too small a fish to really get in trouble. I also thought that some of the shenanigans that the characters pulled off were a little too well executed, I never felt that the people they were opposing were much of a threat. Sure, compared to Homeland Security or Union Busting thugs Hollywood suits aren’t going to be as menacing, but there’s no clear villain that gets much screen time. I also never felt that the personalities of the characters on his side really shone through- his girlfriend and chums were fine but I never got the feeling that the rest of his protest movement or even his parents were more than props.
I also never felt much tension in the plot- it seemed fairly slow and like the characters could back out at any time. Even when Trent is on the hook for a large copyright fine, I never got the feeling he was going to get done for it.
Doctorow’s main enemy is obviously Hollywood/the MPAA, and he does do a good job of elucidating the issues. His central point is that copyright laws are becoming more draconian at a time where it’s getting easier and easier to share films/media, and for what it’s worth I agree- three strikes laws and similar are pretty beastly. His arguments are compelling, and with a bit of editing he might have been a bit more effective- characters tend to infodump at each other.
I liked that Doctorow made the setting feel like London, or at least how I imagine London (not having been there). I picked it up in For The Win, but he seems to write places pretty well and I can believe that the characters come from the cultures they’re supposed to. I also liked the freegan/dumpster dive/scrounger feel of the whole thing, as I felt it meshed with the whole remix/fair use debate that’s a large part of the book.
It’s not bad, and it’s entertaining enough, I just reckon he’s been sharper in his punches. Go read Little Brother– it’s much better.
Skepticism and Dice 