Cory Doctorow has recently made a few waves in the blogging and podcasting world by generally being EVERYWHERE. So I decided that in addition to listening to him talk about copyright law and how ridiculous it has become, I would read one of his books. I picked Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom for two reasons. 1) I liked Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London and 2) I like Disney World.
Turns out that Cory’s book is very well named. The entire book, apart from the odd flashback, takes place at Disney World, and the similarity of theme to Orwell’s book is admirable. Cory didn’t just rip Orwell off and change the setting, he took the concept of being desperately poor, and then removed money from the equation.
Huh?
Right. That’s what I said. Somewhere around 3/4 in I realized that DOMK is both a tribute to and a send-up of DOPL. In a post-scarcity society, even the utterly wretched will live, but they’ll probably hate it.
Filed under: books, novels, reviews, science fiction | Tagged: cory doctorow, creative commons, down and out in the magic kingdom, fantasy, novel, orwell, review, sci-fi
Mr. Doctorow does seem a trifle ubiquitous at times, doesn’t he? He’s a smart lad who doesn’t seem concerned about protecting his digital copyright. I, on the other hand, would gleefully rip the lungs out of anyone I found using my work without proper attribution or credit. I respect Cory’s views but artists of all stripes must work collectively to ensure this new digital domain does not become a license to STEAL from the rightful creators. Just a thought, thanks for posting…
Indeed. Although I support the general backlash against a corporate culture that is trying desperately to take consumer money and not actually give them what they think they’re paying for, rather, they are lending it to them, conditionally. That’s simply not good business.
I’m all for everybody getting paid – but I want to own what I pay for.