Hey guys, I, like Andrew, also know this is late (if you weren’t swamped with exams this week LUCKY YOU!) but if you have any feedback it would be much appreciated!! Thanks!
Most of us, who are aware of a craze currently sweeping pop culture, have heard the name George R.R. Martin. He is the writer of the fantasy novel series A Song of Fire and Ice. Most of us have also heard of David Benioff and D.B. Weiss who adapted these books and wrote scripts for one of HBO’s most popular hits Game of Thrones. Despite not having read the books or maybe even seen the series we know their names. Generally we know who writes books, and we know who writes TV Shows and Movies, but there is a completely unknown genre of writers: anonymous Internet writers. These authors go unknown, however their writing is some of the most influential in our lives. Their anonymous Internet writing is some of the most important writing because it is completely integrated in our social media, our quest for more knowledge, and our overall entertainment.
With the season 4 premiere of Game of Thrones approaching, I realized I had completely forgotten what had happened in not only in season three, but seasons two and one as well. This is where the beauty of anonymous writing comes in. With one click of a button I immediately found an entire website devoted to the land of Westeros titled “A Wiki of Fire and Ice.” Not only was I able to find an extensive background on every character, whether they be a main one or appeared once, but an individual summary of each and every episode that has happened. But one thing I was not able to find was the author. Someone, probably multiple people in the same manner Wikipedia is written, cohesively and concisely summarized everything I needed without receiving credit for his or her hard work. To them I am incredibly grateful for reminding me that Khaleesi will always be the mother of dragons and that John Snow knows nothing.
Besides anonymous writers fueling my obsession with Game of Thrones, they have created another website that has become integral in popular culture: BuzzFeed. In particular, these writers have provided me with endless entertainment in a subsection called BuzzFeed Quizzes. Without these anonymous writers of the quizzes I would have never known that the Mean Girls movie character I am most like is the girl who looks like Danny DeVito, I would have never known that on a scale of one to ten my devotion to pizza is “extreme,” and I also would have never known that as far as presidents go I am most like John F. Kennedy. Obviously, these do not add anything to my wealth of knowledge, nor are they particularly accurate (I really hope I do not look like Danny DeVito). But they do provide for countless house of entertainment. So for that, I silently thank the anonymous writers of BuzzFeed for constantly putting a smile on my face.
Then there are the informational writers on social media. Obviously the writers of articles are known, but how I personally find out about these articles is a bit different. I do not follow that many people on twitter; I mostly follow TIME, CNN, E! Online, and websites like that. With a quick scroll through my twitter feed I can find the most pressing and interesting headlines of the day. In less than 140 characters, I can generally know what is going on in the world or I have the option of further investigation. However, no one signs his or her names to these tweets. The tweeters are anonymous. And again, I thank these authors for making my days a little more insightful.
But why do these people write without reward? Do they know how much entertainment they provide millions of people? I think they are the unsung heroes of the literary world. And of course, some may argue that this writing is unimportant and the real heroes are people like Hemingway of Fitzgerald. But I think you would be lying if you never did a quick Wikipedia search to find out an unknown fact or read and maybe even participated in some online fan-fiction blog. So I urge you to keep in mind the next time you take a BuzzFeed quiz or read a funny tweet that these people are writing for your pure enjoyment without gratification and that is what makes them a literary hero.
http://awoiaf.westeros.org
http://www.buzzfeed.com
http://www.twitter.com