[UA] Gaslight UA

[Stuart Anderson]

Gaston Phillips wrote:

> But if you used lots of "Dr. Phineas Prescott's Patented Guaranteed Cure-All
> Pain Reducing Powdered Fizzy Water Supplements" -type adcvertisements,
> maybe?  Or if you used lots of anachronistic digs at...
>
> Man.  I don't know.  How /would/ you do it, Stu?

You nailed it. I would do something much as you suggested. Not only because those
ads set a standard for crass to which we still aspire, but because my One True
Calling in life has always been Snake-Oil Salesman. I guess that explains the whole
schoolteacher thing. Anyhow, I love those old ads. And scientific (and other types
of) journals of the time. And penny dreadfuls. And the horrible, beautiful purple
prose of yellow journalism. And I would work the neighborhood barber shop/smoking
club--angle. I'd probably develop a few NPCs with distinct voices that parodied some
modern media voices as they gossiped. I guess if I wanted to give them the feeling
of being inundated and overwhelmed with information, I'd set up the same rhythmic
cadence and relentless delivery every time I gave them some of that particular
information. And using all the mass media and NPCs I could, I would set it so the
characters couldn't swing a dead cat without knocking over something that would set
off the routine.  Kind of a "slowly I turned . . ." shtick.  Anyhoo--that's how I'd
do it.
--Stu


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