California Typewriter

One of the big reasons that "California Typewriter" showed up on my radar was likely because I happened to be reading a book at the same time called "Revenge of Analog". That book describes a movement back towards things such as records, paper, board games, and other physical (not digital) forms of leisure and commerce. That is the main theme of "California Typewriter" too...only focusing on the device listed in the title.

This documentary basically focuses on a number of different human interest stories involving a piece of technology largely thought "obsolete": the typewriter. From Tom Hanks' typewriter collection to the actual California Typewriter story, to a sculpture artist and and a collector looking for his coup de grace (and even a little history thrown in), this doc attacks the typewriter's story from nearly every angle.

Even above the human stories, though, is the notion present throughout the entire doc of that "return to analog" of sorts. As technology marches on, sometimes we don't stop to evaluate whether the physical experience of creation needs to take a back seat to the ease of creation. Don't get me wrong...I'm not exchanging my iPhone for a flip phone, nor am I turning in my MacBook for a desktop PC. I'm no Luddite. But it is a fascinating idea for me (old enough to remember a time before the Internet and mobile everything)...this notion that sometimes, say, the act of typing something on a physical device might be more satisfying than the ease of a word processor.

So, even though I'm not really "into" typewriters (I can honestly say I've never used one in my life!), I can say that this doc fascinated me and connected with me on a nostalgic, but also intellectual level. A return to analog devices may not be for everyone, but docs like this prove that the newest technology may not be for everyone, either. There is room for both, and even a mixture of both.

I saw this film last year at the Cleveland Film Festival and absolutely fell in love with it. It's not so much about typewriters as it is about people & human connectivity in an increasing digital world. I watched it again the other evening on Amazon and fell in love with the characters and their lives all over again. It's a very emotional and beautiful film that just flows over you. Bravo!

When this movie was released, it was reviewed as a sort of fun feature, almost an indulgence on Hanks' part. But it is so much more! It is potent and impotent! How the soul wends its way from our depths to the printed page, with a little boost from an amalgamation of moving metal parts. Magic! And indeed it is. There are so few things that we do any longer that allow us, in an expanse of time, to create and to have in hand our creation.

All of the characters are engaging and invite us to participate in their worlds as they become creators and preservers of machines or creators of art with those same machines. Design and the care and handling of that design. And love. Unfathomable, mysterious love for these odd little machines with so many moving parts and quirky sounds that let us sit down and write ourselves a letter, or to tell the world just exactly how we fell.

I am a writer. I have children who love to explore, tinker and create. This documentary has given me the insight and freedom to move the broken and working into different categories. I adore fixing manual typewriters and keeping them in pristine condition. But having children and this doc I now also enjoy them using the broken pieces or very damaged typewriters for other usage. Art, animatronics, fixing other toys etc. As I say, they are fixed and they are now usable. I wish people would use them. Even I unfortunately don't use them. Technology has long surpassed them. But every once and a while I take one out of storage, type whatever my heart desires and enjoy it much like a glass of fine wine. C'est la vie.

I stumbled over this documentary and was soon captured. Perhaps because I recalled 10-year-old me beginning an unwritten novel on mother's new Smith Corona portable and 14-year-old me banging on clunky manuals in middle school typing classes. I suspect that for many of the collectors featured in this show, now-impractical devices trigger nostalgic yearnings for times when life seemed less complicated and more enjoyable.

Filmmaker Doug Nichol offers both recognizable celebrities and little-known folks, each with their own level of interest in, or obsession for, fading technology. Another juxtaposition involves people preserving outdated machines and a sculptor deconstructing them to give machine parts new life in unique art forms.

As the program evolves, it becomes less about machines and more about the people who treasure them.