Fans of quirky writer, visual artist, and Canadian cultural icon Douglas Coupland can watch three free video clips inspired by his new novel Generation A via the iTunes Store.
Set in the near future, Generation A revolves around five people from different parts of the world and their shared experiences of being stung by bees in a time when bees have supposedly become extinct.
The clips were developed by Toronto-based production company Crush Inc. in collaboration with Coupland and his publisher, Random House Canada.
In the 10-minute clip Generation A “ 10 Questions for Douglas Coupland, the author is seen trapped in a sterile white room with a psychologist’s couch and yellow coffee mug, answering questions posed by a faceless female questioner with a clinical British accent. Coupland provides answers to questions such as, What is the most evil letter? (answer: j) and What is the loneliest letter? (m). He also provides long-winded philosophical replies to unheard inquiries:
The reason we have books, the reason we have stories ¦ it allows someone else to come in and hijack your internal voice for awhile so that you don’t have to do any of the work. When you hear a story and when you read a story, it sort of somehow ennobles our life ¦
In order so that we don’t go crazy, we imagine that our lives have to be stories ¦ whether or not it’s true, it sort of works.
The clip is frequently interrupted by brief commercials advertising a fictional television news team and a drug called Solon CR, both of which are featured in Generation A.
The other two clips correspond to some aspect of the novel. Colour Samples is narrated by a character who eases his mind by concentrating on unique paint colours, while The Tragic Death of the Channel Three News Team tells the story of a religious cult bent on killing celebrities, beginning with the Channel Three News Team, in a graphic novel-inspired animated feature.
The film clips will be available on iTunes until Sept. 14.