Best of Week: Form is Content

'Form is content' is an idea/phrase that is spread around quite a lot, but until this week I was frankly unexposed to the ideas and creativity it could sprout. So when this idea was explained and analyzed in Kite Runner, I thought about all the different examples in my life where form is content. The way you dress, the way you talk, the way you sit, the way you give, etc. There are just so many to count! Most of the time, we don't realize how much we rely on the intertwined nature of form and content. The idea that even the medium in which you present something could essentially portray your entire character is incredible and almost magical. In addition, it can also describe your surroundings. For example, text messaging someone you just met rather than writing a letter already impresses different grooves. In a third-person view, the time and technology is easily depicted in the fact that text messaging exists. However, more specifically towards the person's personality, it comes off as someone who is in touch with their tech-surroundings, likes to keep things informal, or doesn't require intimacy like a letter. "Form is content" is very close to a belief that I like to prompt myself on, presentation is not everything, but a big part in making a good impression and showing who you are. Form is essentially the way the content presents itself. I also believe that within the presentation a great deal of your identity (if not all) should be incorporated. However, just like the way content is presented can be faulty or ostensibly true, presentation can also be a mask.
         In a literary environment, I think that the idea, "form is content" also ties in with mood. Depending on how the content is presented it can change the mood of things. For example, in Romeo and Juliet, when Romeo and Juliet meet at the party and begin to rhyme and talk in sonnets, not only does it present the content, that they are in love, it sets a mood for the readers. Reading the sonnets and the rhyming of each character sets a tone of serenity and having that shy smile lingering on your face. If this scene had no rhymes and if Romeo and Juliet both professed their love by saying, "I love you," it would change the mood greatly. The feelings and emotions would have disappeared.
         In my opinion, I feel that "form is content" is an extremely strong tool, for a writer and as a person. For a writer, it gives you two "boosts," it's another way, aside from words, to express your identity and your thoughts, and it helps create a richer piece of work that is shaped by the winds of nature rather than the forced cuts of scissors. It is a way to express feeling through the written words. Feeling/emotions are tied into memory, so by hitting the emotions and feelings through words and now form would create a more powerful, influential, and lasting piece of writing. As a person, this idea can help to discover who you are and to present to others who you are. It's learning a method to accomplish just that. I think by experimenting with different forms will allow you to learn what fits you the best and along the way, learn new things about yourself.