As you know by now, I try to avoid reading the plot summaries in film reviews. So it was a delight, as a novice blogger, to discover that Julie & Julia is about someone who starts a blog.
We jump back and forward between two lives. We see Julia Child discovering the wonders of French cooking in 1950s Paris, longing to publish her own account of these recipes in English for the American market – an account that was eventually published as the hugely influential Mastering the Art of French Cooking. And two generations later we see Julie Powell, who vows in August 2002 to create all 524 of Child’s recipes in one year, and blogs about her efforts. The blog is still online, and here is her first post.
In the dramatic structure of the film – two parallel lives, mirroring each other, full of connections and echoes – we are meant to see Julie’s blogging as the contemporary equivalent of Julia’s writing. Communication and self-expression have now taken a digital form. But what’s so interesting is that the ‘contemporary’ blog is really a means to a much more traditional goal: a book deal. Julie’s dream (in the framework of a romantic comedy), is not to get her man – she is already married; it’s not even to be a successful blogger – the hits start coming in pretty quickly. It’s simply to be recognised by the journals and published as an author.
So the film, based on a true story, has its own take on that continuing discussion of whether the internet and the blogosphere have more significance in contemporary culture than the traditional mainstream media. It shows that however successful someone is in the virtual world, there is a continuing allure in the printed word – newspapers, magazines, books. You could even call it a romance – at least for those old enough to have grown up enchanted by books, like Julie. But this was five or six years ago already; and I wonder how differently the story would play out today.
[As a film, it was patchy. Funny and moving in parts, but much of it feeling like a well produced sit-com. If you want someone to persuade you to see it, there is a glowing review of the film here.]
Bridges and Tangents 
Every so often a story appears in the media about a blogger who landed a book deal. But this happens very rarely, and this is because the vast majority of blogs, maybe as high as 90%, are not very well written, and those that are often don’t have much to say that is interesting (I’ve been guilty of this in my blog). In fact, many bloggers even describe their blog as “musings”, “ramblings”, “random thoughts” or “observations”.
As someone who, like you, Stephen, has arrived late in the blogosphere, I can’t say that this has surprised me. I had always suspected that there was less to most blogs than met the eye.
For blogging is simply another word for writing, albeit online. This is often overlooked. Just because you blog doesn’t mean that you are a real writer.
Blogging offers an opportunity for aspiring writers to showcase their talent, but first of all they have to learn to write.
It’s the long-term goal that fascinates me: Maybe five years ago it was the dream of every blogger to get a book deal, and to have influence and recognition in the ‘real world’ — this is reflected in the film. But I’m sure that is changing, and more and more published writers are wondering whether the action is really out there in the virtual world.