Towel Day
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The Hitchhiker’s story has had many incarnations, re-inventing and re-imaging itself as often as Madonna, from the original 1978 radio play, to the “increasingly inaccurately named trilogy” of 5 books, the brilliant (and general fan favorite)1981 TV series, the 1984 video game, all the way up to the much debated 2005, glossy film adaptation. In all of these versions, despite the omissions, changes, additions and inclusions of “much that is apocryphal”, the one thing that has been the skeletal structure of the story is the Guide itself .
It is this literary creation that is so prophetic.
[pullquote]Two weeks after his death, the Hitchhiker’s fan community decided to commemorate his memory by holding the first annual Towel Day, celebrated every May 25 since.[/pullquote]
Think about the actual Guide. It is a small, hand-held, electronic, encyclopedic book/device that has access to a wider network of constantly updated information. A network, which is maintained by a group of researchers, spread all over the galaxy, collecting information and continuously updating the entries. While many of the entries contain, as previously mentioned “much that is apocryphal”, or at least “wildly inaccurate”, it is the folksy-ness of “Don’t Panic” and cheaper price tag that allow it to continuously out sell the Encyclopedia Galactica.
Now, think about how many real-life everyday things I just referenced as well: Wikipedia, Kindle/Nook/Kobo, iPhone/iPad/Droid, the internet and any system where the users update, critique or provide feedback such as IMDB, Amazon.com, Yelp.com, Revelry.com, Allrecipes.com…hell, even Unwinnable.com. The list is endless and it crosses into every genre. Outside of content, there is the matter of free WiFi in so many public places, allowing our many digital devices to also be the cheaper and more immediately accessible “standard repository for all knowledge and wisdom.” I’m
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sure many non-fans don’t even know that their “cheat-your-way-through-Spanish-class” aide, the Yahoo Babel Fish is of Hitchhiker’s legacy.
While those who have read The Hitchhiker’s Guide, most of us pre-internet and thought, “How cool is that, I want a Hitchhiker’s Guide! I want Ford’s job, that’s awesome!” Well, guess what? We all do have a Guide and we all do have Ford’s job, which for the most part, we do for free. Anytime you give feedback on something you bought, or somewhere you ate (whether it is at the End of the Universe or not) you are a field researcher for the Guide. Our entire society is immersed in a constant stream of electronic communications updates. We live the Guide.
It is because of this widespread and all-encompassing cultural shift that celebrating the life and work of Douglas Adams is so important. Fans celebrate Adams’s work all the time, but everyone should stop and take notice on May 25.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of Adams’s death and the 10th Annual Towel Day. What better time to start than now? Grab a towel today and keep it close (just in case the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal stops by). I know that I will never be that “girl sitting on her own in a small café in Rickmansworth,” blessed with the sudden knowledge of how “the world could be made a good and happy place.” I also know that it will probably not be me who ends up knowing the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything when our organic mouse-funded computer program reaches completion, but I do know that we all should aspire to see as much of the world as possible through Douglas’s eyes.
I am certain that if we do, we will all think to ourselves, What a Wonderful World.
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