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Ever since the invention of mass media, the distribution of height among the population has followed the power-law curve.
– A Natural History of Attention, 2nd ed.
Stay behind me. Don’t get in my way. She’s going to come around the corner in about ten minutes and pull into the parking lot here for lunch. Act like casual tourists so we don’t tip off competitors.
I still remember seeing Madonna on The Virgin Tour as a kid. I heard the moment she came out on stage before I saw it. So many people screaming at once, like Godzilla’s roar, like a flood, like someone punching you in the ears.
Wikipedia says that she was only twelve feet four inches at the beginning of the tour. Incredible, isn’t it? Today, when she goes jogging the seismologists in London have to turn off their machines or else it’ll register as an earthquake. She was big then, but not that big. But that’s not how I remember it. My mom’s boyfriend lifted me up, and I remember seeing this giant woman, taller than a house, on the stage in a wedding dress. It was so amazing I threw up.
So I always knew this would be a good business. People want to see the stars. The stars want to be seen. They have to if they want to grow.
Six more minutes. Don’t worry. My tip is good. Came directly from her maid.
You want to learn the business right? Here’s your first tip. So many beginners chase the A-listers. That’s a loser’s game. Too many are competing for too few shots. Sometimes so many cameras are there that you can literally see them grow several feet in front of you. They are so huge anyway that people see them coming a mile away. You can’t get the exclusives, catch them really by surprise.
The smaller ones, the ones still giddy with their new growth, think they can get away with a secret tryst if they duck down real low in their seats and walk with a slouch. These are the pictures that you want.
This is a good camera, fast, small, doesn’t draw too much attention. I prefer it for urban ambushes. If we were hunting a subject drinking in a yacht at sea or frolicking on a private beach, then I’d use the big lenses and the tripods. Regardless, the cliche about the camera adding five pounds is wrong. It’s the attention, not the camera, that makes them grow.
Just a couple more minutes. Get your camera ready.
Pictures are the vitamins of our world. First we fatten them up into demigods that walk the earth, and when they are big enough, we tear them down so we can have a feast and feel better. Whether you mock them or denounce them, you are talking about them, feeding them. We don’t have great men and women any more, we just have men and women who are larger than life.
I don’t understand the people who carp that they are signs of the moral decline of this country. How can they be? They are not you and me. A woman who needs a private jet to carry her around and has to live in a big mansion because she’s 50 feet tall obviously has different problems from the rest of us. She worries about staying in the eye of the public because she doesn’t want to shrink and end up with furniture and clothes that she can’t use. And she certainly doesn’t want to have to divorce her husband because he hasn’t kept up with her growth. I get it. It explains the antics. But these aren’t problem most of us have to worry about, so why pontificate about their marriage problems?
There she is! Go, go, go! Get her and the guy she’s with!
What’s she doing? That guy is actually going to hit us? Oh Jesus, she’s coming at us with her cameraphone. Hey, back off, back –
You all right there? Still got your camera?
Tell me I haven’t just grown a foot and a half.
Oh, that’s a nasty trick. She posted the pictures of us falling over each other online! She’s giving us our fifteen minutes of fame. Now we are Z-listers and people want more pictures of us. We can’t go out and get any work done until this blows over. Get moving, people are starting to look.
That bitch.
Ken Liu was a programmer before he became a lawyer, and he currently lives in the Greater Boston Area with his wife and daughter. His fiction has appeared / will appear in Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov’s, Strange Horizons, and The Writers of the Future anthology, among other places.
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22 Responses to “THE CHASE • by Ken Liu”
Comments
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January 28th, 2011 at 1:47 am
Very weird and very wonderful, though at first I wondered what the heck was going on.
The final irony is most satisfying.
January 28th, 2011 at 2:25 am
Okay, okay, we get it.
January 28th, 2011 at 3:35 am
“Pictures are the vitamins of our world. …” An astute observation, but the motivations of the watchers and watched remain unexplored.
January 28th, 2011 at 4:20 am
‘We don’t have great men and women any more, we just have men and women who are larger than life.’
I loved the metaphor and the way the come-uppance for the two voyeurs implicates us all.
January 28th, 2011 at 4:20 am
This is different. I like how the narration drew you in.
January 28th, 2011 at 5:21 am
The narrative voice and the pacing in this piece were spot-on. I did think the “Pictures are the vitamins of this world” paragraph was a little too much explanation; too heavy compared to the rest of the piece–I could have done without it. The rest–great! And I’m envious of your bio.
To Caryl, comment #3: It seemed clear to me that the watchers were paparazzi and they were doing it for money; and that the watched wanted fame. I suppose I could be missing something.
January 28th, 2011 at 6:12 am
I understood Caryl to mean, why is the public so fascinated with these stars? Why do we need photos of them slurping coffee and buying groceries? Could be wrong but that’s a question I would also liked answered.
Great piece of writing, wonderful voice and an excellent topic to explore further. Five stars, at least.
January 28th, 2011 at 6:18 am
An excellent modern parable. I love the use of height to indicate fame and I think the one line in particular, ‘We don’t have great men and women any more, we just have men and women who are larger than life’, was about as insightful as anything I’ve ever read. Great job!
January 28th, 2011 at 7:04 am
The way you play with the idea of celebrities not only growing figuratively, but literally, is clever.
‘…We don’t have great men and women any more, we just have men and women who are larger than life…’ Great line.
The ending, where the tables get turned on the papp – I wasn’t sure what he himself made of it. Yes he ‘grew’ but I felt you could have made more of this…i.e. did the sliver of fame captivate him & make him want more? Did he initially like it but then feel like he’d been soiled..?
January 28th, 2011 at 8:03 am
The literal use of height to denote public appeal was surprising but fun. It took the whole topic of celebrity and pushed into the furthest realm of absurdity while treating it as normal within the context of the story. I absolutely loved that.
Very, very nicely done. Five, fifty-four foot tall, stars.
January 28th, 2011 at 8:44 am
You have given metaphorical truth to our over use of superlatives. Very nice story
January 28th, 2011 at 9:10 am
Very good stor comparision between celebrity size and actual size. Sadly, even though this is a humourus story, our celebrity obessed world is becoming more like this day by day.
January 28th, 2011 at 9:41 am
A fun read…pace was great and kept me running to the very end. Metaphorical…love it!
January 28th, 2011 at 9:43 am
Absolutely friggin’ FANTASTIC. Especially the last line. I never had a better time reading Every Day Fiction. I’d love to see a longer, still snarky, version on a similar theme. If you had space to develop the relationship between the experienced photographer and the newbie I think it would be hilarious. The tone made it work. A tung-in-cheek piece like this could easily devolve to camp, but the tone made it work. Good stuff. Now, get back to work, counselor.
January 28th, 2011 at 10:59 am
Two stars………………
Is there a point to this??
must be written in Legalese
January 28th, 2011 at 11:37 am
You didn’t hook me until you threw up as a kid. But by the end I was smiling. Very clever. V
January 28th, 2011 at 11:40 am
Sorry- I must avoid hitting the wrong key mid-type and posting by accident before I’m finished. I’ve done this several times now.
Anyway- I’d said enough. Read the ‘V ‘ of the omitted word as a five star rating and I’ll just shut up and smile.
January 28th, 2011 at 12:49 pm
I couldn’t agree more with Debi (#8) and Seattle Jim (#10). Five big honkin’ stars.
January 28th, 2011 at 3:58 pm
The pace of your story is wonderful. I was drawn in quickly and cleanly – well done.
January 28th, 2011 at 6:51 pm
Despite the good, clear writing, I found myself disinterested in the whole thing. It just didn’t grab me. Sorry.
January 29th, 2011 at 2:15 am
UNinterested, Rob, not DISinterested – if you care about the distinction.
January 31st, 2011 at 1:05 am
[...] “The Chase” by Ken Liu (Every Day Fiction) “Baby, you’ll be famous, chase you down until you love [...]