Wednesday, June 29, 2005
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Science Fiction, Fantasy, Comics, Sports, and maybe a little Politics
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2005
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June
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- When the Slush God is right...
- Complaint letter generator
- People seem to be posting their worldcon schedules
- First King Kong trailer
- Gabe's baaaaack
- Lou Anders on Batman and Batman Begins
- Two wonderful (and too short) seasons end
- The Slush God interviews Kelly Link
- Dark Cabals
- Scientists have created WHAT?
- Bryan Singer's Superman Vlog
- Survey says
- Music Meme
- Great olds!
- Mr. and Mrs. Smith
- Howl's Moving Castle
- NBA finals - final thoughts
- Batman Begins - brief thoughts
- Bydion
- The Biggest Winner
- NBA Playoffs - Divisional thoughts, finals prediction
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June
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1 comment:
And when he's wrong...
He's dead wrong.
So, I take it we now judge creators upon what they say to Reuters? I must say that makes A LOT of sense. Just because the man has made some of the most influencial genre movies in HISTORY - like Close Encounters, E.T., Jurassic Park, A.I. and Minority Report (and if you broaden your criteria, you can also throw in the Indiana Jones movies and Hook) [1] - doesn't mean we should cut him any slack when he voices his personal philosophy about his creative process and it doesn't meet our own. He should be banned from making any more science fiction movies. Ever. Wait, why stop there? We should track down every single copy of his previous works and burn them all. Dangerous stuff, I tell you, as it obviously reflects the man's twisted ideas about science fiction. And now that we're finished with Spielberg, why don't we move on to the next guy, what's his name, China something...
Or maybe not.
Seriously, outside of the somewhat facist tone this "Slush God" fella has taken, which really pissed me off, I think he read Spielberg's statement all wrong. My interpretation:
"Science fiction for me is a vacation"
For me too. It is, indeed, a vacation from the real world, an escape. It's ALSO a way to deal with the real world, but that's on a different level (and another story for another day).
"a vacation away from all the rules of narrative logic"
I think that's what really spiked Mr. Slush God, and I fear it comes from his total misreading of this statement.
Breaking "Narrative Logic" (in the conventional sense) has been the goal of practically EVERY SINGLE GREAT movie-maker - from Wells, to Hitchcock, to Goddard, to Kubrik, and the list goes on. If Spielberg sees Science Fiction as means to this end, it's a damm compliment to the genre.
" a vacation away from physics and physical science."
Yes, I fear some of the stuff that appeared in Mr. Spielberg movies - the spaceships, the Dinosaurs, the aliens, the Pre-Cogs - doesn't sit very well with physical science (or any other science). This fact, ALONE, says nothing of their quality.
So, before we ban someone from directing movies becuase of something he said to a news agency let us first:
1) Ask ourselves if his creation in the field so far has been worthy and-
2) Try getting to the bottom of what he said before getting all pissed off.
-Raz
[1] Yes, I realize some of the movies mentioned are a subject of debate - I personally HATE Jurassic Park - but that doesn't take away the fact that they ARE some of the most influencial works in genre cinema. In fact, I don't think there is another director wit hthe same influencial spectrum in genre cinema.
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