Quickie Movie Reviews (2009): Volume Seven
I’ve been watching a lot of movies lately. I’m not a huge movie person, to be honest (at least when it comes to being at home), but the library at the University of Florida has free DVD rentals, so I’m taking advantage for the time being. Here goes: Europa (Trier)A young American travels to post-war Germany to become a sleeper car conductor for the Zentropa company, and do some good in a country ravaged by war and occupation. Soon he finds himself caught in the middle of an underground militant group’s quest for revenge and the strange psychological world state of Europa.Pros: Bizarre, beautiful, and downright creepy. This is a powerful movie that is as brilliant as it is deep and meaningful. The visuals do some brilliant adjustments between b&w and color, to great effect. This is a must see.Cons: It might be difficult to grasp for some. If you’re a Michael Bay fan, then this is not for you. This is not action-packed, nor is it insanely suspenseful. It’s a deep, psychological film dealing, in unique ways, with the post-war condition, but in a way that never really happened (on the box it describes this as a futuristic past). This means that at times the story can drag. It is also rough around the edges as far as editing is concerned, though, perhaps, for good reason.Rating: 4/5Value: $8.00 Animania (the Documentary)A brief examination of Anime culture, walking through the basic concept to costumes to the acceptance of the movement and culture by mainstream society.Pros: It’s a geek fest for people who are already a part of the movement. Beyond that, it has nothing going for it. (Then again, it says “seriously funny” on the cover, so maybe they’re trying to make a joke of things?)Cons: This is in no way a well-thought or particularly adept attempt to document anything within Anime culture. I know; I’ve been to a couple Anime conventions myself, and this “documentary” tells us nothing that we didn’t already know about the people who go or dress up or are obsessed with Anime. It reinforces the stereotypes and fails to not only dig into actual Anime culture, both here and in Japan (and elsewhere), and completely misses the mark. Animania seems more like a media project for a convention rather than an honest attempt to actually work with the phenomenon of Anime culture. There really isn’t anything good to say about this. It’s just bad.Rating: 0.5/5Value: $1.00 Metropolis (Fritz Lang)This iconic film takes place in 2026 where the world is divided between those who live above the Earth in the massive city of Metropolis and those who live below, working on the machines that keep Metropolis running. A tale of love, betrayal, revenge, and fallen utopias, this is a must see for any science fiction enthusiast.Pros: As an astonishingly detailed film, it is no wonder why Metropolis is so influential. It has a fascinating story too.Cons: This is a silent film and does show its age. This may be problematic for most film lovers. Also, the story is a bit disjointed, not because parts of the film are missing, but because certain aspects of the film are rushed.Rating: 3/5Value: $9.00 (because it’s a classic) The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Extended Cut; Clint Eastwood)Taking place in the middle of the American Civil War, this western follow three interlinked characters who discover the existence of a “treasure” buried somewhere in an unknown cemetery. What follows is a long series of tricks, betrayals, lies, deceptions, and gun battles as the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly try to secure the treasure for themselves.Pros: A different kind of western that makes a game of creating mythological archetypes of its cast of main characters (from the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly). There is a good amount of action here, and much of what is iconic of westerns, at least as modern viewers know it today, seems to have been established here: drawn-out waits in duels, the iconic whistling music, etc. The characters are well-rounded. Quite entertaining.Cons: The extended cut is too long. Parts of the movie drag endlessly and the entire beginning loses a lot of its power by the time you get to the meat and potatoes. That said, the length does make for a more rounded film; none of the characters are short-changed here. But two and a half hours of this style of film is a lot to take in. There were also some audio track issues, but this may be due to the time and not the filmmakers.Rating: 3/5Value: $6.00 Let the Right One InThe critically acclaimed vampire film that puts all others to shame. Let the Right One In is about a young boy named Oskar in 1980s Sweden who lives a troubled life amidst bullies and a broken family. When he meets Eli, a mysterious, cold girl who moves in next door, he quickly befriends her and the two of them strike up a youthful “romance.” But the more Oskar gets to know Eli, the more he realizes that she is not a normal twelve-year-old girl…Pros: It is impossible to describe this movie in an effective way without giving away all the details. What I can say is that this is an absolute must see. Period. It is not only powerful, but brilliantly crafted, visually stunning for such a low budge film, and simply amazing. From the characters to the plot, Let the Right One in does everything a good movie should without resorting to the ridiculous nonsense of Hollywood.Cons: If you do not like blood, don’t see this movie. Let the Right One In is not gory, but there are a few scenes where blood is present. One of the things I appreciated about this film is that it did not resort to being disgusting in order to shock you into discomfort. Those few scenes where blood or a little gore were shown were done with class. To be honest,
Book Review Up: Kell’s Legend by Andy Remic
You all have to check out this book if you’re into action-packed, unflinchingly brutal fantasy. Remic has done one heck of a job with this one. Here’s the review.
Preliminary Cyberpunk Curriculum, and Other Considerations
I mentioned somewhere (maybe Twitter, though, to be honest, my online correspondence has largely become a blur in the last few months) that I am considering developing an independent study graduate course dealing with cyberpunk and capitalism. This interest follows my attempts to conceptualize cyberpunk as a genre and the pressing curiosity as to the capitalistic claims of the genre. With that in mind, I’ve started putting together a preliminary “reading list.” I am, of course, quite open to suggestions or modifications to this list. Your thoughts are most welcome here. So, here goes (new additions added at 7:12 PM on Sept. 28th, 10:17 AM on Oct. 1st, and 12:34 PM on Oct. 8th — more additions are on the way, I just haven’t been able to update yet). Novels:Neuromancer by William GibsonVurt by Jeff NoonDead Girls, etc. by Richard Calder (love him)Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. DickCrash by J. G. BallardThe Integrated Man by Michael BerlynThe Shockwave Rider by John BrunnerWhen Gravity Fails by George Alec EffingerMemoirs Found in a Bathtub by Stanislaw LemSpin State/Spin Control by Chris MoriartySpacetime Donuts by Rudy RuckerSnow Crash by Neil Stephenson Mirrorshades edited by Bruce Sterling Nova by Samuel R. Delany Moxyland by Lauren Beukes Babylon Babies by Maurice G. Dantec Theory, etc.:Postmodernism by Fredric Jameson The Communist Manifesto by Karl MarxMarx and Lenin (or works on them, at least)(This section is really where I need suggestions, particularly for books that are not Marxist critiques of capitalism) So, any thoughts?
A Modest Proposal (For Literature Curriculum)
(This is a short “essay” I wrote for my pedagogy course. I’m putting it here because I think it might be of interest to you all. No, this is not an “academic” essay. It should be relatively accessible.) Canonical Chronicle: Thoughts of Pop Literature and Literature Curriculum One of the principal concerns I have with the present course of pre-college education in literature in the United States—and elsewhere—is the incessant reliance on teaching literature through the limited scope of the Western Canon. Perhaps in other parts of the world this canonical reliance shifts to accommodate different worldviews or interests, but the reliance is still there; thus, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Western Europe seemingly rely on the Western Canon, the Middle East, India, China, and other Asian nations possibly rely on the Eastern Canon, and those left out of this either have their own unique approaches to literature, no approaches whatsoever, or must adopt the educational perspective of other nations as a means of becoming part of the global atmosphere1. These narrowed approaches leave literature in a particularly nasty place: nowhere. How can literature possibly survive in our youth in such rigid, inflexible systems? True, the Western Canon does, on occasion, change, introducing new works of literature2, but these changes do not seem to have much influence on literature curriculum across the country. The same “staples” of literature—style, approved content, etc.—are invoked in these additions. As a science fiction enthusiast, it has long been an uphill battle—in the snow, during a blizzard—to make the case for popular literature as necessary for literature curriculum in pre-college education. I don’t push for any particular kind of popular literature, even though I see science fiction as one of the most relevant and valuable genres in existence. Instead, my criticisms of modern literature curriculum are with its inability to foster proper attitudes in students towards the process of reading. Standardized education has created a system that relies on repetition, rather than on relevance. As much as Shakespeare, Dickens, Twain, and Austen are important figures in our literary history, they do not hold the same influence on students today as J. K. Rowling, Dan Brown, Stephen King, and others. This isn’t to say that students are only influenced by pop-literature icons; some of these students may find themselves attracted to writers like Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh, Margaraet Atwood, and others who have stormed onto the “literary fiction” scene in recent years, and who are largely unknown to the majority of present-day readers3. The point is that literature curriculum today is, I would argue, outdated in several ways: 1) in being focused on old, classic literature to the point of excess4; 2) in being largely unwilling to shift to more relevant literatures, such as those written by emerging and powerhouse writers of today; and 3) in being unable to accommodate the incredibly short-focused nature of pre-college students in “modern” culture. The result, based on personal experience as a former pre-college student and as the co-owner of a website for young writers, is that these rigid practices damage reading habits and perpetuate the relative assumption that literature has little meaning in our advanced, technology-driven society. Educational systems that are unable to see this are systems that fail students on a regular basis, creating learning conditions in which students do not see the value in what they are being taught. Why should a student learn about the crusades or world cultures or Charles Dickens when they fail to see the connection of that information to what matters to them now? Learning should be beneficial and self-replicating, rather than seen as a negative force or as simply a requirement that must be fulfilled because adults say so. What can be done about this? It took Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card almost twenty years to make its way into high school classrooms, and yet it is not as frequently taught as books like 1984 by George Orwell or Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, both science fiction texts that, while fantastic and worthy of further study, are still a part of that “old/classical” world. Will it take just as long for books like Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling, or Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie to work their way into pre-college curriculum? Will there have to be a tooth-and-nail fight to get these more relevant books (from the perspective of the students) into classrooms? Finally, there is the question of “how?” One approach, however chaotic, is the remarkably successful one adopted by Lorrie McNeill of Jonesboro, Georgia: The approach Ms. McNeill uses, in which students choose their own books, discuss them individually with their teacher and one another, and keep detailed journals about their reading, is part of a movement to revolutionize the way literature is taught in America’s schools. While there is no clear consensus among English teachers, variations on the approach, known as reading workshop, are catching on5. To be fair, the success is not all that surprising, particularly if you’re someone who actually went through the draining experience of high school English. I find it more surprising that schools are only now beginning to adopt such programs. Letting kids choose what they want to read, as opposed to forcing them only to read what is required by the system in place, produces results that are not only not surprising, but astonishingly obvious: kids actually want to read. Why? There are probably complicated answers to that, but the most obvious is: kids who get to make a choice have a higher likelihood of enjoying that choice. The concern, then, is with the process of changing our methods of teaching literature, of meeting the demands of students as they change with the future. The classics should still be upheld, even revered for how they have shaped our past, but mixing the old with the new is a way of creating an amalgamated pedagogical monster that does for reading, and literature
Book Review Up: Unholy Domain by Dan Ronco
Not much to say. I didn’t like this one. You can see my reasons here. I think I’m getting pickier and pickier with each book I read…
Crossing Genres: Is Cross Genre SF Killing Science Fiction?
Somewhere in the genre community there is someone blaming the death of science fiction on all those bastards mixing their filthy mysteries and romances with the hardcore awesomeness of SF. I don’t know where they are, but knowing the SF/F community as well as I do, I have no doubt that they exist, frothing at the mouth every time an author like Michael Chabon or Richard Morgan or *insert cross genre author here* tosses out a new, critically acclaimed book. After all, cross genre SF is a terrible amalgam that is systemically tearing down science fiction, piece by piece, right? Hardly. Cross genre is perhaps the best thing to happen to science fiction since the golden age, at least as far as being an intentional “movement.” What cross genre does is exactly what science fiction needs to convince people that it’s not the same thing it always was, that it’s not the spaceships and explosions and Star Wars/Star Trek rip-offs that too many people have allowed to flood their minds. It’s more than that. It’s complicated narratives involving anything from intense murder mysteries to complex relationships to interstellar battles. Spaceships and explosions may exist, but they are not contingent; they are probably elements of a particular brand of SF, a brand that cross genre circumvents, or, perhaps less negatively, moves around to take the genre in new directions. SF, ultimately, is better off with these non-traditional narratives injected into it. We need the mixture in SF as much as we need ideas and strong prose, especially if SF expects to survive and continue to be relevant. SF has to be able to move around, to work its way into the cracks of other genres and remind people that it’s there and ready to cause some literary damage. What do you think of cross genre SF? Do you hate it or think it’s great? Let me know!