Fragile and Varied Masculinities: Road Trip and the Odd World of the 2000s
The 2000s were weird, y’all. Really weird. If, like me, you’ve taken a strange trip down the road of 2000s romantic and (teen/college) sex comedies, you’ll have noticed the curious similarities between so many of them. The 2000s trend probably began with the release of American Pie in 1999, a film that I actually quite enjoy mostly because, unlike most sex comedies of the long-noughties, it actually bothers with the (admittedly incomplete) effort to rehabilitate its immature male protagonists. 1999 was, after all, a transitional year, and sex comedies in the teen/college bracket are, naturally, transitional narratives. In almost all cases, that transition is into some form of adulthood, even when the characters are well into their adult years anyway. Unlike American Pie, though, Road Trip (2000) contains numerous false starts, owing that failure to its inability to grapple with its underlying ethical quandary: what does a man do if he’s the one who has cheated on his girlfriend? But let’s step backwards through time for a hot minute…
On Academic Brain and Compartmentalizing
As an academic, it is often very difficult to shut off the faculties I’ve spent the last fourteen years building. Since I spend almost every day of the week analyzing literature, reading or thinking about theoretical/philosophical texts, I generally use my brain in a very particular way. Turning that off is a chore, but a necessary one. In fact, it is often so difficult to turn off that even some of my colleagues have expressed dismay at the inability or unwillingness of other academics to turn those faculties off just long enough to have a “regular conversation.” It’s a problem I’ve seen, too, and it sometimes results in a distancing effect between those who can’t turn it off and those that can. Since I’m so often engaged in everyday sf/f fandom, the exercise of flipping that little academic switch is, in my opinion, crucial. One such exercise occurred last Sunday when I went with a friend to see Ant-Man, the last entry in Marvel Studio’s Phase 2. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and if I can muster the words to say something intelligent about the film, I’ll write a review for Totally Pretentious. Discussing the film on Twitter eventually prompted a brief discussion with David Annandale and John Stevens about the impact of “academic brain” on one’s ability to enjoy a creative product.
5 Lesser Known SF/F Cold War Films
It seems Ian Sales and I are playing a list challenge game, and this list is sure to disappoint him this round. Why? Because I’m pretty sure two of the options on my list don’t actually qualify except in my head. But we do what we can, no? This time around, I was challenged to come up with a list of 5 lesser known Cold War films that fit roughly in the sf/f genre. The rules were as follows: The film must be sf/f-ish (duh) The film must be set in the historical period called the Cold War OR The film must directly engage with the Cold War via alternate or future history (metaphors and obscure allegories do not count) The film must be “lesser known” based on my interpretation of that phrase Now for the list: