My Hopes and Anticipations for Science Fiction and Fantasy in 2014
2014 is almost upon us, and I’m already thinking about what is to come. What will 2014 be like? Will it be awesome? Will someone release a stunning science fiction novel or an exciting YA fantasy or an *epic* epic fantasy? The only way to find out is to live long enough to see it, I suppose (that’s my early New Year’s resolution). But I do have my hopes for next year. Big, juicy hopes. And they are as follows: A World SF Sorta Year If you don’t already know, my SF/F podcast, The Skiffy and Fanty Show, is hosting a massive World SF Tour throughout 2014. We’ve already lined up a lot of great folks from all over the world, and that’s just for the first couple months. This thing has barely begun. Since the World SF blog has ended, I’m hoping this special season of the show will help fill the gap a bit. More importantly, I really hope we’ll open further dialogue between (and within) the western SF/F spheres and the equally valuable spheres from elsewhere. We should be talking to each other, and this whole Internet thing is a great way to make that possible. So I really hope we’ll spark a bit of a discussion in the community. That would be a great thing indeed. No Kerfluffles I know this dream will never come true, but I’m putting it here anyway. I would really like to see a year in the SF/F world that doesn’t include fiascos and people saying racist, sexist, or downright douchey things. Just for one year. Please. Please? The Author List Here are all the authors whose work I’m looking forward to in 2014 (assuming they’re releasing anything) Myke Cole (Breach Zone comes out in a month, and I get to interview him with my bestie. So, basically, my life is awesome right now.) Stina Leicht (I don’t think she’ll have anything out next year, but I hear she’s working on something that’s super cool beans — I may have the inside scoop.) China Mieville (It better be clever. Oh, hell, who am I kidding? Of course it will be clever!) Lauren Beukes (Will she ever stop writing awesome books? No. Never. EVER!) Ann Leckie (I quite liked Ancillary Justice and am eagerly anticipating the sequel. I’m told it’ll be an even stronger book.) Nick Mamatas writing noir crime fiction (because that should be very interesting indeed) Nalo Hopkinson (Sister Mine was fantastic, so if she releases anything next year, I’ll be happy) Tobias S. Buckell (more Xenowealth stuff, please!) Yoon Ha Lee (I have dreams that she’ll release a novel and that it will be the most amazing thing since the invention of air.) Christopher Barzak (two things: 1) I demand more writing in any form imaginable, and 2) I cannot wait to see the film adaptation of One For Sorrow) Karen Lord (she could release a story on a restaurant napkin and I’d probably still read it enthusiastically) Brian Francis Slattery (Lost Everything was genius, so another novel would be amazing) That’s not an exhaustive list, obviously. They’re names that came up when I started thinking about this whole thing. I’d also love to see something new from Alden Bell, Jane Rogers, and even some translated works from China and the surrounding nations (Vietnam, Thailand, South Korea, etc.). I’d also love to see some groundbreaking SF/F next year. I haven’t the foggiest what that would look like, but I do think we’re overdue for a year that really throws us SF/F folks for a loop. Dialogue Reboot This is somewhat related to the kerfluffle thing above. Basically, I think it would be lovely if we could actually have a dialogue about things like sexual harassment at cons, sexism in SF/F, racism in SF/F, and so on. A discussion. A talk. Not two groups screaming at each other or self-segregating out of convenience. I realize this is a tall order, in part because disparate groups simply don’t agree about things, but I think we could get a lot more done if these issues were discussed more openly without the need to simply reject every claim. This is also a completely absurd request. Movies I anticipate that the following will be true in 2014: Marvel will continue to dominate in film. With X-Men: Days of Future Past, Captain America: the Winter Soldier, and Guardians of the Galaxy coming our way, it’s hard to imagine Marvel won’t be king for another year. Science fiction will dominate. With Edge of Tomorrow, Interstellar, the Marvel films, Hunger Games 3, The Giver, and Jupiter Ascending expected to hit theaters next year, I strongly suspect SF will be all the rage (as it was this year, really). Robocop will probably be a lot of fun, but I expect it to bomb. I couldn’t care less about Transformers 1132424 or The Maze Runner (it will bomb). But I expect those other films to do quite well. Science fiction will not receive any major award nominations in categories people remember (namely, best director, actor/actress (lead or supporting), or best picture), and at least one of the films released this year will have deserved to have been on those lists. Hunger Games 3 will be the knockout of the year. If Hunger Games 2 is any indicator of this franchise’s success, you can expect the (supposedly two part) finale to rock the box office. Fantasy will mostly suck in 2014. There are a couple of decent movies coming, and I have no doubt the genre will make a pretty penny, but I really don’t think there will be anything of serious note from the fantasy genre next year. The Hugos (and Other Awards) When the awards season rolls around, I suspect a lot of people will be annoyed and pissed off again. I look forward to a thoughtful discussion about the merits of these awards that leads to something worthwhile (like changes or new, viable awards). Or we’ll just have another pissing match. I’m getting quite
Top 10 Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies Since 2010 (Thus Far)
This is just the beginning. I’m going to make an announcement about this very topic after I pass my PhD candidacy exams in September. For now, however, I’d like to offer a list of films I consider to be “the best” in the SF/F category for the years 2010-2013 (thus far). By “the best,” I mean “films I think are good movies as movies.” A lot of these films were quite popular when they were in theaters, but I’m not concerned by popularity here. I’m only concerned with what I think are well-written and/or well-produced films. A film with a thin plot can still be great if it does something more than just throw lots of action at the audience to hide its flaws (this is why you will see no Michael Bay films on the list). And on that note, I will shut up. The following are the top 10 SF/F movies released since 2010…for now (this list will change as I start to watch things I missed): 10. Chronicle (2012) While I’m not a huge fan of the found-footage film form, occasionally they are done right. Chronicle is one of those times. The semi-diary-format superhero story coupled with a narrative about the psychological impact of parental abuse and death stuck with me after I saw it in theaters. I connected with the main character almost immediately, in part because I’ve had similar experiences (minus the super powers). The director also does a pretty damn good job cobbling together the fictive pieces of the main character’s film diary, gaps and all. That earns it a spot on this list. 9. John Dies at the End (2012) This movie is weird. Really weird. But it’s also the kind of brilliant mix of camp and horror that one expects from Don Coscarelli, Jr. If you haven’t seen the film (and like Coscarelli’s work), I recommend watching it on Netflix. I can’t describe it to you. It’s, as I said, really freaking weird, and relentless in its descent into insanity. It’s sort of what I’d expect someone who just saw Cthulu to dream as they slowly fall to pieces. Only John Dies at the End is hilarious, surreal, and dark. 8. Pacific Rim (2013) You can learn all about my love for this film here. 7. Pumzi (released in the U.S. in 2010) The only short film of this list, Wanuri Kahiu’s incredible dystopian film Pumzi took academic circles by storm in 2010. For such a short work, it manages to bring a lot to the table: a thoroughly African setting (I suspect there are cultural clues specific to Kahiu’s native Kenya, but I know too little about that nation to say for sure); a fascinating post-apocalyptic “green utopian” society; and some interesting uses of technology. I’d say the film is cliche, but the semi-mystic undertones and the ambiguous final vertical panning shot over a seemingly threatening climate on the other side of the mountains make this one of the best films released in the last three years, if only because I’ve had some intense discussions about that ending. 6. Another Earth (2011) While action and straightforward SF films are wonderful when done right, sometimes a character drama in an SFnal universe can make for exceptional cinematic experiences. Brit Marling and Mike Cahill’s Another Earth uses its SF premise (a planet that looks suspiciously like our own earth appears suddenly in the sky) to provide an extended metaphor about second chances. The interaction between Rhoda (Marling) and John (William Mapother) as they both come to terms with the horrors of their connected pasts (unbeknownst to John, whose family was killed in a car accident caused by Rhoda) had me captivated all the way through. And like all good character dramas, the ending provides an ambiguous solution to the primary conflict in the narrative. It’s just a damned good film. 5. Elysium (2013) You can find out what I think about this movie here. I’m likely to write several blog posts about the film, though. I think it’s actually quite an intelligent film, despite all the critics who call it propaganda, stupid, pointlessly utopian, and so on (it is neither of these things). 4. Hugo (2011) The only children’s film on this list, Hugo‘s charming story about family and French cinema deserved a lot more love than it got when the awards season came around. Asa Butterfield’s exceptional performance as the title character, along with equally strong performances by Ben Kingsley and Chloe Moretz, added depth to an already exceptional and brilliantly-imagined film. It most certainly belongs on a top ten list for children’s films from the last decade! For now, I’ve stuck it here. 3. Never Let Me Go (2010) I’m a sucker for Carey Mulligan films, I guess. This low-key dystopia centralizes the personal growth and development of a trio of clones who will one day have their organs harvested by the British state. I saw this film for the first time with my sister, and I recall the feeling of dread and horror that arises in the final moments — feelings that just wouldn’t exist without the direct focus on these three characters as characters. It’s not a film for everyone, but I think it’s easily one of the best SF/F films ever made. 2. Cloud Atlas (2012) This one shouldn’t surprise anyone. The Wachowski sibling’s adaptation of David Mitchell’s epic novel of the same name didn’t get a lot of love from the traditional SF crowd, but I wasn’t surprised by that in the slightest. More critics and viewers loved Prometheus than Cloud Atlas; I think it’s fair to say that the former is a steaming pile of glittering shit stained with oils made from petrified dinosaur crap (here’s what I really think about that movie…). Cloud Atlas, however, is an incredible journey into the interconnected lives of individuals existing across various time periods. Every time I see the film, I make new connections between characters, discover new ambiguities
Flavorwire “SF/F Films Everyone Should See” Meme: How many have you seen?
The fine folks at Flavorwire recently released a list of 50 SF/F films they think everyone should watch (technically, there are 63 titles on the list, since they counted series as one). I figured it would be fun to turn it into a meme. So here you go: BOLD = You’ve seen it! E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Pan’s Labyrinth Moon The Fellowship of the Ring The Two Towers The Return of the King The Princess Bride Labyrinth Men in Black Edward Scissorhands Mad Max Princess Mononoke Spirited Away Gattaca Primer Blade Runner Fantastic Planet The Wizard of Oz The Secret of Roan Inish Dark City The Matrix Time Bandits Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark La Jetée Brazil Metropolis Big Fish Solaris (original) Jurassic Park Alien Aliens Orpheus Dark Star 2001: A Space Odyssey Avatar Back to the Future Star Wars IV: A New Hope Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back Star Wars VI: The Return of the Jedi Close Encounters of the Third Kind A Clockwork Orange Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb The Fountain Sleeper City of Lost Children Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt.1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt.2 The Day the Earth Stood Still (original) Donnie Darko Invasion of the Body Snathers (original) Ghostbusters Being John Malkovich Akira The Terminator Terminator 2 Strange Days Serenity I count 49. That’s not bad, methinks… How did you do?
Star Trek Movies and TV Shows: Ranked by Me
On August 11th, Badass Digest released a Trekkie-voted ranked list of all the Star Trek movies to date (plus Galaxy Quest, for some reason). It’s a strange list, to say the least. Why is Galaxy Quest on there? Other than the fact that it’s a mostly-direct parody of Star Trek, it isn’t actually a Star Trek movie. And why did they stick Star Trek Into Darkness at the end, when it’s obviously not the worst film on the list? OK, so I have a good answer for that last question. We talked about this a little in a recent Shoot the WISB episode. Basically, the reversal of the Khan narrative probably came off as a slap in the face to Trekkies. I even think it smelled disgusting, even though I kind of like the idea of switching things around. After all, Spock isn’t supposed to be an emotional man, so the idea that he’d break down after the supposed death of Kirk adds some weight to the moment. But…it wasn’t handled well. There wasn’t enough character development; the death of Kirk was handled in the way you’d expect a comic book to handle it: he’s dead…wait, no, not really, here’s some magic *poof.* At least in Wrath of Khan, Spock died. He was dead dead dead. The film never says “hey, we’ll magic him into existence…right at the end.” If you’ve never seen Search for Spock, you really do think the guy has friggin died. And that’s a big deal. The audience sometimes needs that slap in the face. But I digress. Prepare to be pissed off. The following is my ranked list of Star Trek movies, minus Galaxy Quest: 12. Star Trek (you can see why I still hate the film here and here) 11. Star Trek: Insurrection (the villains just didn’t do it for me; it felt too much like an unnecessarily extended episode of the regular show, and the absurdity of the plot never seemed to gel or follow through for me, despite some nifty action sequences in the end) 10. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (I want to like this film, but too much of this film’s central elements are ridiculously underdeveloped; for example, both Sybok and the “god” thing at the end are given almost the same amount of characterization, despite the fact that the latter is only in the film for maybe seven minutes — we never really know who Sybok is, except that he’s kinda nuts) 9. Star Trek: Nemesis (there are certainly a lot of problems with this film, most notably in the convoluted plot; however, Tom Hardy does a fantastic job as Shinzon, and Captain Kirk really does almost get sucked dry like a character in a vampire movie, which seemed pretty cool to me) 8. Star Trek Into Darkness (though I quite enjoy this sequel to Abrams’ first ST film, it certainly suffers from reboot-idis; case in point, the fact that the writers could not include Khan in this version of the universe without making annoying and poorly conceived references to the original Wrath of Khan. More on my thoughts, along with some others, here) 7. Star Trek: Generations (I think if I watched this movie again, I’d like it a lot less than I do in my memory; that said, I love the continued development of Data as a character, let alone the fact that this film really does give a lot of closure to the original TNG series — plus, saucer separation = awesome) 6. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (the one thing the original ST movies did well was comedic development between the principle cast; having Spock’s katra, or soul, trapped in McCoy’s body pretty much makes for comedic gold. Add in Christopher Lloyd as the villain and you’ve got a pretty decent ST film) 5. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (while the villain doesn’t have quite the prowess of Khan, his obsession with Shakespeare adds a certain creep factor to this otherwise straightforward political assassination thriller — overall, I thought it did pretty damn well for itself, particularly considering the political implications of an alliance between the Federation and the Klingon Empire) 4. Star Trek: First Contact (the Borg are probably my favorite villain species in the entire ST franchise; the best part of this film, however, involves seeing humanity make that first stretch to the stars and all that comes with it) 3. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (I know a lot of people hate this movie, but I’ve always found it infinitely fascinating; it kept with the original narrative of exploration at the heart of the show, and the discovery itself was so cool) 2. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (you all know why this is in the top two slots; everyone loves this movie) 1. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (my grandma loved this movie, and so she made me watch it…a lot. Obviously, it still has a special place in my heart, and it played a crucial role in my childhood love of whales and the ocean. Also: the movie still makes me laugh) And here’s my ranked list of Star Trek TV shows: 6. Star Trek: the Animated Series (it exists, and that’s good enough for me) 5. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (there are aspects of this show I really like, but the fact that it takes until season two for anything interesting to happen and that some of the actors are just horrible makes me unable to move this higher on the list) 4. Star Trek: the Original Series (it’s classic, I know, but I didn’t grow up on the original series, so I can only put it in the #4 slot because of its classic nature — don’t kill me) 3. Star Trek: Enterprise (everyone hates this one for some reason; I liked the attempt to have a single narrative riding through everything and the focus on humanity as the new kid on the proverbial block. I’m also in agreement with
Retro Nostalgia: Aliens (1986) and Ripley’s Maternities (Some Rambly Thoughts)
(What follows are some random thoughts I had while re-watching James Cameron’s Aliens. I’d love to open up a nice discussion about the film, so feel free to leave a comment agreeing/disagreeing with or adding to my argument(s).) I’ve always loved the relationship between Ripley and Hicks. Obviously, it’s implied that there’s a significant romantic link between them, but the film makes light of it through jokes, in part so the very real problem — survival in the face of certain death — never falls prey to the romantic narrative underneath. And there’s also a sense — for me, anyway — that Ripley and Hicks don’t actually have to develop a romantic relationship for there to be something between them. A lot of people also read Aliens as a narrative about maternity. I’ve started to think about the narrative as a metaphor for unexpected parenthood (and child mortality), too. If you think about it, the first chunk of the film focuses on Ripley’s return to the world; one of the reveals is the death of her child, whose death she cannot prevent. While an inaccurate metaphor for infant mortality or some equally naturalistic death of one’s child, these sections of the film seem remarkably like a story about a parent dealing with the death of a child. In this interpretation, Burke takes the form of a father (I can’t think of a single mention of the biological father of Ripley’s daughter, so I assume one of the two is out of the picture — probably Ripley, which is unusual in the real world). Since Burke represents Ripley for the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, who seem to be the ones in control of everything, he also acts as a kind of father figure in the remotest sense. Her relationship with him, as such, is strained by his link to the Company and to her past (i.e., the death of her child, etc.). I also think there’s something profoundly disturbing to read into Burke’s actions near the end of the film, in which he tries to infect/impregnate Newt and Ripley with xenomorphs (a rape and child abuse metaphor?). The other maternity narrative is one we’ve all probably heard before: Ripley’s “adoption” of Newt. I think of Newt not necessarily as the adopted child in a traditional sense, but more as a discovery of a child you didn’t know you had. Ripley jumps into the role of mother figure quite naturally (she is technically a mother, after all), but she also seems to acknowledge the distance between them. These two elements suggest to me that Newt is supposed to take the place of an unexpected child. But I’ll admit that this idea is not as thought out as I would like. I won’t suggest that Aliens is a perfect film from a feminist perspective, but it’s hard to imagine it as anything else. Every aspect of the narrative involves questions about the place of women in worlds that for so long have been the domain of men. After all, in 1986, women didn’t serve in combat positions in the U.S. In Aliens, they do (even Ripley, though she sort of gets roped into it). Women are shown doing a lot of things our culture likes to tell them they can’t do. They can have children and work jobs “meant for men.” They can serve in the military, use weapons or heavy machinery, fly complicated aircraft, fight for themselves, and on and on and on. True, most of the women die in this movie, but so do most of the men. This is one of the reasons why I love this movie. It doesn’t pander to a masculine audience in the same way as other SF action movies. Ripley isn’t eye candy here. She doesn’t run around bending over so you can see her toned abs or the curves of her breasts or her toosh or whatever (not that she’s not physically attractive, mind, but most of the characters in this movie end up covered in filth and wounds; the whole Megan-Fox-bends-over-a-car-so-we-can-stare-and-her-tumtum wouldn’t make any sense in that context). If anything, what makes Ripley such an attractive character is the fact that she is a character. And, honestly, I think she’s probably the greatest female protagonist in all of science fiction. But maybe I’m stretching with that last statement… ——————————————————– Note: I may return to this film for the Retro Nostalgia feature. Keep an eye out for that.
Month of Joy: “The Joy of City Stomping” by David Annandale
Though their heyday was undoubtedly the 1950s and 60s, giant monsters have rampaged through the movies long before and long after the era that saw the arrival of the Big Bugs, Godzilla and friends, and Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion marvels. Obviously, King Kong casts his long shadow from 1933, but before him were the dinosaurs of The Lost World in 1925 (whose climax features the first city rampage), and even earlier, Georges Méliès gave us the likes of the Frost Giant from The Conquest of the Pole in 1912, and the titular Gigantic Devil in 1902. So, when all is said and done, we have had well over a century of giant monsters stomping (or, in Méliès’ case, cavorting) across our screens. Why? I’m trying to tackle the question from a particular angle, given the theme of Shaun’s site this week. What, exactly, is the joy that these creatures give us? And oh, why be coy: what is the joy they give me. They have for as far back as my conscious memories reach. I could go on about the symbolic riches they provide, such as the multiple, simultaneous readings embodied in Kong, the entangling patriarchy of It Came from Beneath the Sea’s octopus (defeated by the ingenuity of Faith Domergue), or Godzilla incarnating nuclear war in one film, enraged nature in another, or the vengeful spirits of the victims of Japanese war crimes in a third. And while it is true that these represent many of the joys I find in monster films now, they are only partial explanations. These reasons are encrustations, new pleasures that have grown on top of the old ones, but the old ones are still there. To put it another way: while I am fascinated by Cloverfield’s allusions to the first Godzilla film as a way of underscoring the big thematic concern shared by both films (the re-enactment, in fantastic terms, of very recent national traumas), there is no getting away from the fact that my biggest thrill in watching that film is the giddy excitement of seeing that monster wreck stuff. Let me put it more nakedly yet: when, in the VHS era, my brother and I were finally able to binge on all the Godzilla films, one of our primary criteria for deciding which ones were better than others was how much real estate was trashed. Monster fights in urban centres were way cooler than slugfests in the countryside (and this is a treat that Pacific Rim delivers in full during the Hong Kong sequence). So there is joy in destruction, as we have known since childhood. Isn’t this the main reason we play with building blocks? So we can spectacularly knock down what we laboriously construct? In this respect, the monster movie and the disaster film offer overlapping pleasures, but not identical ones. To focus only on the falling skyscrapers would be to miss the importance of the monster itself. It has been said (and I apologize for not recalling where I read this first), that one of the reasons children love dinosaurs so much is that they are non-threatening embodiments of power, embodiments that we first encounter when we are at our most powerless. If the power fantasies in super-heroes are ones where we suddenly have the ability to right the wrongs of an imperfect world, the monster gives us the ability to show an unfriendly world exactly what we think of it. Sometimes, we don’t want to save it. Sometimes, we just want to trample it underfoot. And that trampling is justified: with the exception of creatures such as King Ghidorah or Iris, who are the antagonists fought by the protagonist monsters (Godzilla and Gamera, respectively), the truly evil giant creature is rare indeed.* Kong, Godzilla, Gorgo, Gamera, Rodan, Mothra, Gwangi, and so on and on and on, even at their most vicious and destructive, have a core of innocence. They are more sinned against than sinning. It is telling, too, that though the 1954 Godzilla is still arguably the grimmest, most despairing giant monster movie going, and emphatically not aimed at children, it would not be too many years before the reverse would be the case, and the character had become a super-hero. The joyless film somehow leads to the infamous-yet-infectious expression of joy that is Godzilla’s dance in Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965). So the joys of the giant monster films are very much paradoxical. Even in the case of the darkest films (and let there be no mistake: Godzilla is about as bleak as they come), when the fears and traumatic memories of the audience are receiving their fullest, most graphic expression, there is still that anarchic joy to be had. There is still the excitement inherent to the rampage itself. Let me close by suggesting one further possibility. The rampage almost never truly comes out of the blue.** As baffling as the monsters are for the terrified, fleeing masses, there is always a context for them. I propose that we see the creatures as examples of the Event as defined by Alain Badiou: something that a particular system cannot account for, or even imagine, but that is nevertheless a result of that system, and shatters it. Perhaps, then, at some level, our joy is the result of recognizing the monsters as necessary. They’re certainly necessary for my inner child. ————————————————— * Pacific Rim is no different: the evil kaiju are the antagonists, and while the jaegers are robots, it is significant that the opening narration refers to them as “monsters.” ** Cloverfield is an obvious exception here, in that the monster appears to have literally fallen from the sky. Its anomalous position is, I believe, a pointed one: one of the many aspects of 9/11 that the film is evoking is the confusion and terror of those on the ground in the middle of the event, people for whom, at that moment and in that place, the broader picture of why these things are happening is