April 10: Science fiction, double feature
Science fiction double feature
is the first song on the Rocky Horror Show soundtrack. As a standalone,
it plays like a tribute to the B-movies of science fiction's golden
age. The very first line references Michael Rennie and his movie, the
Day the Earth Stood Still, which is about an alien invasion of Earth.
And no, the aliens are not hostile. They are benevolent in the same way that a doctor administering a lethal injection to a rabid dog is benevolent. The aliens noticed Earthlings experimenting with nuclear bombs and they are here to tell us to cut it out and live peacefully or they will put an end to it.
If there was oil, or gold, on other planets and we had the ability to go there, you can't tell me that we wouldn't.
*
Listen:
Most science fiction is actually fantasy. Let Ray Bradbury explain why.
"The difference between science fiction and fantasy is that fantasy can't happen. Science fiction can." - Ray Bradbury.
Time travel is impossible, therefore all movies that deal with time travel are of the fantasy genre. That makes the Terminator a fantasy.
Star Wars is also a fantasy because it deals with the Force, aliens that speak English, Death Stars, Tie fighters, intelligent robots, and light sabres.
Major League is also a fantasy because in it, the Cleveland Indians win the championship.
Sorry dad.
*
Ray Bradbury said that Fahrenheit 451 was the only science fiction novel he'd ever published. The Martian Chronicles, he said, were fantasy - a retelling of Greek myth, but on Mars. No one in their right mind would file Clash of the Titans under "science fiction" would they?
I rest my case.
*
The problem is that we use imagery to differentiate between the two genres instead of classical definitions.
If it has dragons and knights and wizards and magic spells and Quidditch and hobbits and Middle Earth and elves and dwarves and two-handed bastard swords of plus 5 with a plus 3 bonus against paralysis, it's fantasy.
But if it has spaceships and aliens and the Starship Enterprise, it's science fiction.
This is inaccurate but it's probably also necessary. Otherwise, most movies would be considered fantasy because they are filled with stuff that just can't happen. Even characters in the most plausible of films speak with dialogue that at least a dozen writers have toyed with. That doesn't happen in everyday life. The average person just isn't that articulate.
*
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I want Neapolitan ice cream right now. I don't know why. I just do.
*
Come to think of it, I don't know of many movies that don't qualify as fantasy. I'll try to name some:
- Glengarry Glen Ross
- Good Morning Vietnam
- The Killing Fields
- Schindler's List
- My Dinner with André
And now I am bored of that.
*
Once I saw the movie Sin City in the theatre. It was fantasy but it was classified as film noir. I say it was fantasy because it featured stuff that couldn't happen, like people surviving after jumping out if fifth storey apartment windows or people not dying after getting shot in the head.
I went to see Sin City with a lady, who did not like it. As payback, I went with her to see The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. It was fantasy because it featured a pair of jeans that magically changed sizes depending on who was wearing them.
*
I used to love the Rocky Horror Show. I am embarrassed to admit this. I think everyone should see it at least once in a movie theatre, but that's it. It's an experience you don't need to relive over again.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the worst thing that ever could have happened to Tim Curry. Here is one of the greatest English actors who is forever typecast as Dr. Frank-N-Furter. Had Jack Nicholson not agreed to play the Joker in the 1989 version of Batman, Tim Curry was the second choice and, you know, I really wish he got the role. Now, filmgoers have to get their Tim Curry fix watching him perform in secondhand fare like Clue, Annie, and Scary Movie 2.
*
I'll end this note by saying one of the reasons I enjoyed Rocky Horror so much was that I had a pretty severe crush on Little Nell, the Australian actress who played Columbia. So strange because she is so not my type of woman.
If there was such a thing as time travel, I might travel back to 1975 just so I could meet her.
And no, the aliens are not hostile. They are benevolent in the same way that a doctor administering a lethal injection to a rabid dog is benevolent. The aliens noticed Earthlings experimenting with nuclear bombs and they are here to tell us to cut it out and live peacefully or they will put an end to it.
If there was oil, or gold, on other planets and we had the ability to go there, you can't tell me that we wouldn't.
*
Listen:
Most science fiction is actually fantasy. Let Ray Bradbury explain why.
"The difference between science fiction and fantasy is that fantasy can't happen. Science fiction can." - Ray Bradbury.
Time travel is impossible, therefore all movies that deal with time travel are of the fantasy genre. That makes the Terminator a fantasy.
Star Wars is also a fantasy because it deals with the Force, aliens that speak English, Death Stars, Tie fighters, intelligent robots, and light sabres.
Major League is also a fantasy because in it, the Cleveland Indians win the championship.
Sorry dad.
*
Ray Bradbury said that Fahrenheit 451 was the only science fiction novel he'd ever published. The Martian Chronicles, he said, were fantasy - a retelling of Greek myth, but on Mars. No one in their right mind would file Clash of the Titans under "science fiction" would they?
I rest my case.
*
The problem is that we use imagery to differentiate between the two genres instead of classical definitions.
If it has dragons and knights and wizards and magic spells and Quidditch and hobbits and Middle Earth and elves and dwarves and two-handed bastard swords of plus 5 with a plus 3 bonus against paralysis, it's fantasy.
But if it has spaceships and aliens and the Starship Enterprise, it's science fiction.
This is inaccurate but it's probably also necessary. Otherwise, most movies would be considered fantasy because they are filled with stuff that just can't happen. Even characters in the most plausible of films speak with dialogue that at least a dozen writers have toyed with. That doesn't happen in everyday life. The average person just isn't that articulate.
*
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I want Neapolitan ice cream right now. I don't know why. I just do.
*
Come to think of it, I don't know of many movies that don't qualify as fantasy. I'll try to name some:
- Glengarry Glen Ross
- Good Morning Vietnam
- The Killing Fields
- Schindler's List
- My Dinner with André
And now I am bored of that.
*
Once I saw the movie Sin City in the theatre. It was fantasy but it was classified as film noir. I say it was fantasy because it featured stuff that couldn't happen, like people surviving after jumping out if fifth storey apartment windows or people not dying after getting shot in the head.
I went to see Sin City with a lady, who did not like it. As payback, I went with her to see The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. It was fantasy because it featured a pair of jeans that magically changed sizes depending on who was wearing them.
*
I used to love the Rocky Horror Show. I am embarrassed to admit this. I think everyone should see it at least once in a movie theatre, but that's it. It's an experience you don't need to relive over again.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the worst thing that ever could have happened to Tim Curry. Here is one of the greatest English actors who is forever typecast as Dr. Frank-N-Furter. Had Jack Nicholson not agreed to play the Joker in the 1989 version of Batman, Tim Curry was the second choice and, you know, I really wish he got the role. Now, filmgoers have to get their Tim Curry fix watching him perform in secondhand fare like Clue, Annie, and Scary Movie 2.
*
I'll end this note by saying one of the reasons I enjoyed Rocky Horror so much was that I had a pretty severe crush on Little Nell, the Australian actress who played Columbia. So strange because she is so not my type of woman.
If there was such a thing as time travel, I might travel back to 1975 just so I could meet her.
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