In this regard, he was a persistent critic of American Exceptionalism, the profoundly Protestant notion that America has been singled out by God as a uniquely virtuous nation.-- James L. Fredericks, American Innocence
In the pop culture sense, ABC always plays footsie with our American Innocence, and somehow gets it right. In comedy it might be Ugly Betty, overcoming Vanessa Williams, but in science fiction, the theme always seems to be The Hero who walks alone wants to understand God, and the alien is a stand in for the supernatural being we don't quite know how to trust. Nevertheless, Defying Gravity intrigued and it would be nice if someone in the studio system brought it back for the Grand Unification.
the whispers tries again, and like Halle Berry's Extant, it is a more sophisticated upgrade on the collective threat in Village of the Damned, but the threat is not an ideology; it is the overwhelming complexity of systems. Whatever Drill is, however, it is not representative of Grand Unification, but rather the Grand Spanking. the whispers has moments, chilling connections we need to make between childhood lack of comprehension and unspeakable tragedy, but the screen writers guild is recycling a formula of ominous invader friend in disguise. Asimov took care of that over 40 years ago by merging space opera (The Foundation) and stripping AI of sentimentality (I, Robot). I cannot remember the entire plot of trilogy plus sequel, and fail to recall how the Mule utilized mind control and was ultimately vanquished-- but the end was cold. Protagonist discovers Robot essentially takes the role of Creator, and that is a very likely possibility for our future.
My favorite science fiction film is not the most technically sophisticated, and nor the most complex classic, but I like how Soylent Green works as a film, for it also bespeaks to real possibilities within our caste system where we cannibalize ourselves as it is.
I pitched to Commonweal a few times, contradictory Atheist Catholic I.
No comments:
Post a Comment