I am very excited about the movies that are coming out this summer. Several of these movies have a somewhat geek element about them. When I was in high school there was a certain group of kids that liked “The Transformers” and “G.I. Joe”. For the most part these were not the cool kids. There was a certain group of people who read comic books and loved super heroes. These genres were not looked upon as acceptable in the world of my high school. Even in my young adult life people to not associate “Star Trek” with successful, responsible, adulthood. Despite all these societal reservations, I have and will probably always love these things. It does my little geek heart good when I see so many of the things that I grew up with in the mainstream. It’s nice to go to work and see people with Batman T shirts. It is nice to see my 10 year old piano students who don’t read anything, reading Harry Potter. I think that the reason people flock to these genres is that they provide a sense of hope. The hope is that individuals can make a difference and that we working together can affect change. That is a concept that should follow all of us from childhood, to adolescence, into adulthood. I find it sad that to many people part of growing up means to stop dreaming and to stop believing that the extraordinary is possible. We sacrifice what we want to see the world become for the idea that it is unrealistic to expect anything better. I think that dreaming is very important. I think when we give up on possibilities too early we may miss wonderful opportunities. In any event this summer movie season is filled with images from my childhood that sparked my imagination. This is a list of the movies that I am looking most forward to seeing.
Star Trek
I am so excited about this film. I think that the TV shows Lost and Alias are two of the best written shows that have ever been on TV. They are amazingly inventive, extremely well thought out, and keep the audience guessing. Imagine my surprise when I went to a Star Trek convention last year (yes I said it. I didn’t dress up) and I heard that J.J. Abrams was a star trek fan and was doing the next Star Trek movie. Star Trek has been around since 1966. I think underneath the sometimes bad acting and the cheesy sets of the 1960s is the ability to criticize society with out being preachy. The satire and criticism are what makes this show great. This show has continued to remake itself. There remains a message of hope with every successive generation. The hope is that as bad as the world looks, mankind will solve its problems and create a wonderful society. Even with all of our problems today, there is still the potential that mankind will unite and not only make peace with on earth, but forge relationships with beings that are not even from this planet. Some may say this is a bit unrealistic but nevertheless an appealing idea.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
The X-Men universe is probably my favorite super hero universe. The X-Men universe provides an interesting critique of American society. One of the prevalent themes is how we treat people that are different then us. Indeed the storyline in X-Men can be applied to the civil rights movement, Immigration, Gay Marriage and a whole host of other things in our society. This storyline forces us to ask questions about ourselves and the people around us. It highlights issues of tolerance and makes us see that sometimes we may be on the wrong side of an issue. X2 was one of the best super hero movies I have seen in a while so I am very excited to see this one.
Terminator Salvation
“The Terminator” was one of my favorite science fiction movies when I was a kid. I love the time travel aspect as well as the future apocalyptic horror. The sense of impending doom that the story generated along with all the plot twist and the chase aspect made for a great movie. The struggle of average good people against an invincible enemy left me riveted for hours. Add to that the car chases and the special effects and you have a timeless classic. To be honest I was not all that excited about this movie until I got into the “Sarah Connor Chronicles”. I am interested to see how this movie fills in the answers to all the questions that previous Terminator movies and TV shows have generated. It will also be interesting to actually see the war that has been eluded to in all the other movies.
Angels & Demons
One of the most exciting books I have ever read. I read it in 3 days. Let me just say READ THE BOOK BEFORE YOU WATCH THIS MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This book is amazing on so many levels. The chase aspect and the suspense parts of this book are amazing. The interaction between science and religion was especially appealing to me. Science and religion are two very big parts of my life. The amount of information presented in this book about American history and the Catholic Church will amaze. You will feel smarter after you have read it. I do not expect the book to be as great as the movie. The DaVinci code was a good movie but still not as good as the book. I am always interested to see what things the movie makers choose not to include. I will read any book that Dan Brown writes and I will probably see any movie based on a Dan Brown book.
G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra
I LOVED G.I JOE when the TV show came out. I collected the toys well into high school. This show was the centerpiece of many of my weekday afternoons. While it may seem silly the show is more relevant today then ever. What was the subplot of G.I. JOE? Do you remember it? “G.I. JOE is the code name for America’s highly trained special mission force. Its purpose, to defend freedom against COBRA, a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world.” Sound familiar? That is now the world we live in. A world with AL-Qaeda, navy SEALS and Somali Pirates. When this show came out in the 80s that idea seemed really far fetched but here we are. In any case the show was very entertaining and I am very excited about the movie.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
This show is the other staple of my childhood TV life. A very well thought out cartoon. It has a storyline that spans eons complete with ancient robot civilizations and futuristic technologies. I was a little disappointed with the storytelling of the first transforms movie. The special effects were great and therefore this movie franchise is worthy of a second chance.
Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince
I have loved all of these movies. I have not read any of the books. They are on my list of stuff to read but I just haven’t gotten around to it. The effects are great. I love the story telling and I really love the look of these movies. The order of the phoenix on IMAX was amazing especially considering the last 20 minutes were in 3D. Every time I see these movies I want to be a student at Hogwarts. The idea that there is this wizard reality that parallels our own is a very appealing concept.
There is also a “Land of the Lost” movie and a film called “Moon” that was at the Philly Film Fest but I didn’t get to see it. Add to that there is a “Sherlock Holmes” movie coming out Christmas day. I was really into Sherlock Holmes as a kid. It is one of the things that made me start reading as a kid. This promises to be a great summer for movies. I am writing this article on the night that I am going to see Wolverine at midnight. I’d love to hear what summer movies you are looking forward to.
LET THE SUMMER OF GEEK BEGIN!!!!!!
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2 comments:
Great stuff as always Spoon and I could not agree more that this summer could, and should rock. What a lineup. I cannot figure out what I am more excited for among my own favorite three: Star Trek, Terminator or GI Joe. Either way it should be a great summer.
I agree with you that Star Trek (and a lot of other sci-fi) is about hope & that is the most alluring aspect for me. I also hate the prejudice in society that most ST fans are losers. I can guarantee that every scientist who has made an impact on human society/culture since 1967 has been a fan - at least casually - of ST. Also, *a lot* of other successful people are fans, ie, the frakin' President of the United States of America! (Casually, & Bill Clinton was a casual fan as well). In fact, most fans are not of the loser variety people think of. Most actually do something w/ their life!
Still, there are problems with sci-fi. Terminator, for example, often feels very conservative for me. It feels like it is about "OMG! The evil "other" [that we have some responsibility for] are coming to get us [b/c of bad things we did to them 1st]." It just seems pro-USA, celebrating those of us w/ "approved" European heritage and those w/o such heritage who recognize the "approved" group as the best of the nation.
Other problems include sexism, homophobia & misogyny. Comics are rife with this. Most books I have ever read are sexist - not just toward attitudes about women, but about men, as well. The ideals of these books (subtle as they may sometimes be), are based from strict & harmful gender roles and unhealthy attitudes about what we should look like. Like other genres, sci-fi & fantansy too often use the weak plot device of a woman being tortured to further a man's emotional growth. Really? Men can only grow emotionally if a woman they know is tortured to death? And tho after the fact we are supposed to feel bad about these deaths, they are often illustrated (on page or screen) in a violence-glorifying titilating manner.
All that was actually difficult for me to say b/c I really do love sci-fi and fantasy. Despite these problems I've briefly (and understatedly) laid out, these genres do indeed offer more hope about overcoming these societal & cultural problems that other genres. At least sci-fi and fantasy make the attempts to discuss socially & culturally relevant issues that other genres are afraid of! And most comic books to come from the 1960s and later were inspired by a desire to speak out *against* racism, classism (re: helping the poverty class), war/violence, sometimes even homophobia & sexism.
There is a sub-group of fans who are losers. Sometimes they embody the negative stereotypes associated w/ the rest of us. But mostly they are losers b/c they want to do the opposite of what sci-fi and fantasy are about: they want to be exclusive. They want an all man-child club, all (or mostly) white, all straight. Sometimes they try to pass themselves as "above society's problems" (ie, racism, sexism, homophobia, classism) - but they are the promogulators. All they want are explosions, no thought, large breasted/skinny waisted physically (often sexually) tortured women and vilification of the other who looks so radically different from them. And while it make be ok for a manly man like Wolverine to smack a friend on the ass (tho doubt he would, or at least it would be rare & ironic), and less manly-man doing so would be "whoa, that's gay man" and maybe a "not that there's anything wrong with that" thrown in, surely followed by "as long as Mr. Fruity Fruit keeps his hands off me!"
Oh my, I intended to end on a high note about sci-fi and fantasy. Ok, here it is: Hooray for the success of Harry Potter and for JJ Abrams helming the relaunch of Star Trek b/c JK Rowlings & JJ Abrams genuinely grok the best of sci-fi and fantasy and what these genres can do (inform, inspire & entertain!). Hopefully, more people on involved with these genres will follow in their footsteps!
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