SF-Related News

[eldritchhobbit]

First of all, happy 199th birthday to what is perhaps my favorite novel and definitely the pioneering work of modern science fiction, Frankenstein! Here are five reasons to celebrate Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley today.



Also, the latest episode of StarShipSofa includes my new "Looking Back on Genre History," part one of a two-part discussion of the relationship of one of my very favorite authors, Lois McMaster Bujold, to fandom (and fan fiction, in particular). Here it is! If you listen, I hope you enjoy!

(And speaking of StarShipSofa, heartfelt thanks to those of you who have helped make Everyone: Worlds Without Walls a reality! We're most grateful to you!)

Last but not least, it seems that I've embarked on an in-depth study of the films of award-winning actor-director-writer Jiang Wen, sort of a personal (and multi-month-long) film festival that also includes reading the popular and scholarly analyses of his work that are available in English. (I've found that his films are kind of dream dining for someone who does intellectual history, though I'm having to brush up a bit on my knowledge of recent China, which, hey, is a good thing.) When that's all done, expect a report, including breakdown of his films with brief reviews/reactions. Consider yourself warned, ha!



I am still recovering from The Ick That Wouldn't Die, but I'm much better than I was. And we're expecting snow tomorrow, which makes me very happy indeed. I hope all of you are doing well, my friends!

Comments

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Frankenstein is a wonderful book and a real favorite of mine. I just wish they would finally make a movie about it that sticks to the actual plot!

Anyway, Happy Birthday to Mary Shelley!

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

I just wish they would finally make a movie about it that sticks to the actual plot!

I know what you mean! There have been so many adaptations, and all of them are unfaithful!

[whswhs.livejournal.com]

Actually, I find it interesting that the novel tells us that the creature is brilliant and originally of good will, but is turned against humanity by the cruelty of society, whereas in the classic movies, he has a defective brain that makes him both brutish and criminal. Those two versions neatly reflect, on one hand, the theory that crime is a product of social abuses, of which William Godwin, Mary Shelley's father, was one of the pioneering advocates; and on the other hand, the theory that criminals are atavistic or otherwise biologically defective, put forth by such writers as Lombroso, which was one of the inspirations for eugenics in the period when the films were made.