THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
03/21/03 -- Vol. 21, No. 38
Big Cheese: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Little Cheese: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
Back issues at http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
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Topics:
Science Fiction Discussion Group (Old Bridge, NJ)
Not In My Name (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Boskone 40 Convention Report (announcement)
Bollywood 101A (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
TEKNOLUST (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
THE SEPARATION (book review by Evelyn C. Leeper)
This Week's Reading (ROCKET BOYS, WARMLY INSCRIBED)
(book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Science Fiction Discussion Group (Old Bridge, NJ)
The Old Bridge (NJ) library science fiction discussion group will
be meeting Thursday, March 27, at 7:00PM to discuss H. G. Wells's
THE TIME MACHINE. Everyone is welcome--you don't have to be an
Old Bridge resident. [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Not In My Name (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
I was watching THE LORD OF THE RINGS and I heard the passage again
that says it is because of Man (meaning humans) that the Ring was
not destroyed. Hey, let me tell you. I have guilt trips laid on
me because: I am an American, a white, a male, a New Jersey-ite, I
eat meat too often, I don't eat meat often enough, I eat
vegetables, I drive a car, I drive a foreign car, I live
comfortably, I am (moderately) tall, I use technology, I use
energy, and I watch American films. I am darned if I am going get
all humble for some lousy fictional elf who blames me for his
problems. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Boskone 40 Convention Report (announcement)
My Boskone 40 convention report is available at
http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper/bosk40.htm and it's my
longest Boskone report ever (at 116KB). Topics include:
Overthrowing the Bourgeois Hegemony of Panel Discussions
Alternate MediaWorld
Deconstructing the Food Pill
RASFF Party
Art Show Reception
Strange Connections and Secret Histories
Is This the Golden Age of Fantasy Movies?
Adults Invade Kidlit?
Did Tolkien Harm Fantasy?
The One Foot SF and Horror Film Reference Bookshelf
Great Civil War Alternate Histories
Origami
Slipstreamy Stuff
What's Wrong with the Skeptical Movement These Days?
Moby Dick: The Great American SF Novel?
Upcoming Worldcons
On Cloning
What to Nominate for the Hugos
Talking about Movies: Which DVD Commentaries Are Worth
Listening To
The Politics of Literary Acceptance
Savage Humanism
Autographing: David Brin
The Worst Program Item Ever
When Good Writers Go Bad
[-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Bollywood 101A (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
A reader wrote to me about my review of DEVDAS, a Hindi film.
In the resulting discussion I talked a little about Hindi films
in general. It occurred to me that I haven't said much in this
notice about the rising popularity of so-called Bollywood films.
These days fairly frequently one sees a Hindi film playing at
some local theater. I am told that Hindi films are even bigger
in Britain than in the United States, and that they are starting
to make inroads with a non-Indian audience even here. (I am a
non-Indian and they are making inroads with me.) Some Bollywood
filmmakers are now even making films with an international
audience in mind. I am not talking about art film makers like
the late Satyajit Ray. His films were always made for
international release. But the neighborhood films, which can be
a lot of fun, are now also frequently made for international
audiences and some get released over here.
First of all what am I talking about? Does India even have a
film industry? You bet they do. For those who are unaware it
is the biggest film industry in the world. They output about
800 feature films a year, two films for every film released by
Hollywood. And these are longer films. Most are in the 160-
minute range. The center of the Hindi film industry is Bombay
or "Mumbai" as insiders call it. Bombay is their equivalent to
Hollywood and the "Bombay Hollywood" is called "Bollywood."
They sell tickets to 14 million movie patrons in an average day.
That is considerably more people than live in Pennsylvania.
That is just the Hindi film industry. There are lower-profile
film industries making films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam,
Gujarati, Marathi and Bengali. But the Hindi films have the
widest audience within India and so the filmmakers can afford to
mount opulent productions to recover costs.
For many Indians, films are the only forms of entertainment.
Movie theaters range in quality from little neighborhood
ramshackle affairs to some pretty impressive movie palaces.
(The most fabulous movie palace I have ever seen is the
exquisite Raj Mandhir in Jaipur. In my India trip log, I say
"The Raj Mandir is an impressive building, with mirrored
interiors, pink decor, and rounded rampways to higher floors.
It might even rival Radio City Music Hall. It's a combination
of art deco and Hindu statues (well, 'mandir' does mean
'temple'), with lots of pink glass thrown in. With a capacity
of about 1300 people, and a screen about twenty-five feet high
and fifty feet wide, this is the *big* screen experience, this
is not your local movie theater the size of your living room.")
Are the Hindi movies any good? That is a very interesting
question. Certainly some are. The vast majority are made
purely for entertainment. They are a way for Indians to shed
their troubles and have a good time. Indians love musical
production numbers and just about every films regardless of
subject matter will have at least three and most will have as
many as six or seven. The plot stops cold and instead they have
a knock-your-socks-off dance number. And these are rarely just
two people standing still and singing. There will be
extravagant costumes, and maybe several dancers.
Nearly every film will have comic elements, though a few
filmmakers will try to keep those to a minimum. The music and
the comedy are elements that Indians look for and expect.
BOMBAY is a serious film about the Bombay riots. There are some
fairly harrowing violent scenes toward the end of the film. Yet
it starts out as a comedy and a musical with a Hindu boy
dressing up as a girl to woo a Muslim girl. The musical comedy
is part of the artistic form of the Bombay film. You might as
well write a four-line limerick as make a Bombay film without
songs and jokes.
Additionally, another factor is differences in taste between
Indians and non-Indians. What is good for an Indian audience is
not necessarily what plays well with an American audience.
While some Hindi films may look like they are aimed at children,
Indian audiences will just eat them up. There are just
differences in predisposition. On the other hand, when I saw
ASOKA at a film festival, I was much impressed with the
expensive look of the picture and the historical adventure.
Asoka was an Indian conqueror who did much to spread the faith
of Buddhism in India. This was sort of a melodrama based on the
history. Some of the dance numbers seem a little modern for the
period, but the film is glossy and a lot of fun. The film did
not play nearly as well with Indian audiences, most of whom knew
the history and knew this wasn't it. Incidentally, the film
starred Shahrukh Khan who seems to be very popular at the
moment. I suppose he looks something like Tony Curtis did in
his youth. His acting is no better than Curtis did but his
looks do sell tickets. Khan is currently in something like five
new films a year. If you go to Indian video stores it is hard
to avoid his face on boxes and posters. Khan is also the star
of DEVDAS as well has having an important role in HEY RAM.
I will have more to say about Bollywood next week. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: TEKNOLUST (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: This film plays like a throwback to 1960s mod
filmmaking. It is every bit as colorful as intended but not
nearly as intelligent. It plays like a college skit but for the
digital special effects that allow four Tilda Swintons on the
screen at one time. This one requires a lot of patience and
does not give back much in return. It is nice to see Tilda
Swinton, a talented actress, having a good time, but I would
rather see her getting back to work. Rating: 3 (0 to 10), -1
(-4 to +4)
Tilda Swinton gets an opportunity to play four characters,
frequently all on the screen at the same time in this colorful
but poorly thought-out attempt at a science fiction comedy. A
scientist downloads her own DNA into a computer program and with
self-reproducing automata creates three versions of herself in a
computer. They somehow have the ability to jump out of the
computer and to walk around as real humans. It is not clear
anyone associated with the production understands what a self-
reproducing automata is. Nor do they understand much of the
other science alluded to in the script. Instead this film is
really closer in style to a tall tale. TEKNOLUST is intended to
be whimsical with a sort of Pop Art view of the science fiction
issues, though more often the humor fails. The bright colors
and somewhat vacuous scripting reminds one of the mod filmmaking
of the 1960s.
Scientist Rosetta Stone (Swinton) creates in a computer three
computer images of herself (called self-replicating automatons,
SRAs, though they never actually replicate in the course of the
film). Each has a key color, dresses in that color, lives in a
room of that color, and has a name that suggests that color.
The programs have a life of their own and can leave the
computer. If that makes little sense, it is not expected to.
Technical issues are pretty much ignored but for the occasional
throwing in of a misunderstood technical term exploited in much
the way James Bond uses "Project Grand Slam."
Swinton, who plays four roles, three of them as computer
programs, can be a fine actress with her best known films being
ORLANDO and THE DEEP END. Here she got a chance to take a break
from serious acting and play with digital technology. Her
acting is usually a little staid and almost deadpan, in this
film it is actually wooden, though that is probably a
consequence of a process that has her talking to thin air where
a digital image of herself will later be placed. Probably the
best similar acting job under those conditions was Jeremy Irons
in DEAD RINGERS. Swinton is nowhere near as accomplished at the
same task, but perhaps the director was also less demanding.
The timing of these self-conversations is poor with pauses just
a beat too long between a line and its response. That makes
them easier to mesh but less spontaneous sounding. The film was
written, produced, and directed by Lynn Hershman-Leeson.
This is a film with smirk, a sly nod, and a wink to the audience
saying, "We know this is all pretty silly stuff and we are
laughing right along with the audience." The problem is that
the audience isn't laughing. I rate TEKNOLUST a 3 on the 0 to
10 scale and a -1 on the -4 to +4 scale. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: THE SEPARATION by Christopher Priest (Scribner UK, ISBN
0-743-22033-1, 464pp, #10.99) (book review by Evelyn C. Leeper)
This is the book that everyone is talking about--well, everyone
who has seen it. Unfortunately, that's not a huge audience, nor
does it appear likely to become one. This is not because THE
SEPARATION is a bad book, however. It's a very good book--but
very unmarketable.
Christopher Priest earlier wrote a novel, THE PRESTIGE, about
twins, and magical bilocation, and other related concepts.
Priest revisits this somewhat in THE SEPARATION, with two twins,
Joe and Jack Sawyer. Both are called "J. L. Sawyer", which
leads to confusion, especially as they have enough similarities
to promote this confusion. For example, they were both in
Berlin in 1936 as a rowing team at the Olympics.
But when war comes, they go their separate ways. Joe becomes a
conscientious objector, and Jack becomes a bomber pilot. (This
leads to one confusion when someone in the government conflates
the two and tries to figure out how a conscientious objector
could also be a bomber pilot.) Each becomes involved with well-
known historical characters--or possibly their doubles. (And,
no, Field Marshal Montgomery wasn't one of them.)
All this would be relatively straightforward were it not for the
fact that the events of the novel are taking place in at least
two alternate universes, possibly three, or even more. The
novel begins in a world in which an author is researching a
history book in a world obviously not ours. He gets a
manuscript from someone which purports to be true, yet describes
a world or timeline which seems to be ours. (This is made a bit
more confused by the fact that its narrative is told in reverse
sequence, something like the film MEMENTO, though for different
reasons.) Then there are some documents which seem to span the
timelines, and then another narrative in yet another timeline.
Believe me, you *will* want to take notes.
(I read the book, then immediately re-read it, taking notes,
discussed it with a friend who had read it, and then went back
and re-read parts again.)
(I will note that I said of THE PRESTIGE, "This is a book that
you cannot read only once. As with a stage magic trick, there
is a compelling desire after seeing the trick to go back and see
if one can figure out how it was worked.")
If this book is so enthralling (which it is) and well-written
(which it is), why do I think it won't find a huge audience?
Well, it appears unlikely to get a major publisher's release in
the United States, perhaps in part because the story is
completely British. Not only are all the characters British (or
German), but the story centers around the Blitz and the Battle
of Britain, two aspects of World War II which do not have the
appeal in the United States that other, later parts of the war
do. Even in Britain, it seems to have gotten a rather small
release.
I realize it seems as though I have told you a lot of the plot,
but I have given you only a brief outline and left most of the
major events out. I highly recommend this book, though if you
are in North America, you will have to order it from
amazon.co.uk or other British bookshop unless you're lucky
enough to have a specialty shop near you that is willing to take
the risk to carry it. (I can't seem to find it in Canada, my
first choice for ordering British books, as the exchange rate
and shipping are both cheaper.) Luckily, it has gone back for a
second printing after being basically unavailable due to a very
small, trade paperback only first printing.
I also said of THE PRESTIGE, "This is a magical book, and the
one mystery is how it's managed to remain as invisible as it
has, especially given that it won the World Fantasy Award." At
least THE PRESTIGE had a United States publication. I think
Priest's problem is that his works are too literary to be
marketed to the audience that buys the vast bulk of science
fiction, and too fantastical to be marketed to a mainstream
literary audience. (As Ellen Asher noted at Boskone, publishers
don't necessarily publish what will sell, but what they know how
to market.) I'm sure people from both sides will attack this
position, but THE SEPARATION seems to me a book that should
appeal to the same people who read Frances Sherwood or Michael
Chabon--to pick two authors I've read recently--but publishers
don't know what to make of it. [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Elsewhere in this issue is my review of Christopher Priest's THE
SEPARATION. Soon to come is a review of Elizabeth Moon's THE
SPEED OF DARK.
Once again, my library discussion group chose a book I had read
before: Homer H. Hickham, Jr.'s ROCKET BOYS (made into the
anagrammatic movie OCTOBER SKY). This is the autobiographical
story of how the author, a boy from a coal mining town where
football was the only way anyone had ever gotten to college, won
the National Science Fair and went on to become a genuine rocket
scientist. Hickham has a very readable yet still evocative
writing style as he describes life in a coal company town where
even the minister is hired by the company. (He describes how
they were at various times Methodist, Baptist, and Pentecostal,
because those were the ministers hired. I guess dogma didn't
count for much.)
What struck me this time was how so much depended on
circumstance and chance. Had Hickham not had a supportive high
school science teacher, he probably would have ended up mining
coal. And if he hadn't had the friends he did, with the talents
they had, he might still have ended up mining coal. But even
more so, had he not been there in Coalwood, his friends would
definitely have ended up mining coal. (Well, maybe not
Quentin.)
This is now the first of a three-book triptych, the other two
being SKY OF STONE (about his return to Coalwood as a miner one
summer during college), and THE COALWOOD WAY, which I'm planning
on reading during our trip through West Virginia this summer.
(We may end up visiting Coalwood, time permitting, though it's
not exactly on the beaten path.)
Another book in a series was Nancy and Lawrence Goldstone's
WARMLY INSCRIBED, the third in their series of books about book
collecting and the used book trade. (The first two are USED AND
RARE and SLIGHTLY CHIPPED.) This deals with a lot of topics,
the centerpiece of which is the "New England forger," who forged
authors' signatures in first editions for a long time before he
was finally caught. The story of why it took so long is the
interesting part: law enforcement officials kept saying it
wasn't in their jurisdiction, dealers hesitated to accuse
another dealer of such dishonesty without firm proof, and
dealers who had been deceived and had resold the books thinking
they were authentic were generally not eager to contact their
old customers and admit they had been deceived. (And refunding
the money to customers was not necessarily easy for dealers who
did not have a lot of ready cash.) But the story of the
Goldstone family visit (including young daughter) to the Library
of Congress and the Folger Library is also enjoyable,
particularly for book people. And why would you be reading this
article if you weren't a book person? [-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure,
what you do not understand.
-- Leonardo da Vinci
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