THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
08/15/03 -- Vol. 22, No. 7
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:
Readercon 15 Convention Report Available
Campus Anti-Jewish Movements (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
KOI... MIL GAYA (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
This Week's Reading (THE HISTORIAN AS DETECTIVE,
CHASING SHAKESPEARES) (book comments by
Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Readercon 15 Convention Report Available
My convention report for Readercon 15 is at
http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper/reader15.htm [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Campus Anti-Jewish Movements (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Some members of my family have written me discussing the number of
anti-Jewish incidents on campuses. Earlier this week there was a
report of a Berkeley professor telling his classes that he was
100% sure that THE PROTOCOLS OF THE ELDERS OF ZION were authentic.
(PROTOCOLS is a notorious fraudulent document purporting to be a
Jewish plan for world conquest. It was used in the 1930s as a
justification for the Holocaust.) The conversation was a
continuance of one I had last December we were discussing the
incident at Concordia University in Montreal that went to far as
to ban the Jewish Hillel organization from campus
. I have my opinion about what is
happening on college campuses. I think I have some understanding
from what I have been reading. At least this is my take. The
anti-Jewish element is ironically mostly in the liberal movement.
The liberal movement is not traditionally anti-Jewish. Back when
I was in college it was in large part Jews who led the liberals.
They were kids from Jewish liberal families. It had people with
origins like those of Abby Hoffman. But the policy of the radical
end of the movement is counter-culture and anti-US-government. It
is ironic to see that it has become anti-Jewish and at Concordia I
believe there was at least one Jew on the governing committee who
voted for the banning of Hillel. For some Jews the ties to the
liberal movement is stronger than their ties to other Jews.
There is a lot of liberal movement on college campuses in North
America and even more in Europe, some very radical. The liberal
movement pretty much has to find ground to disagree with the power
structure or they do not exist. If they agree with the power
structure they don't have anything to offer. The United States
government leads the power structure. They don't have to disagree
with all United States policies but they have to disagree with
enough that they are offering a choice. They need something to
oppose. The strength of the opposition will be much greater and
will get much more support if it looks like the military will get
involved enforcing United States policy. This is not surprising
because it is people the college students know and can identify
with who will be getting involved and perhaps getting hurt or
killed. The opposition will be much stronger still if it looks
like the conflict will be protracted and there is some possibility
of a draft. Then the college kids are not just worried about
friends; they are worried about their own skins. The liberals on
campus are going to oppose any policy that looks like it leads to
a situation in which Americans might get killed overseas.
Right now the most visible aspect of United States's foreign
policy is its Middle East policy. And it looks like there is a
good chance of a long and protracted conflict in Iraq. The United
States government has many policy goals in the Middle East but the
most visible is the protection and preservation of Israel. Not
surprisingly that policy gets us a large share of own enemies.
And in the Middle East (and elsewhere) people who oppose the
United States for other reasons will also claim to be doing it for
the support of the Palestinians. That way no matter what they do
they are right at least in the eyes of the local audience. The Al
Qaida who were led by people mostly trying to oppose the United
States presence in Saudi Arabia, but they came around after a
while and claimed one of the important reasons for their attacks
was the United States support of Israel. Yassir Arafat even
accuses Al Qaida of exploiting the Palestinian cause. See
.
So the most visible policy of the United States is its Middle East
policy and the most visible aspect of the Middle East policy is
the support of Israel. The campus liberals are more or less
forced to oppose Israel if they are to oppose United States
foreign policy. They cannot be the opposition and not take a
negative stand on Israel. In the beginning it probably was just
opposition to the United States government, but there is so much
anti-Israel propaganda the anti-Israel movement picks up its own
momentum. Also it is a very fine line between being anti-Israel
and anti-Jewish. The anti-Israel people quickly find pre-
established allies, left and right wing, who are anti-Jewish. And
there are Arab radicals on campus who--to nobody's surprise--are
strongly anti-Israel and anti-Jewish. The groups all flow
together like pools of mercury. And they influence each other.
In Northhampton, Massachusetts, I am told that the liberal
radicals are plastering up anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian
propaganda all over town. These are women from Smith College who
are almost certainly feminist. Politics makes strange bedfellows.
They are siding with Palestinians who are no friends of feminism.
reports
"The Society for the Advancement of the Palestinian Working Woman,
in conjunction with The Palestinian Center for Public Opinion
Polls, conducted a poll under the supervision of Dr. Nabil Kokali,
on the topic of violence against women..."
"56.9% of Palestinians feel that it is a husband's right to hit
his wife if he thinks she hurt his manhood..."
"59.1% of Palestinians feel that it is a husband's right to
prevent his wife from working outside the home..."
"66.4% of Palestinians declare that the crown of success of the
Palestinian Woman is devoting herself to the care of her children
and her husband above devotion to herself..."
Yet among the liberal movement in and around Smith College these
are the good guys.
It is irritating and frustrating to see the liberal movement take
stands like this. I consider myself a liberal, and that makes it
only more so. For years I have thought that the moderate liberals
had to disavow some of the radical liberals. It never happened to
any great degree. The anti-Jewish radicals would have been a
great place for them to do it. I would have liked to see the
moderate Muslims disavow the radical Islamists. That never
happened to any great degree either. It is getting to be too
late. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: KOI... MIL GAYA (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Billed (inaccurately) as the first Indian science fiction
film, KOI... MIL GAYA mixes elements of many films, especially
E.T. and CHARLY. A boy in a man's body befriends a friendly
alien. While groundbreaking as a Bollywood film Americans may
find it rarely transcends American cable fare. Nevertheless it is
amusing and entertaining. Rating: 6 (0 to 10), +1 (-4 to +4)
Okay, let's get this out of the way at the beginning. This is not
the first Indian science fiction film. This may be the first
exclusively Indian science fiction film, but in 1952 there was the
Tamil-American co-production KAADU (a.k.a. THE JUNGLE). It was
about an expedition to find why the animals in one region are
behaving strangely. It turns out their area has been invaded by
living wooly mammoths. The film starred Americans Caesar Romero
and Rod Cameron as well as Sulochana, a popular Indian actress.
KAADU is mostly an India travelogue made to fit in with the 1950s
science fiction film cycle and is now quite a rarity. Also, the
Hindi film MR.INDIA (1987) used an invisibility formula gimmick.
Rakesh Roshan (who wore the hats of producer, director, co-writer,
and actor) plays Sanjay Mehra, a scientist doing his own work on
searching for extra-terrestrials. His method is to transform
Hindu religious symbols into a musical string and then use this
melody to try to get a response from alien races. It works and he
makes contact with aliens. When he brings his results to the
members of the scientific community they laugh at him and his
claims. However, while he is returning home by car, a UFO arrives
responding to his signal and finds him. Not paying attention to
his driving, Rakesh is in an accident that kills him and injures
his pregnant wife.
Eighteen years later his son Rohit (Rakesh's son Hrithik Roshan)
is physically developed but mentally arrested at age eleven.
Nevertheless Rohit is likable and is the leader of a group of boys
physically younger but about his mental age. They live in a small
hilly village, what is called in India a hill station. Rohit is
happy with his young friends but is tormented by some local
bullies and is humiliated by the teachers at the Catholic school
he attends. He wishes to be normal. To the village comes Nisha
played by the extremely Western-looking Preity Zinta. (I
initially thought that she was supposed to be American or
European.) Rohit is smitten with her, but does all the wrong
things and has a difficult time winning her over. But win her
over he does. Together the two dust off Sanjay's old computer
equipment and they inadvertently summon interstellar visitors.
One of the visitors is accidentally marooned on Earth. What
happens then is strongly reminiscent of E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL
crossed with bits of FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON.
One fairly interesting aspect of KOI... MIL GAYA is the emphasis
on religion. The Bollywood films I have seen have generally not
had religious messages beyond peaceful coexistence and Ahimsa. In
this film there is a good deal of attention paid to religion.
Rohit is taught wisdom and kindness from the Bhagavad-Gita. Later
when Rohit founds a basketball team they call themselves the
Pandavas. Rohit calls on Krishna for help. But Rohit goes to a
Catholic school where the teachers are insensitive and unkind.
The camera carefully picks up crucifixes and religious paintings
as decoration. Perhaps Rakesh Roshan did not want to appear to be
siding with science over religion, much as 1950s American science
fiction films would carry religious messages.
The music, always an important element of a Bollywood film, is
provided by Rajesh Roshan, the director's brother. While in some
reviews people who know Indian soundtrack music seem to be saying
that the score is groundbreaking, I am not enough of an expert to
pick up the subtleties. The choreography frequently uses
wirework, which hurts the spontaneity. Wirework is even more
obvious and unnatural in fight and athletic scenes. The Roshans
wanted to have special effects that would match Hollywood films
and hired Marc Kolbe (who worked on GODZILLA, INDEPENDENCE DAY,
and the Indian DEVDAS). Still, this film cannot be said to have a
lot of special effects. They are used sparingly by American
standards. There is extensive use of an alien suit with an
articulated (probably wire controlled) face.
This is a film that is full of small homages to American films.
Besides those mentioned already we see little bits of CLOSE
ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, SATURDAY NIGHT
FEVER, and STAR WARS. The latter gives a strange effect as the
opening credits flow backward at an oblique angle over a
starscape. That can be effective but when the credit is "Bankers"
it seems incongruous. I wonder if this also is the first
Bollywood film to seriously go in for product placements.
While science fiction is really still very new to Indian domestic
films, American science fiction films have traditionally been
quite popular in India. Unfortunately they have traditionally
been less accessible since they are almost always subtitled.
There was some protest when JURASSIC PARK was released in the
various regions of India dubbed into the local language. There
was an accusation that this was unfair competition. But there is
a ready market for science fiction films in India and if KOI...
MIL GAYA is successful, as it almost definitely will be, perhaps
there will be more science fiction films from India. This film
may have more to offer to Indians than to Americans who can get
most of what this film has off of cable. But it is a pleasant
fantasy and rates a 6 on the 0 to 10 scale and a +1 on the -4 to
+4 scale. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
I recommend to everyone the article "A Medley of Mysteries: A
Number of Dogs That Didn't Bark" by Jacques Barzun and Henry
F. Graff (from "The Modern Researcher"), reprinted in THE HISTORIAN
AS DETECTIVE (edited by Robin W. Winks). Its discussion of how to
judge the truth of what one reads, and how to investigate
statements further, is one that people could benefit from. It
would prevent believing in spurious speeches purported to be from
"Julius Caesar" that don't even scan like Shakespeare. Or that
Seabiscuit got more press coverage than either Roosevelt or
Hitler. Or that a billion people watched the Oscars one year. Or
that Senator Tom Daschle doesn't know which hand to put over his
heart to salute the flag. These are all claims we have seen in
recent months.
Or consider the following story recounted in an article about Hal
Clement in the Readercon Program Book: Clement was a bombardier
during World War II. The article says that at the Heidelberg
World Science Fiction Convention, someone asked him if he had ever
been to Heidelberg before. Clement supposedly responded, "No, but
I've been within a few miles of here" (meaning up above the city
in a B-24). The main problem with this story, according to
Clement, is that he wasn't *at* the Heidelberg Worldcon, as a
check of the membership list would show.
I also referred last week to an essay that said (in passing) that
Sabbatai Zevi and his followers feared the end of the world in
A. D. 1000. As I noted, this is wrong on three counts: 1) Zevi
lived in the 17th century. 2) He and his followers were Jewish
and didn't care about A. D. 1000. 3) Pretty much no one else
cared about A. D. 1000 either; the notion that there was any sort
of widespread belief that it signaled the end of the world first
surfaced about six hundred years later.
Barzun and Graff also recommend a perpetual calendar, which will
tell you that a statement that talks about "Saturday night,
December 31, 1959," is just flat-out wrong. (Luckily, I have Mark
for this--he can do this sort of calculation in his head and tell
me when fake newspaper dates in movies get it wrong as well.)
Barzun and Graff state at one point, "No interesting or important
question, though, can be settled without detailed knowledge, solid
judgment, lively imagination, and the ability to think straight."
And as Hal Clement said in his Guest of honor interview at
Readercon, a lot of his stories came because, as he put it, "I had
already developed the notion that whenever I heard the words 'of
course', I should immediately be suspicious."
Coincidentally (really!) to the whole theme of historian as
detective, I read Sarah Smith's CHASING SHAKESPEARES. The main
characters are literature researchers trying to determine (you
guessed it) who wrote Shakespeare's plays. For those who accuse
science fiction of having too many "infodumps", I commend this
work (although one might claim that it's only one giant infodump).
Josephine Tey pulled this sort of thing off in THE DAUGHTER OF
TIME, but I found CHASING SHAKESPEARES too confusing to follow
completely. [-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
There is no argument in the world carries
the hatred that a religious belief does.
--Will Rogers
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