13 June 2003 - 2:59 p.m.
Again, I feel like I should update, but I'm really unfocused today. My mind is all over. I had a very deep and very loaded conversation late last night that's clinging inside my head. It left me with a lot of things I think I want to say, but unsure as to whether I should actually say them... It's eating up a lot of BrainRAM.
Additionally, I'm reading "Time Enough for Love", which is an amazing example of constructive use of the science fiction genre, and which is very deep and complex. I know a lot of people find Heinlein preachy (which is a fair appraisal), but the man knows what genre is for. Genre is seperate from theme. While he has built an elaborate and functioning future universe, he uses it as a backdrop. The setting is the set, not the play. This is something a lot of modern writers/filmmakers/etc seem to forget. Heinlein's characters in their scifi world deal with REAL concepts, viewed through a scifi lens. There are two long chapters, about homesteading on an alien planet, which could easily appear in a western, and through all the adventuring and such, he never loses the theme, which is the trials faced by a new family (his point being that a new husband and wife need to depend on each others strengths and learn to work well together). His genre doesn't bury his point, it accentuates it. That is the point of genre. Science fiction can be a powerful tool, allowing a writer to build a world that complements the core concepts of the story. A horror story can be a razor for disecting the psyche. A superhero story allows the author to emphasize certain aspects of characters. Genre without theme, while at times pretty and cool, is usually just wasteful.
Wow. I made a point. Didn't expect that.
Side note: Check out the following web comics, bitches:
Goats: the Comic Strip - Quite funny.
Scary-Go-Round - A hip and funny modern pulp. Nice art, and British.
Now, let's see if my html worked.
(html fine, typing sucked)
Back, to the caverns of history - Onward, to glory!
