Yes, another overly literal person has become mighty suspicious of that no-good Harry Potter and similiar characters. He hasn't actually read any of the books, but he thinks they may very well have a "pernicious" and "insidious" effect, because they may teach children to believe in magic. He is a bit better than most other fundamentalists in that he admits that he doesn't know for sure... yet. But like a good evangelist, he intends to write his own book for children to instruct them in the orthodox way.
I'm not sure what he'll think of the magic if he does get around to reading the Potter books. He'll probably approve of the magisterial British academics portrayed therein, but he'll likely be unhappy with the fact that the children spend much of their time disobeying said academics. And if he makes it to the final book he'll probably get very angry when he comes across the Christian symbolism it contains. (My thoughts on The Deathly Hallows are here.)
Alan Jacobs comments snarkily here.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
The Blob, harbinger of theocracy
I don't think I've ever seen this (sort of famous) monster-from-outer-space movie. Apparently a recent book by Jeff Sharlet connects it with a shadowy world of theocratic fundamentalism, Cold War anti-communism and American neo-imperialism. Rudy Nelson, who worked on the film, thinks Sharlet makes some good points but that he's wrong about The Blob (and some other things).
Well, I haven't seen it, and this kind of thing is not exactly in my purview. It's more B-Movie Catechism territory (although The Blob might be too upscale for his tastes...!) Anyways, I'll just leave you with this amusing quote from Nelson's article:
But now it was high time for us to fill a serious scripting gap. We knew how the film would end (for sure, not by blowing up the town). An Air Force cargo plane would drop the frozen, cut-up carcass over the Arctic ice cap. But as yet we had not written any closing dialogue for the main characters. We decided on a line for Dave, the chief of police, the voice of official authority: "I don't think it can be killed, but at least we've stopped it." That didn't quite do it. No one said anything for a moment or two. Then, in a rare moment of inspiration, I suggested a closing line for Steve McQueen: "As long as the Arctic stays cold." The term "global warming" hadn't yet entered the environmental lexicon, nor had any of us entertained the thought that the Arctic would ever be anything but a solid ice pack. But there you are. My chief claim to Blob Immortality over the years has always been that I wrote that prescient last line. And since I was (as you may recall) Third Assistant Director in Charge of Daily Script Revision, who is out there to argue the point? I rest my case.
Well, I haven't seen it, and this kind of thing is not exactly in my purview. It's more B-Movie Catechism territory (although The Blob might be too upscale for his tastes...!) Anyways, I'll just leave you with this amusing quote from Nelson's article:
But now it was high time for us to fill a serious scripting gap. We knew how the film would end (for sure, not by blowing up the town). An Air Force cargo plane would drop the frozen, cut-up carcass over the Arctic ice cap. But as yet we had not written any closing dialogue for the main characters. We decided on a line for Dave, the chief of police, the voice of official authority: "I don't think it can be killed, but at least we've stopped it." That didn't quite do it. No one said anything for a moment or two. Then, in a rare moment of inspiration, I suggested a closing line for Steve McQueen: "As long as the Arctic stays cold." The term "global warming" hadn't yet entered the environmental lexicon, nor had any of us entertained the thought that the Arctic would ever be anything but a solid ice pack. But there you are. My chief claim to Blob Immortality over the years has always been that I wrote that prescient last line. And since I was (as you may recall) Third Assistant Director in Charge of Daily Script Revision, who is out there to argue the point? I rest my case.
Labels:
movies,
politics,
Science fiction fantasy and faith
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Forgive us our debts
Canadian literary icon Margaret Atwood has a habit of picking timely topics to write about. Her latest book, Payback, is about debt. She'll be delivering this year's Massey Lectures on the subject.
What does it have to do with this blog? Atwood's authored two books that can be considered science fiction, namely The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx & Crake, both of which included religious themes. And the concept of debt is central to diverse religious traditions, along with related ideas like obligation, ransom, blood-price, etc. (Since Atwood has described herself as a pessimistic pantheist, I suspect she feels we humans have ungratefully piled up staggering debts against the natural world that brought us forth.) In this CBC interview she discusses the book and touches on the religious and existential aspects of debt. For example:
"...maybe there should be some kind of accounting taking place... maybe we do owe something to somebody for the fact of our existence."
Speaking of the Massey Lectures, a different Margaret delivered the 2002 lectures: Margaret Visser. She spoke on the idea of fate. Her latest book is The Gift of Thanks, a subject not unrelated to that of debt or obligation! She was recently in Winnipeg to speak on the topic for the 2008 Slater-Maguire Lectures at St. Margaret's (no relation) Anglican Church. They don't seem to have posted the lectures proper but her sermon on "thanks" vis-a-vis the Eucharist is online here.
What does it have to do with this blog? Atwood's authored two books that can be considered science fiction, namely The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx & Crake, both of which included religious themes. And the concept of debt is central to diverse religious traditions, along with related ideas like obligation, ransom, blood-price, etc. (Since Atwood has described herself as a pessimistic pantheist, I suspect she feels we humans have ungratefully piled up staggering debts against the natural world that brought us forth.) In this CBC interview she discusses the book and touches on the religious and existential aspects of debt. For example:
"...maybe there should be some kind of accounting taking place... maybe we do owe something to somebody for the fact of our existence."
Speaking of the Massey Lectures, a different Margaret delivered the 2002 lectures: Margaret Visser. She spoke on the idea of fate. Her latest book is The Gift of Thanks, a subject not unrelated to that of debt or obligation! She was recently in Winnipeg to speak on the topic for the 2008 Slater-Maguire Lectures at St. Margaret's (no relation) Anglican Church. They don't seem to have posted the lectures proper but her sermon on "thanks" vis-a-vis the Eucharist is online here.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Walking in the Reign
Here's an interesting detail from An Evil Guest: at one point in the story we encounter a hymn. The protagonist, Cassie Casey, has been talking with an older woman named Margaret who is her new assistant. As I recall, (I don't have the book in front of me so my recollection might be a little off) Margaret has been trying to convince a doubtful Cassie that she (Cassie) can sing as well as act. Cassie either tries to deflect this by asking Margaret to sing, or says she doesn't know any songs off by heart. In any case, Margaret sings a song, entitled "Walking In the Reign," which she knows from church. As is true of many people, that's the main place where she regularly sings, and those are the songs she knows best. The lyrics, to me, made it sound like a fairly recent hymn, something written in the last twenty years or so. Since An Evil Guest is set some time in the future, this would have been a song Margaret had been singing since she was a young woman, one she knew well.*
On reading this I speculated that this might be a song which Wolfe heard and enjoyed at his own church. Well, it turns out that's true, but not quite the whole story. He actually attends church with the songwriter ("hymnist?" "hymnodist?" "hymnographer?"), a man named Rory Cooney. Wolfe had asked for permission to use the lyrics, but still managed to slyly surprise Cooney with his own song at a bookstore reading. The startled-but-delighted hymnodisgrapholomogist, err, songwriter, blogs about the story here.
(via Hoof & Hide)
*Wolfe has included interesting details about people's memories of church before. I recall a story in which a character remembers his father taking him to church, and muses that it had been only as an adult that he had figured out that this was not some timeless thing, but a new or renewed interest on his father's part, stimulated by the 1960s/70s post-Vatican II folk-music-in-church/charismatic/Jesus People movement.
On reading this I speculated that this might be a song which Wolfe heard and enjoyed at his own church. Well, it turns out that's true, but not quite the whole story. He actually attends church with the songwriter ("hymnist?" "hymnodist?" "hymnographer?"), a man named Rory Cooney. Wolfe had asked for permission to use the lyrics, but still managed to slyly surprise Cooney with his own song at a bookstore reading. The startled-but-delighted hymnodisgrapholomogist, err, songwriter, blogs about the story here.
(via Hoof & Hide)
*Wolfe has included interesting details about people's memories of church before. I recall a story in which a character remembers his father taking him to church, and muses that it had been only as an adult that he had figured out that this was not some timeless thing, but a new or renewed interest on his father's part, stimulated by the 1960s/70s post-Vatican II folk-music-in-church/charismatic/Jesus People movement.
Friday, October 03, 2008
A surprising guest
Not a whole lot of posting here lately, mainly because I haven't been reading or watching much relevant material. I've been reading about orality & literacy in medieval (and other) culture, about Cuba & the United States, and about the RCMP's domestic spying programs. Outside of that I've been reading a number of comics, so I may be posting more frequently at Holy Heroes!!
I have however read An Evil Guest. The early descriptions were fairly accurate: it's a blend of genres, drawing on pulp fiction and early-twentieth century atmospheres. It also blends the world of "Memorare" and the world of "The Tree Is My Hat," which is a pretty amazing feat in itself. H.P. Lovecraft's mythos plays a role, for the reasonably clued-in reader.
I did find myself wondering about Wolfe's literary direction. Ever since, say, The Book of the Long Sun, he's been including bigger and bigger chunks of conversation in his novels, and there's a lot in this book. Sometimes his newer novels feel like 60 or 70% conversation with a bit of action and description mixed in. This is still tricky Mr. Wolfe, after all, so the conversations imply a lot, and they definitely show us the characters instead of simply telling about them. Still, sometimes I disloyally wonder what he's up to, if he's doing this deliberately, or if he's gotten lazy and lost his edge, or has just become very literary-Zen, or what?
Well, I was wrong to doubt. He hasn't lost his abilities. Towards the end of this book there's a chapter in which the protagonist sees through the eyes of a dead woman... (or something) and it's absolutely electrifying. We leave the careful conversations behind and are plunged into a stunning series of impressions and sensations.
So, never fear, he still has his superpowers. He's just become more and more subtle in his old(er) age.
I have however read An Evil Guest. The early descriptions were fairly accurate: it's a blend of genres, drawing on pulp fiction and early-twentieth century atmospheres. It also blends the world of "Memorare" and the world of "The Tree Is My Hat," which is a pretty amazing feat in itself. H.P. Lovecraft's mythos plays a role, for the reasonably clued-in reader.
I did find myself wondering about Wolfe's literary direction. Ever since, say, The Book of the Long Sun, he's been including bigger and bigger chunks of conversation in his novels, and there's a lot in this book. Sometimes his newer novels feel like 60 or 70% conversation with a bit of action and description mixed in. This is still tricky Mr. Wolfe, after all, so the conversations imply a lot, and they definitely show us the characters instead of simply telling about them. Still, sometimes I disloyally wonder what he's up to, if he's doing this deliberately, or if he's gotten lazy and lost his edge, or has just become very literary-Zen, or what?
Well, I was wrong to doubt. He hasn't lost his abilities. Towards the end of this book there's a chapter in which the protagonist sees through the eyes of a dead woman... (or something) and it's absolutely electrifying. We leave the careful conversations behind and are plunged into a stunning series of impressions and sensations.
So, never fear, he still has his superpowers. He's just become more and more subtle in his old(er) age.
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