Jeremy Eades @ 11-02-2008
The Canadian TV show “Big Ideas” on TV Ontario had homegrown SF author Robert J. Sawyer on to talk about the effect Hollywood, and specifically the blockbuster concept of Star Wars, has had on the genre of science fiction - specifically how the social commentary edge to it has been dulled on the silver screen, which has extended to writing as well.
Sawyer gives a history of science fiction and how certain works have stood up over time, while others have not. It’s quite interesting, at least for those of us who like to get meta about our reading genres. In many past societies, direct criticism of rulers or social norms were ill-received, often ending in prison sentences or worse, while analogies and euphemisms thrived under plausible deniability. But today, it’s not such a big deal. Does this spell the end for disguised social critique? Or do we still need to have our ideas challenged in surreptitious ways? What say Futurismic readers?
Give the podcast a listen, and as a bonus, listen to Steven Pinker swear on the same page.
[Edit: Fixed the link, thanks to commenter Nancy Jane Moore]
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Tomas Martin @ 21-12-2007
Paul Raven @ 22-11-2007
The WGA writers’ strike rolls on, pitting the justifiable desire of creatives to be paid a fair deal for the fruits of their labour against the same sort of grasping tactics that are causing the music industry to eat itself like a cancer. [Image by NoHoDamon]
While I’m supportive of the writers’ position on this issue, I’m intrigued by the outsider opinions. Techdirt points us to an LA Times article discussing the rise of alternative financing models in the movie industry, and suggests that if the big studios stick to their guns they will actually hasten their own demise by creating an environment where smart and talented writers can bypass the traditional system and take their scripts straight to the market, funding their productions using a venture capital process similar to that used by technology startups.
Now, I’m not an economist or a script-writer (and nor do I play either of them on television), but I find the underlying logic of this idea appealing - it seems to be a business model that fits the internet age. But then TechDirt, as fascinating a read as it is, is very much biased toward the independent operator/startup philosophy (as demonstrated by its previous coverage of the WGA strike). Perhaps this idea places too much of a burden on the writer - whose job is, after all, to write. But then again, it’s an accepted truism that novelists must self-market if they hope to be successful, even with the support of a publisher.
I guess only time will tell. But from my personal point of view, a significant lessening of the corporate homogeneity of Hollywood could only be a good thing - it might result in a movie industry that produces more than one film every year that I can actually be bothered to go and see.
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Jeremy Lyon @ 01-06-2006
Carrie Vaughn’s “Real City” is a modern Hollywood fable set in a post-post-modern future.
Real City
by Carrie Vaughn
Stalking around the party without her referencing link flashing names and stats at her felt a little like being drunk. It was Cass’s way of making an adventure for herself. Off-balance, senses muffled, she indulged in self-induced paranoia. Smiling faces, links hooked to their ears, nodded in greeting as she passed. They all knew who she was, thanks to their links, and she hadn’t a damn clue about two-thirds of the people here. She was working blind and stupid, and it made her giddy, along with the glass of wine she’d had.
It seemed like most of Hollywood had shown up for the RealCity Productions launch party. Probably because they all wanted to be able to say they’d been here and known the company was doomed from the start.
Vim had said they had to have a party to manufacture hype.
“We don’t have the money for that kind of party,” she’d told him.
“Oh, but we will! We have to throw parties like this if we’re ever going to have enough money to throw parties like this!” Continue reading “REAL CITY by Carrie Vaughn”
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