to the moon, alice. to the moon!
Jan. 21st, 2010 01:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
langwidereI’ve been having frothing fits over the 'critical' reaction to Avatar. To be fair, it is an excruciatingly stupid movie. It’s also really, really beautiful to look at. I suppose, if I were feeling generous, I would give it credit as a sort of backwards-Matrix simile for the holy creation of the personal narrative — the need for every man to generate a lovely image of his better self and inhabit it, ideally in a better world, and for the betterment of all life and for love and for the Mission etc. Which is really sweet and totally forgivable idiocy, right? Also: Talking kitties.
Did you see the news stories about people who are clinically depressed over the fact that Pandora isn’t real? I’m not saying this sentiment is contemptible on its own; it’s just something that, like sailor collars and lollipop munge, only looks adorable on an eight-year-old.
I wish people could get over the fact that Avatar is a "white male fantasy." Everything at the movies is a white male fantasy. Do you think Up in the Air isn’t a white male fantasy? I am embarrassed for you. This is White Male Fantasyland. At least Avatar self-identifies. And what, exactly, is so awful about white men wanting to stop being white men? Modern whatsits accept the genderswitch in actual real life without batting an eyelash — but you can’t abandon the race ship, even hypothetically, no matter how convinced you are that it’s sinking? No, I’m asking. I actually find that really interesting.
But, so, here’s me:
1.) Little, Big by John Crowley. I’ve only gotten a little distance into this book because I’m also reading several Terry Pratchett novels at the same time, but my reflex is to say that Crowley seems to have an educated fool’s fondness for polysyllabic elaboration. It doesn’t bother me all that much, although I do feel it gets in the way of the story. I’m pleased your mind is a thesaurus, Mr. Crowley, but it doesn’t make me love you. But, despite this distraction, I really like this novel so far and I’m looking forward to the end. (Not like that.)
2.) The Magicians: A Novel by Lev Grossman. Haven’t started this one yet, but I think the cover is very haunting & attractive. Tree :]
Next month’s book budget goes to:
1.) Kingdoms of Elfin by Sylvia Townsend Warner
2.) Sensei wa Dummy by Komeya
3.) Mousou Elektel by Nekota Yonezou
(Where available, of course.)
I’m still plugging away at Japanese. I have a couple of great grammar books, and I also bought two folktale/horror chrestomathies (which I’ve found people call "readers," even though that’s not the same thing at all) to work on in February. If I keep doing this well, I should have a translation page up this summer. And then away we go!
Did you see the news stories about people who are clinically depressed over the fact that Pandora isn’t real? I’m not saying this sentiment is contemptible on its own; it’s just something that, like sailor collars and lollipop munge, only looks adorable on an eight-year-old.
I wish people could get over the fact that Avatar is a "white male fantasy." Everything at the movies is a white male fantasy. Do you think Up in the Air isn’t a white male fantasy? I am embarrassed for you. This is White Male Fantasyland. At least Avatar self-identifies. And what, exactly, is so awful about white men wanting to stop being white men? Modern whatsits accept the genderswitch in actual real life without batting an eyelash — but you can’t abandon the race ship, even hypothetically, no matter how convinced you are that it’s sinking? No, I’m asking. I actually find that really interesting.
But, so, here’s me:
1.) Little, Big by John Crowley. I’ve only gotten a little distance into this book because I’m also reading several Terry Pratchett novels at the same time, but my reflex is to say that Crowley seems to have an educated fool’s fondness for polysyllabic elaboration. It doesn’t bother me all that much, although I do feel it gets in the way of the story. I’m pleased your mind is a thesaurus, Mr. Crowley, but it doesn’t make me love you. But, despite this distraction, I really like this novel so far and I’m looking forward to the end. (Not like that.)
2.) The Magicians: A Novel by Lev Grossman. Haven’t started this one yet, but I think the cover is very haunting & attractive. Tree :]
Next month’s book budget goes to:
1.) Kingdoms of Elfin by Sylvia Townsend Warner
2.) Sensei wa Dummy by Komeya
3.) Mousou Elektel by Nekota Yonezou
(Where available, of course.)
I’m still plugging away at Japanese. I have a couple of great grammar books, and I also bought two folktale/horror chrestomathies (which I’ve found people call "readers," even though that’s not the same thing at all) to work on in February. If I keep doing this well, I should have a translation page up this summer. And then away we go!
Added to circle
Date: 2010-02-01 12:37 am (UTC)Also, I am agreeing on the Avatar theme. I really disliked the film myself. But I guess that could be because I'm not fond in the least of films that just have no shade of black or white.
Re: Added to circle
Date: 2010-02-01 04:11 pm (UTC)(BTW, I’m having connection problems because of the freezing weather, so I hope this posts.)
Yeah, "This movie is stupidly moralistic and the dialogue is unbearably lame. Also I think a few IQ points fell out of my ear and landed squelchily on the theater floor as I was walking out" is perfectly legitimate criticism of Avatar. "Anti-feminist blah blah racist yarp yarp stop-motion skeletons!!! bark bark" is not.
What I could see of your DreamWidth seemed really great :[
Looking forward to your posts in the future, when it’s warmer than 18° outside.
Re: Added to circle
Date: 2010-02-04 01:27 am (UTC)Personally gifting Avatar with an extended critique on it's morality/issues is dignifying it I feel. It's mainstream Hollywood on a massive scale.
Thanks. I discovered your Dreamwidth through your essays on Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (they were brilliant.) 18degrees- is that minus? It's only -1C here
Re: Added to circle
Date: 2010-02-24 11:25 pm (UTC)I’d forgotten that the US is the last country in the world to use the English system of measurement. It had been running about 18°F at the time, which my conversion utility tells me is around −8°C. At the moment we’re all the way up to about −2°C. Practically tropical!
Oh, I actually really like big Hollywood blockbusters, myself. I’d much rather sit down to watch Jurassic Park or Dreamgirls than something like Juno, which sort of posed as "outsider art" but made me want to vomit until I died. Difference is the spice, and all that :]
Also, thank you! I hope I haven’t let you down with my love of big rubbery digital creatures. In my defense, Julian Fellowes wants to do the S&N movie in 3D, and I am not completely positive he is kidding.