Real Nurbs ? - 5th Element; critics-schmitics 2004-02-13 - By Kris Krieger
Back
People of pretense who act like intellectual snobs always say that Science
Fiction and Speculative Fiction (see: Harlan Ellison's thoughts re: SF) "is
for 10-yr-olds". That's ebcause many of them haven't the intellectual
capability to recognize that the best S.F. and also the best Fantasy is
Mythic - see Campbell for elaboration, eh explains it so well, plus the
details are prob. not appropos to this venue. In fact, the best art itself
is also Mythic in this sense, in that there is the element of a Journey
(caps intentional) within it, a Journey not of body, but of Consciousness,
Intellect, and Spirit.
And then again, wasn't it Carl Jung who said that "The greater the mind,
the greater the need for play"...? IOW, sometimes, SF is just supposed to
be fun. IMO it is the people whose minds are stuck in the mud who either
are not capable of having fun, or are not capable os saying, well, I don't
like it but it is fun for other folks.
IMO, 5th Element was a total hoot - I think it was well-done visually,
well-paced, and didn't take itself overly-seriously - things I cannot say
about a great many so-called "serious" films. It wasn't a "big message"
film, but OTOH, it did poke fun at many aspects of current society. The
Farce as a dramatic form goes back at least a few hundred years, and I
think (pls. correct me if I am wrong) that it actually goes back at least
to ancient Greek theater.
And that's another point. It is "permissible", according to 'critics", to
watch Greek or Roman theater, or Shakespeare, performed in period costume -
but in a way, isn't that very similar to SF or Fantasy, in that it deals
with a world that is not currently our own? We cannot be certain that our
interpretations of dress and mannerisms is historically accurate, so in the
end, ancient or old theater is also Mythic. The main difference between
such forms, and SF, is that the science fiction category of Speculative
Fiction adds in technologies that don't currently exist, and
non-terrestrial life forms - but OTOH, one can't say that Zeus et al, or
Oberon et al, are what one could *technically* call "terrestrial life
forms", since they also do not exist - and "aliens" spring from the human
mind just as did/do gods and spirits and so on.
Then again, even if a critic says a work "is for 10-yr-olds", we have to
remember that most children are born clever and imaginative, and basically
become stupid with age, "maturity", and a lot of training. Then too,
critics don't get paid to be art professors - they get paid to pander to
the 60% min. majority of people - who, like thmselves, have all the
imagination, aesthetic sense, and intellectual capacity of a
turnip. Critics can typically predict what wilol be "popular", but most
are not to be trusted to have any idea to know what is art, or even, what
is good.
- Kris
At 04:05 PM 12-02-2004, Roman Ormandy wrote:
>Fifth Element is my favorite too. NYT critic Janet Maslin trashed it
>saying it is all just design and the story is for 10 year olds but mistook
>"trashcan guys" at the begining for bad guys:)
>
>Roman
>
>
>-- ---- --
>From: RorrKonn [mailto:rorrkonn@(protected)]
>Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2004 3:58 PM
>To: truespace@(protected)
>Subject: Re: [TSML] Real Nurbs ?
>
>Police hovercraft works for me.Fifth Element is a Killer Video.Right up
>there with Blade Runner.
>
>I well defiantly Check the books out,Thanks
>
>RorrKonn
><http://www.Atomic-3 (See http://mic-3.ora-code.com)D.com>http://www.Atomic-3 (See http://mic-3.ora-code.com)D.com
>-- -- Original Message -- --
>From: <mailto:frootee@(protected)>Jason Lechak
>To: <mailto:truespace@(protected)>truespace@(protected)
>Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2004 6:18 PM
>Subject: Re: [TSML] Real Nurbs ?
>
>Hi RorrKonn. There are a couple books, if you are interested, that are
>graphics dictionaries. One, called "CG101: A Computer Graphics Industry
>Reference", is pretty good. There is another, I think it's called,
>"Graphics in a Digital World", or something of the sort. On the cover, is
>a scene from The Fifth Element, where there are a lot of police
>hovercraft, for lack of a better term.
>
>HTH,
>
>jason
|
|
