The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (THGG)

When I found out that our homework was to listen to an old radio “podcast” of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, I became very excited. I used to always love listening to old radio horror shows, cowboy adventures, and cheesy science fiction on NPR; so I couldn't wait to hear THGG. And to my pleasure I enjoyed the radio version of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy very much. Not only did I enjoy the podcast, but I also enjoyed the latest movie depiction, and the BBC televised program. In fact I enjoyed them so much that I intend to read the book, which I hear is better than all three of the above. The few things that attracted me to THGG were, the complete and literal sarcasm, irony, valid points it makes, and the creativity present throughout the entire works. I wont delve too deep into the story but I feel that Douglas Adams has to be one of the greatest and most creative writers of the science fiction genre. For unlike other sci fi works, Adams throws away all pre-conceived ideas of science fictions and makes his own up while pointing out valid points on humanity. He literally creates a whole world, and for that I must say that I had a very engaging experience with the three mediums that encompass this greater idea.

The Star

            It seems that short stories at times are designed specifically to illustrate a writer’s opinionated idea; it’s most evident in “The Star” by Arthur C. Clarke. Clarke has two main opinions he felt were necessary to voice and uses his story as means of expressing them.  

So a basic layout of the story follows something like this, an astrology crew traveled light years to a dead star named The Phoenix nebula. When venturing there the protagonist, a committed Jesuit, loses his faith and comes to the realization that there may not be a god.  It seems obvious that Clarke had clear intentions of illustrating his opinion on religion and fate; he goes about the two differently.

            When it comes to his method of executing the religion aspect in the short story I feel it was blatantly apparent how he felt about religion. If the fact that the protagonist is having problems with his own spirituality wasn’t sufficient enough to convince you on his feeling for god, I’d say that the dialogue between him and his crew members was plenty.  “ (Out of all the stars) But how you can believe that something has a special interest in us and our miserable little world—that just beats me”. This dialogue was an ingenious method of delivery, for it states the problem with religion logically, in Clarkes’ mind.  Another point of interest that reinforces Clarkes’ opinion of an absent god is the reasoning he has his protagonist go through when discovering the ancient races’ information and history. In laymen terms he basically goes through another logical reasoning and asks how could a god destroy a civilization that had never done anything truly evil. Was there no mercy? Which leads me to Clarkes’ 2^nd opinion.

Coinciding with Clarkes’ view on religion comes his view of impending doom.  The protagonist, through his journey to the Phoenix Nebula and being there, realizes that hundreds of stars explode with inhabited planets revolving around it, leading to the instant death of civilizations. He hits home with his opinion by constantly hinting at parallels with earth, which allows for the reader to become emotionally involved with the story. By doing this, Arthur C. Clarke is successful in not only having you sympathize with the protagonist but also scare you about the current situation; leading to persuading you to believe his opinion of impending doom. Although he takes a more pessimistic way of thinking of the end of time (more literally, the end of our time) he does speak the truth, which is that we will all die eventually. This bleeds into a more subtle opinion he expresses, which is the search of every civilizations need for immortality.
            The protagonist explains that the once thriving civilization, in pursuit of immortality, was obliterated without an instance of a warning. To me this seemed almost to close to the truth of the matter. For Clarke is trying to express in an abstract matter that humans, or civilizations, are never content or living there lives but rather trying to find out how to live forever. To parallel with our society today, if you think about it, it is true. We are always living for tomorrow and god knows the pharmaceutical industry is trying to make a buck while finding the next pill to prolong your life. So although it may be miniscule side point, I find it to be valid and just as important as the other two. I feel confident in saying that Arthur C. Clarke voiced his opinions as efficient as he could within four short pages.

Big Fish

 I re-watched Big Fish again for fantasy week because I remembered the movie as being a refreshingly fantastic movie.  A few reasons why Big Fish was executed so well include, the coloration of the movie, the style that Tim Burton took to give you the feeling of uncertainty when it comes to what the father perceives as happened and what has really happened, the actors, and the refreshingly creative story.

I’m not going to give a synapsis of the movie because you’ve asked us not to do so but I will comment and say that it was a surprise to see a love story incorporated through fantasy without being cliché or too conforming. For instance, when one thinks of a fantastical movie that incorporates love you instantly think of basic points of interest including a princess, prince, and rescue mission to save the princess. But when concerned with Big Fish you see a dying old man who retells his life as he sees it to various people, including his son, his fiancé, etcetera, which brings to mind another point.

 Throughout the story telling of his own life story, it’s clear that it was not solely for the intent of explaining his love for his wife and how it came to be but the entirety of his life. Which shows that the writers once again incorporate another theme to the story that is the epic journey. It becomes evident that ever since he read about the size of goldfish in comparison to their tank, his life contains many adventures.  Ranging from him meeting a great poet who eventually loans him money allowing for him to buy a house for his family, to meeting a giant of a man and saving his own town’s farm animal population, without excluding finding the love of his life, Edward Bloom’s epic tales seem never-ending The movie will have you throughout a range of emotion and will leave you refreshed; for you don’t come by quality movies these days. Big Fish for me is easily in the top 50 movies of all times that I’ve watched, and believe me I’ve watched an immense amount.

Johnny Mnemonic

            I must begin with saying that this has been by far one of my favorite reads of the semester, simply for two reasons.

One being that I like the story and how the author William Gibson sets up the three acts structure. The three act structure beginning with the first act, which sets up and presents the conflict of the story. The second, consisting of Molly and the crew fighting there way out of the assassination and meeting up with Jones. The third act allows for the crew to take a trip to Nighttown and the Killing Room, leading to the conclusion of the short story.

The second reason why this story is one of the most entertaining of the selected texts was because of the descriptive quality that Gibson’s diction create. This is especially apparent on page four, when describing the fight, the thumb and molly’s fingers. I feel that the language Gibson chose was most appropriate for the right rhythm to read. Not only did his descriptive quality provide for a cyberpunk world it also allowed for the readers mind to create their own world; which is incredible if a writer can accomplish that.

When I began to read Johnny Mnemonic I thought that it was going to be another cyberpunk cop out with dark imagery and another generic sci fi but when I read it I was surprised to find that it took a different aspect than other acclaimed works. Gibson also does an efficient job of describing the Killing Room and Molly’s Dance. This part of the short story was the second most appealing event to happen because you actually feel like you are there.

The last point that I found to be interesting was the ending. Because of the initial setup combined with the vivid imagery and descriptive diction, Gibson practically commands the reader to sympathize with the protagonist, which provides for an agreeable ending. If any other cyberpunk work would have ended it in the same sort of way that Gibson did, I hardly think it would be successful; unless they have the proper story setup. But because of the successful setup, as the audience I wasn’t upset with him having to wait it out in Nighttown, slowly waiting for all the chips to be removed from his brain. I was actually pleased that the protagonist was looking forward to the future and building his own memories and not just being a “bucket” waiting to be filled. 

I Live with You

I Live with You was another very pleasing read. I really enjoyed the ominous atmosphere and the feeling of never knowing what was in the house. As I began reading I live with you, the first thought on what was living with her was her own shadow. My main basis for this initial assumption was the fact that it was stated that the thing or resident would always follow without being seen, with the exception of one or two people; and at this point of the story everything was completely out in the open. But then my view changed and as I continued to read I came up with a hypothesis that maybe it was a ghost or some supernatural being. I came to this idea when it(the resident) stated that it would go into her quarter stash and replace them with buttons; or when it said that it would take a bite of food, if Willard not been there. Subtle instances where it(the resident) would interact and live above in the crawl space also allowed me to assume that the point of view was from something supernatural. But then I questioned myself once again and thought that it was possible just somebody who looked like her and lived in her house because it(resident) said that it looked like her and that she could unfold boxes therefore being able to take over her life. In addition to that the interaction of when she revealed herself to Willard and Nora from under the bed was very convincing that maybe it was a human who was very sly. Even when I considered this conclusion I still felt like something was amiss.  Nevertheless, I feel that the suspension and feeling of always wondering who was watching Nora and Willard, was a fantastic setup. Overall I’d have to say that this was a sufficiently good read.

Come to venus Melancholy

Where to begin? Well I suppose ill start off with saying that Come to Venus Melancholy was certainly a bizarre work. In addition I’d also like to say that I very much enjoyed the read. Throughout the whole piece it brought up various interesting points in humanity and appeared to be questioning it to a certain degree. I also found it to be very interesting in the way it was written.

When you first begin the short story you know nothing and have a very miniscule idea to what’s going on or who’s even speaking. But as the story progress you begin to learn, bit by bit, more of who she is and her situation. I find it very interesting that Thomas M. Disch utilized the cyborg as a utility to address the social and cultural issues he wished to express.  For instance, when Disch introduced the idea of sexual pleasures and each gender nevery being able to understanding each other. He points out a valid point, when the cyborg stated “ The thing is that there’s an immense curiosity between the sexes that almost never is satisfied.”  It seems that the author is talking through the cyborg directly to the speaker when this conversation is occurring. I feel as if he almost breaks the third wall to express his ideals. It seems as if Disch uses Come to Venus Melancholy to illustrate his ideas as an almost monolog. Another aspect that I felt Disch accurately addressed was the interaction between eternal loneliness and the mind. As you progress through the story you begin to clearly observe that she has gone crazy and clings to any sort of interaction she can get.

 Disch also incorporates irony throughout the story pretty consistently. One instance in which it is most prominent is poetry. Throughout the whole story you see the cyborg not only continually touch on the subject but even read Milton and various other poets.  The irony of poetry being present throughout the story is the fact that Disch wrote it in a poetic way.  For me, I must say that Come to Venus Melancholy was cleverly thought out and executed creatively, providing for a great science fiction read.

Coraline

Instead of reading Neil Gaiman’s Anasi Boys I decided to read the alternate text Coraline. I chose Coraline instead for two reasons. One, I personally didn’t want to read a book that was a spinoff of a book I hadn’t read yet, I felt I wouldn’t connect or be as involved in the characters as I would have been if I had read American Gods. (Coincidently enough I read American Gods later.) The other reason I decided to read Coraline was because I was interested in the comparison of the book and movie. I know many people say that, of a particular work, the book is almost always better than the movie, but for Coraline I thought that both were great in there own aspect. One of the reasons why the book was so great for me was because the text allowed my imagination to create this whole world that I was instantly sucked into. Gaiman provided the right mood and atmosphere for the entirety of the book, although I did have trouble “unseeing” The movie at points. I like that in the book Coraline only went through the door once, I feel it adds more to the fantasy element in its own way. When I look at the movie I have to take it as another artist’s depiction of Coraline. Although not too wildly off there were aspects that were different than the book. For instance some tad little differences included the character wybie, the parent to child relationship, and things like the old ladies show. At first glance it might not seem like many differences but if you delve deeper you’ll notice that all the little differences provide for a different atmosphere and mood. For instance, the children needing their eyes instead of souls in the movie. This changes the atmosphere in the slightest bit because with the connotation of losing your soul it feels more eerie. Whereas losing your eyes to buttons may not seem as creepy or scary so to say, when in comparison with losing your soul. One thing that I did like about the book better though was the fact that Coraline did everything by herself to destroy the evil mother. Overall I’d have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed myself with the book and movie alike.