Michael Formichelli's Blog: Nero's Niche, page 14

Spec-fic 2014: Movies by the Month

Greetings all and Happy New Year!

I'm going to break my blog-fasting with a look at what's coming up in 2014 in the world of Spec-Fic at the movies!

January:

I, Frankenstein
Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Bill Nighy, Yvonne Strahovski

The story of the immortal (literally) Frankenstein's monster and his epic struggle against demonic forces...
On the one hand this film looks like it's in the same vein as Sucker Punch, Underworld, and 47 Ronin (which I didn't see). In short, it looks very campy, on the other hand it's got Aaron Eckhart and Bill Nighy so it might not be terrible...This one seems like a bit of a stretch, but if you like camp, you might go for it.


Knights of Badassdom
Starring: Peter Dinklage, Summer Glau, Steve Zahn, Jimmi Simpson

Dinklage, Glau, Simpson (I'm a fan of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, so I know I'm going to laugh if he's in a movie), yeah, it doesn't matter how stupid this plot looks, I'm probably going to see this movie. The trailer put a smile on my face, I love the meta of Dinklage playing a knight in a LARP, what else can I say?



February:

Robocop
Starring: Joel Kinnamen, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Abbie Cornish, Samuel L. Jackson

I'm really looking forward to this one. I've been a fan of the original movie since I saw it as a kid, and it's only gotten more poignant as I've aged. I recently watched it with my wife, and it's just as current now as it was then as a statement about corporate greed and its destruction of the human factor in society. This one is a must see for me, and any fan of sci-fi and social consciousness.


March:

Divergent
Starring: Kate Winslet, Shailene Woodley, Theo James

I'm not too familiar with this one, but from the trailer I gather it's another social consciousness movie playing to the young adult market like the Hunger Games. It seems to be making a statement about conformity vs. the individual and rebellion against an overbearing state with eugenic overtones. I like Kate Winslet, but will this movie be any good? Who knows?


April :

Transcendence
Starring: Johnny Depp, Kate Mara, Morgan Freeman, Rebecca Hall

On the one hand, this movie is about a topic near and dear to me, the "Singularity" when humans and machines will "merge" in some form to create a new and more intelligent species. On the other hand, this movie is part of the "fear science" trend I've noticed in movies in the recent past, and I hate that. I suppose I'll see it if for no other reason than to see what they do with the topic, but I will walk into the theater with a bit of trepidation. On a final note, it's good to see Johnny Depp doing a more serious role again.


Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Starring: Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Redford

In the history of the comic book there have been some pretty poignant Captain America stories. Will this be one of them? That doesn't seem to be the direction Disney has taken Marvel in, per se, however, the Marvel movies they have made have been genuinely enjoyable, so I've got my fingers crossed for this one.


May :

The Amazing Spider Man 2
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jaime Foxx, Sally Field, Paul Giamatti, Denis Leary

I haven't really known what to think about this Spider Man reboot. I still wish Marvel had the rights, but it's not like the first movie was bad, it just wasn't that good. I didn't see it in the theater (shout out to Netflix) because I was too worried it would be a waste of money. Whereas I am glad I didn't, this one might be enough to draw me in (I am a big Paul Giamatti fan). Come May, I guess we'll see. On a side note, I don't think it was wise to open this the same month as X-Men, but hey, what do I know about marketing, right?



X-Men: Days of Future Past
Starring: Sir Patrick Stewart, Sir Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Lawrence, Ellen Page, Michael Fassbender, Peter Dinklage, James McAvoy, Holle Berry, +many others

What can I say about this one, except to quote Phillip J. Fry: "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!"


Godzilla
Starring: Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

This is another movie that deals with a topic near and dear to me. I grew up watching the translated Japanese Gojira films, and as with the 1998 movie I approach this one with a bit of trepidation. On the other hand, it's got Bryan Cranston, so I'm going to enjoy at least part of it.

June :

Edge of Tomorrow
Starring: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt

I'm looking forward to this one despite my usual problems with Tom Cruise (he comes off as arrogant, even when acting but some of my favorite movies star him in them: Last Samurai, Minority Report). The plot of this one looks like a bit of a Groundhog Day (Bill Murry) meets sci-fi war, and I think if done well, it'll be a classic must-see.


Transformers: Age of Extinction
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, Stanley Tucci

I'm not really a Transformer's fan so I'll be taking a miss on this one. I can't find an official trailer on line either, so this text will have to do here.

July :

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Starring: Gary Oldman, Kerri Russel, Andy Serkis

This is another one that I've been waiting all year for. The first one was fantastic, and I'm hoping for more of the same in this new take on a real sci-fi classic. If it's as emotional as the first film, this one is going to be a winner.


Jupiter Ascending
Starring: Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum

The story of a lost star princess and her guardian rescuer as far as I can tell. The description on IMDB doesn't really add much to that, but it's pretty and might be good—maybe. I may give it a chance if the mood strikes but it's not high on my list.


August :

The Giver
Starring: Taylor Swift, Alexander Skarsgård, Meryl Streep

From the description this one is set in a perfect world where a boy learns from an old man that the world ins't actually perfect. That's it. Hmm. I think I'll definitely be skipping this one.

Guardians of the Galaxy
Starring: Lee Pace, Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Vin Disel, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, etc.

I'm at a loss on this film. I have no real intention of seeing it as it looks excessively silly. I never read the comic book, so I'm not really attached to it that way either. It just seems like more of a kids' movie to me—like a village of Ewoks with guns, but hey, maybe I'm wrong about that.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Starring: Megan Fox, William Fichtner, Will Arnet, Whoopi Goldberg, etc.

TMNT was a big part of my childhood, and surprisingly, an big part of my college experience (where I met and started hanging out with one of the people who worked on the comics). I have a fondness for the 1990 movie which I feel was done right, right down to the hokey jokes. From what I've heard, I'm worried about this one but time will tell.

September :

The Maze Runner
Starring:  Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Will Poulter, Dylan O'Brien

Okay, well, the plotline listed on IMDB says that this one is about a community of boys with their memories erased who find out they're living in a giant maze... But the trailer... Well, weird is all I'll say.



Resident Evil 6: Armageddon 3D
Starring: Mila Jovovich

I had a soft spot for these movies for years, but I can't say I've seen the last one (5) and I probably won't see this one either, at least not in the theater.

October :

No word on October releases at this time (save, maybe, another Paranormal Activity movie).

November :

Interstellar
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine

Christopher Nolan did such a good job with the first two Batman movies, and Inception being such an awesome film, I'm very much hoping he can pull off the same for this one as well. It's about time we had something as grandiose as Star Wars and as hopeful as Star Trek that can also stand on its own as a great film. Maybe I'm putting too much on Mr. Nolan here, but I think he might just be able to deliver. I don't know much about the plot yet, and the IMDB description could go anywhere with it, but fingers crossed!


The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, etc.

Is it just me? I'd rather have a super long movie than a two-parter (or more: stares at Peter Jackson), still, after Catching Fire's strong showing (I really liked it, unlike the first movie) this one is a must see for me. I haven't read the books (yet) and I'm not sure if that's helping or harming the films in my eyes.

December

There is some talk of a movie starring George Clooney called "Tomorrowland" for December, but it might not be released until 2015, so I won't list it here. Also, we can rest assured there's going to be the last Hobbit movie next holiday season as well.

Video sources: Youtube
List source: http://www.movieweb.com/movies/2014/sci-fi

A quick update

Just quick, here's what's going on in the world of my stories: 

I'm taking a survey to name the series/universe. You can take it here: 
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZRHT3LY 

Two short stories are available on Amazon.com right now! If you're new to the series or don't want to commit to a full book yet, they're a good place to start out. 

1) The Golden Mean (separate story from the books but vaguely linked)  http://www.amazon.com/The-Golden-Mean-Michael-Formichelli-ebook/dp/B00CL3NOOI 


Art by Michael Lam

2) Towerfall (linked to the main plot, you'll want to read this if you've read book 1)  http://www.amazon.com/Towerfall-Blood-Siren-Michael-Formichelli-ebook/dp/B00BHA2W44 



Art by Michael Lam
The 2nd edition of book 1, Blood Siren, is about ready to go. It's in the beta-reader phase so I should have a publication date soonish (eventually) which will be announced here and across my other platforms (twitter, FB, etc). I'm hoping for December. 
2nd Edition adds content (5 new chapters), a glossary of future terms in my universe, and a family tree of sorts for the Barony. 

Book 2 is in the draft-revision phase. I decided about 30% of it needed rewriting, but work is progressing. 

I've got another story in the works, same universe, but a totally different plotline/storyline and time. No publication date on that one, but I really liked the way it turned out so it'll happen eventually. 

Stay tuned!

My Review of Gravity

Gravity is probably the worst movie I've seen all year. There, I said it.

Visually it's quite pretty, with some breathtaking shots that will remind you of the best media we've seen come out of NASA, but that's about the only thing this movie has going for it. The emotional content seemed very forced, with the occasional line here or there to give us some background about the characters, and a cheap attempt to gain our sympathy using the cliched "dead kid back home" before the movie tumbles into a one-disaster-after-another scenario. As the movie wore on, I found myself thinking "jeez, how many unrelated things could possibly go wrong in real life?" It seemed like Murphy's Law was in overdrive from about the first ten minutes to the last of this film. It stretched credibility for me, and prevented me from building any sympathy for the protagonists.

Furthermore, there is at least one useless, stupid death due to what you might call suspension of the laws of physics which, to add insult to injury, the film had previously demonstrated at length before. Put another way, Gravity does a marvelous, realistic job of showing us what life in zero gravity is like until the writer or director (or both?) don't feel like it anymore. I found this more than frustrating, since the apparent reasons for these moments seemed entirely unnecessary to the plot, and served to push the movie further and further from the realms of realism.

To quote astronaut Sherwood "Woody" Spring's review of this movie: "You wouldn't want to show it to a physics class because of some of the inaccuracies."

The last frustrating thing I'll say about this movie is that the whole premise of a roving debris field destroying everything we have in orbit (yeah, they pretty much list off everything) is a bit childish and unrealistic considering what we do see get demolished (Hubble and the ISS) are, in reality, about 3,550 miles apart in radically different orbits. To quote Jeffrey Kluger (author of Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13) "But the ISS orbits at 51.6º—a concession to the Russians when we built the station, since their Soyuz spacecraft regularly ferry crews up and down. Shuttles fly at that high inclination when they’re visiting the ISS, but they wouldn’t be anywhere remotely in the neighborhood if they were servicing Hubble."

You can find Mr. Kluger's breakdown of Gravity here.

There are really a ton of deadly situations one might encounter in space without having to resort to this parade of unlikely disasters, and I really wanted to see a movie about that, and not what I actually got. In summary, it's not worth the price of admission. Wait for Netflix if you're curious, or just skip it. You won't miss much.

Why does it seem like Hollywood is afraid of space?

The above trailer is for The Last Days On Mars, a movie due out October 31 on iTunes and December 6 in theaters (which blows my mind) staring Liev Schreiber. As you can see from the trailer, it's yet another space-horror movie which has both piqued my interest and made me feel somewhat, well, down as well. Why down? Because as I was watching the trailer it occurred to me that this movie, like the Europa Report (which I loved), is about astronauts going to a place we really plan to go to in the near future and finding nothing but horror and death (which I suppose is finding extra-terrestrial life as well, but still...)
It occurred to me that this trend of "be afraid of space" films is sort of a mixed bag for we who actually want to see humans on Mars, Europa, and beyond within the next fifty years or so. On the one hand, these movies probably draw in large crowds since they pull from both the horror and the sci-fi subcultures, but on the other hand they give something of a negative message I'm not entirely comfortable with which may discourage public support for the real missions. "Space holds death and pain for the human species," just doesn't sit well with me.
The Europa Report Trailer:

I loved the first two Alien movies (though the second is really just sci-fi-action, and not horror), and I liked Event Horizon right up until the end, which I found a bit disappointing. Pitch Black is one of my favorite movies of all time, so it's not so much the genre itself that gives me that not-so-good feeling. After further thought I came to the conclusion that it was the way in which these recent films are handling the genre that is bothering me. The fact that they are about actual missions we might take is probably the biggest factor in my discomfort.

The endeavor to explore our local neighborhood, though treacherous, will probably not have killer alien-monsters at the end of it. Let's say I'm 99.9999999% sure this will be the case. There is enough to worry about as it is—decompression, radiation poisoning, starvation, asphyxiation, freezing to death, engine malfunction, etc. etc.—without involving monsters at the end of the trip. Also, large-scale predators require complete ecosystems to support them. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have us find an entire underground, living world on Mars, but I just don't think it's very likely (or that the predators there would even recognize us as food. We'd probably be as toxic to them as they would be to us if we ate some of their flesh, and we wouldn't "smell right" to them in any case.)

The other side of my dis-ease with this trend in films is that I cannot think of many (if any) recent movies that were about space or aliens or the struggle to explore beyond Earth's atmosphere that were inspiring. I'd like to see more movies like the Abyss, for instance, in which the aliens appear threatening but the twist at the end shows us that humanity's greatest enemy remains itself. Also, Red Planet, in which the heroes struggle against both the negative human element among them and the dangers of the hostile environments involved in space exploration (both in space and on Mars itself).

Don't get me wrong, space-horror definitely has its place and can be quite entertaining, but I miss the balance to both it and space-action that some of the more philosophical-adventure space movies provided. Unfortunately, most of these don't tend to stack up against the box-office numbers that Star Trek (the recent ones), Riddick, and Alien can provide so they don't get made as much. Perhaps this neglected genre is just waiting for a good movie to represent it better? Maybe time will tell...

Book Review: Amped by Daniel H. Wilson

Amped, by Daniel H. Wilson
Amped has a fascinating concept, and one that is going to be a pressing issue in the real world in the next 10-20 years if predictions are correct. The book is, in some ways, an examination of the social and ethical issues around what will happen when human beings start to merge with computers. This event, often called "the Singularity," will create a new class of human different from any that has ever lived. The book explores in depth the reaction to this new, faster, smarter human, and from that perspective it is a fascinating read.

Unfortunately, the execution is not what it could have been. Unlike in Robopocalypse, Mr. Wilson fails to deliver in-depth characters that involve the reader. Although some of the characters are interesting in passing, they never really grow or develop past what they are in the beginning of the story. Without seeing that happen I found myself only mildly involved in their fates. I never really grew attached to anyone, and although the book does have some "woot" moments, my reaction upon completing the book was: "well, that was nice" instead of "wow."

In its favor, the book is a quick read and there was enough action and intrigue to keep me turning pages. I did want to know what happened by the end but that, along with the aforementioned general premise, were really the only two things going for Amped.

Review: Elysium

On its surface Elysium is a sci-fi action flick that, although very entertaining, doesn't live up to the depth of director Neill Blomkamp's first movie, District 9. That was my first impression after seeing the film about a day or two after it was released here in the US. I was ready to write it off as a fun, but shallower movie with some issues that I was ready to forget—and it took a friend's post on Facebook to make me take a second look at the film.
As District 9 was Mr. Blomkamp's examination of racism through a sci-fi lens, so Elysium is his exploration of economic disparity and class attitudes through the same camera. It's premise seems a bit thin in this regard. The story has been told a thousand times over throughout history through such works as Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper, James Whitcomb Riley's Little Orphan Annie (which inspired the comic strip, Broadway show, and the movie), and Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, etc. There really isn't much of a twist on the set up, and in that sense the movie feels a bit tired, though the tech is a bit fun to watch in action.

There are many wasted opportunities to tell a deeper story, and Mr. Blomkamp misses them in a rather spectacular fashion. For example, there should have been more of a link between the main character, Max, and the character John Carlyle that would have made certain moments much more poignant (I have to wonder if there were cut scenes that never made it in). Although Matt Damon makes Max a likable character, he is overshadowed by the character development and growth of Spider—a side character who really steals the show. I found myself cheering for and being fascinated by how he changes through the film, and had the focus been on Spider instead of Max, the movie probably would have been better.
I felt the ending was a bit unrealistic, and that was the moment of my biggest disappointment until I saw the post on Facebook that got me thinking. Although I still stand by the statements above, the post pointed out that there was a deeper philosophical meaning to the movie that went right over my head.

Elysium, despite its problems, can be viewed as a movie about the unfairness of the coming age where technology has the ability to solve most of our big problems—sickness, the environment, poverty—and yet it is prevented from doing so by the greed/elitism of those who produce it. Viewing Elysium from this vantage it does become a movie that approaches the depth of District 9, though it deepens the shame of the film's failure to do so at the same time  If the focus had been more on these issues and less on "action! yeah!" perhaps Elysium would have been a truly great thought-provoker instead of an okay action movie.

Review: The Europa Report

The Europa Report
Ever since seeing Duncan Jones' Moon (2009) I've had high hopes for low-budget and independent sci-fi movies. It always puts a smile on my face to see them being made, since independent producers tend to take on issues that the big studios tend to ignore or shy away from. The Europa Report (which was filmed right here in NYC's Cine Magic Studios in Brooklyn) did not disappoint.
On one side, TER is a classic sci-fi suspense-thriller that in some ways reminds me of Ripley Scott's Alien. A corporation launches a mission into the cold unknown with the hopes of discovering the biggest game-changer in human history; alien life. Along the way the crew encounters difficulties, including mechanical failures, environmental hazards, and ultimately something which starts picking them off one by one through a series of seeming accidents. The hope and inspiration felt at the beginning of the film turns to horror and despair—it's been done before, but there are a few factors in play here that allows TER to claim somewhat unique status in the genre.
I do have to mention a few sour notes in an otherwise beautiful movie. Again, the story is a little played out and I wish they'd gone in a more unique direction as far as the actions sequences went. Also, the film makers chose the "found footage" framework, which on the one hand makes sense since there is a time delay between transmissions between Jupiter and Earth, but on the other hand they played it up so much that I found myself thinking, "come on, you can do better than Blair Witch in space," which, though it may be a little unfair of me to say, I still did have the thought. I don't think I would have found this to be a negative if the trope hadn't been done so much in the recent past (Paranormal Activity, Cloverfield, etc.) since, on a technical level, it was done very well. The found footage clips are intermixed with news reports and interviews in a masterful way that makes the overall film as smooth as drinking a tall, cold glass of milk.
TER was made with a hyper-realistic way of storytelling. It is hard sci-fi, without a doubt, and the film goes out of its way to show you that absolutely everything in it is real, and based on technology we have today. This not only gives it a documentary feel, like something you'd watch in IMAX at the Museum of Natural History, but it also lends to it a sense of "this could happen in a few years" which puts an edge on the terror that hits you hours after you watch the movie. The events don't take place that far away from us, Jupiter is easily visible in the night sky as one of the brightest, steadiest lights to the unaided eye, and can easily be seen (along with some of its moons) with a simple telescope (its moons were discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610 with a telescope that only had about x9 magnification). It is easy to imagine this playing out within our lifetimes. Many of the visual sequences I thought might have been taken directly from actual NASA footage, the CG was just that good, which again lends to the "this is real" feel of the film.
The other major thing playing in TER's favor is its ending. I won't say what it is, of course, but there is a small twist on the classic scifi-horror tale at the end that completes the thematic loop of the film. You not only leave it impressed with the NASA-film quality visuals, but thinking deeply about the real possibility of what life on other planets might mean to us.
I highly recommend this movie to all comers, both sci-fi veterans and those looking to see what the hubbub is all about.

The Europa Report is currently available on iTunes for a $9.99 rental.

Also, definitely check out the official website (which is done in the style of being a real, corporate website for Europa Ventures LLC) here: http://www.europaventuresllc.com/

Man of Steel?

Greetings to all.

First off, my apologies for the long lapse. The old personal life has been busy, and though it is no excuse, I haven't had time to do the blog in recent weeks. I've decided to break my long silence with a review of Man of Steel.


If you have seen the movie already, no doubt, you have a strong opinion one way or the other on how director Zack Snyder did with America's first super hero. There is no more recognizable a tights-wearing super being than Superman, and no other character has such a long history. There ins't a person alive today in America who didn't grow up hearing, "look, in the sky. It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Superman!" As such, personal experiences with the man of steel are going to color everyone's reaction to the film. The general trend for traditionalists seems to be a dislike for the movie, while those who came to Superman in more recent times seem to have loved it.

The film took a heavier hand with the Superman-as-world-messiah than previous incarnations. This is the first time in my memory that Christian iconography was used heavily in a Superman work. Mr. Snyder also attempted to give Kal'El a new twist, and added concepts of being an outsider, a drifter, and a conflicted individual who is struggling to balance what he is and what he can be with how others see him. Where the real controversy comes in for the traditionalists is in how Mr. Snyder portrayed this internal battle; this Superman lets people die when he can save them. Whereas he still fights for humanity, he doesn't always choose the most moral path and it winds up forcing him to do things that no other Superman in recent memory does. The choices he makes are a hard pill to swallow for someone, like myself, who grew up thinking of Superman as the ultimate boy scout.

It wasn't that I thought a new interpretation was bad on its face. I was looking forward to seeing what a "darker" Superman would be like, but I disagreed with Mr. Snyder's choices, particularly the one at the end of the film. Although I loved the new spin on General Zod, not only did the film's moral ambiguity bother me (Superman is not supposed to be like Batman), but his take on Krypton, though beautiful to look at, made me scratch my head and think: "Are they really that dumb?"

Overall, for me, Man of Steel fell far short of what it could have been and I left the theater thinking about how disappointing that was.

IA Vs AI

What is Intelligence Augmentation?

Everyone involved in science fiction, either as a producer or consumer thereof, knows about A.I. It's strange, but the prominence of A.I., robots, and the like, has eclipsed an entire area which comprises the counterpoint to A.I.— I.A. or Intelligence Augmentation (also called Cognitive Augmentation).

Most of us are already familiar with I.A. by other names. For example, fans of Star Trek might remember a certain villain from the 60's that came back for revenge in the 2nd feature film—KHAAAAAAAAN! (Sorry, couldn't resist). Khan Noonian Singh was said to be genetically modified, including his intelligence, that made him smarter and more cunning than unmodified people.

What about real world examples? How close are we to modified intelligence?

Researchers at Princeton University in 1999 were able to modify a gene, NR2B, in mice to make them more intelligent. Specifically, the mice demonstrated "young brain" characteristics (quick learning, faster associations than older brains make) along with object recognition, emotional memory, learning response, and spacial memory. The results of the research, which as of the time of the article showed the mice had no side-effects, demonstrated that genetic modification of intelligence is possible (and may also work in humans), though I couldn't find much on any research in this specific area after this study.

Perhaps it is because the engineered enhancement of human intelligence (among other things) is considered "morally questionable" at best. There are many arguments against altering our basic code to make ourselves "better." Many believe it would become a tool of the rich to suppress the rest of us, or say that the unexpected consequences wouldn't be worth the risk.

EveR2- A Singing Android
Image Copyright
The Korea Institute of Industrial TechnologyOthers, however, worry that without engaging in some kind of I.A. humans will fall behind our mechanical offspring, A.I. As this iO9 article points out, whereas I.A. is stagnant right now, breakthroughs in A.I. are happening all the time. It is a near certainty that we will give intellectual birth to A.I. long before we enhance ourselves, if we ever do. What kind of world will we live in when our tools are smarter than us by such a great extent, that our evolved minds will be unable to even comprehend what they are thinking? Does not the certainty of A.I. require us to think about how we will keep up in the long term?

Some say that I.A. is advancing, just not on a genetic level. Jamais Cascio's article "Get Smarter" in The Atlantic points out that the Internet is an external sign of our continued I.A. The average person with internet access now has more information and cognitive stimulation available at their fingertips than any other human in history, and though such technology is on the outside for now, technology such as Google Glass show that it won't be long before we all can have this type of information and processing power on the inside. However, it remains to be seen if such advances will allow humanity to keep up with our machines.

Robonaut with Centaur Attachment
Image by NASARegardless of who wins the race the cybergenius is on its way to being a reality. One can only hope that whatever it is, it will act to solve humanity's problems instead of exacerbating them.

Women in the Movies

I recently read an article about how the roles for women in movies in 2012 was at a 5 year low.

This struck me as quite odd since I had the perception that the roles of women in popular culture, and specifically in fiction, had been on a steady rise. I realized I had this perception from the movies and books I was choosing to read, and perhaps a bit from the American right wing's attacks on women's basic rights (figuring that they were instigated by insecure males threatened by the rising power of women—and let me be clear here, we're talking about women's rise to EQUALITY not a rise to a position above that of men). I felt a bit lost by the article I read, so I read another, and another, and decided that my perception of things might need some adjustment. I consider myself very pro-women in general and I really wanted to be right about the rising power of women in fiction.

After reading 3, virtually identical articles (here's one) about the decrease in women's roles in blockbuster films citing the same study by Professor Stacy L Smith of USC, I decided to look at the data myself. Unlike the study, I only looked at the top 10 box office blockbusters just because I don't have the time to go through 500 movies for each year. I am also holding out hope that the popularity of these movies in some way represents the most popular public portrayals of women in American culture.

So what were the top blockbusters of the last five years? (taken from boxofficemojo.com)

Year/Movie                                                 Female Heroine(s)?      Important Overall Female Role?

2007:
Spider-Man 3                                                         No                  Not really
Shrek the Third                                                       No                      No
Transformers                                                          No                       No
Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End                Yes                       No
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix              Yes                     Yes
I am Legend                                                           No                      No
The Bourne Ultimatum                                            No                      No
National Treasure: Book of Secrets                        No                       No
Alvin and the Chipmunks                                        No                       No
300                                                                        No                   No (debatable)

2008:
The Dark Knight                                                      No                      No
Iron Man                                                                 No                      No
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull   No                     No
Hancock                                                                  No               Didn't See It
WALL-E                                                                Yes                     Yes
Kung Fu Panda                                                        Yes                   Yes
Twilight                                                                    Yes                    Yes
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa                                    Yes                  Yes
Quantum of Solace                                                    No                    No
Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!                               No                Didn't See It

2009:
Avatar                                                                     Yes                Yes
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen                          No          Didn't See It
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince                    Yes                Yes
The Twilight Saga: New Moon                                  Yes               Yes
Up                                                                            No            No (Debatable)
The Hangover                                                           No                  No
Star Trek                                                                  Yes                  Yes
The Blind Side                                                           Yes                 Yes
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel                  No              Didn't See It
Sherlock Holmes                                                        No                   No

2010:
Toy Story 3                                                                 No              Didn't See It
Alice in Wonderland                                                   Yes                  Yes
Iron Man 2                                                                  No                     No
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse                                           Yes                     Yes
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1                Yes                    Yes
Inception                                                                    Yes                     Yes
Despicable Me                                                            Yes                 Didn't See It
Shrek Forever After                                                    Yes? (Fiona?)  Didn't See It
How to Train Your Dragon                                         Yes                      Yes
Tangled                                                                       Yes           Yes? Didn't See It

2011:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2                   Yes                    Yes
Transformers: Dark of the Moon                                      No             Didn't See It
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1                        Yes                   Yes
The Hangover Part 2                                                         No                  No
Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides                      Yes             Didn't See It
Fast Five                                                                            ?               Didn't See It
Mission: Impossible- Ghost Protocol                                 Yes?           Didn't See It
Cars 2                                                                               ?                Didn't See It
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows                             No                  No
Thor                                                                                Yes                   No

2012:
Marvel's the Avengers                                                Yes        No (see note below)
The Dark Knight Rises                                                Yes        No (see note below)
The Hunger Games                                                      Yes               Yes
Skyfall                                                                          No                No
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey                             No                No
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2                      Yes              Yes
The Amazing Spider-Man                                             No              Not Really
Brave                                                                           Yes              Yes
Ted                                                                              No          Didn't See It
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted                          Yes        Didn't See It

My assessment of the movies above may be somewhat flawed as I didn't see the majority of them and I'm going off of a degree of guesswork from trailers and what I know of them.

Also:

* Note about Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises-
Yes Scarlet Johansson and Ann Hathaway played female leads, but I don't think they were very strong characters. I was honestly annoyed at the portrayal of the Black Widow in both Iron Man 2 and Avengers (if she's going to appear again, I really, really hope they make her train hard(er) to fight and run. It hurts me every time she tries to in the movie. Compare her to someone who can actually fight like Michelle Yoh to see what I mean). Cat Woman was almost irrelevant in the Dark Knight Rises as well. You'd have the exact same movie without her involved. She felt like she was squeezed in there just to have her.

So judging solely by the top 10 box office results for each year, I have to say I somewhat disagree with the article's assessment (again, I didn't look at nearly the number of movies the researcher did), but there is still a disturbing trend here.

Although recent movies like The Hunger Games, Brave, and Twilight were positive portrayals of strong women (I would argue that Twilight isn't, actually but I'm playing along with what the article said on that one) they don't even come close to making up for the vast deficiency in our culture's fictional media in general—in movies in this case—when it comes to the roles of women. This year's Star Trek Into Darkness is being praised as being one of the most positive female portrayal movies in recent memory. I think that's fantastic, but at the same time it stands out as such because everything around it doesn't measure up.

Amazon Preparing for the Battle
Pierre Eugene Emile Herbert 1860
Source: Wikimedia CommonsI still want to believe that overall the portrayal and status of women in America is on the rise, but I am forced to abandon my former view as the data doesn't support that conclusion. I think the article is right to point out the lack of good heroines in our contemporary cultural mythology (yes, I think of fiction that way), and there really needs to be more movies, books, and TV shows made like the Hunger Games and Brave that show women playing an essential role in society and in the role of adventure—because they really do. I'd also like to see the whole damsel in distress thing go away. If a story calls for the capture of a heroine, fine, but I want to see her take out 20 guys on the way down or curse they kidnappers out defiantly (or something like that; just no whimpering "help me help me" or whatnot). Some of the bravest, strongest, and most forgiving people I know are women and it's time that image became the norm.