Diversity in SF Film: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
I thought I’d seen this film before, but apparently not. For a film made in the early ’50s — the era when post WW2 women were told to return to their “feminine roles” — it’s pretty inclusive. From the beginning, we see PoCs as part of the world’s population — even as part of the American population. They may not always have lines, and they may not be a big part of the action, but they exist in the background. Watch an American film today and you’ll see exactly what I mean. Not only do non-model-worthy people not exist, but neither do PoCs. Mind you, the British newscasters say things like “Throughout the Empire and the rest of the world,” and we see shots of these colonials in their colonial-ness — but hey, they EXIST. Wooo.
217. The Happening (2008) — A Torture Cinema “Adventure”
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode217TortureCinemaMeetsTheHappening2008/SandF%20–%20Episode%20217%20–%20Torture%20Cinema%20Meets%20The%20Happening%20%282008%29.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSTrees, wind, and Marky Mark, oh my! You picked it, and here we are talking about one of the worst horror films ever made — assuming, of course, we can classify it as horror. Hell, it’s probably a better idea to call it a science comedy. Or anti-science comedy. Or just a crappy film. You decide. We hope you enjoy the episode! Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 217 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: The Happening (2008)(IMDB Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). Additional music from “Cool Vibes” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. That’s all, folks! Thanks for listening. See you next week.
Welcome to Planet Freyja
Soooo…. I’m moving all my film and television posts to this site. Because… well… this column has long needed a theme and has suffered for it. I have a difficult enough time thinking of random interesting things to say about stuff for my own blog. I do best when I’ve a central theme to work with. So… Feminism, Science Fiction, and Fantasy Media it is. I don’t feel comfortable discussing fiction because I’m an author, and that brings up conflict of interest issues at once. Films and television? I can talk about those and feel relatively comfortable. So, that’s what I’ll do. I want to go all the way back to some classic films that maybe y’all haven’t seen or thought about in a while. I also want to talk about recent films as well. Hopefully, it’ll be interesting. The ‘title’ is a riff off of a Bloom County cartoon. I like that Freyja is a goddess of love and war which warps the original sexist concept into a nice knot. That said, here goes… ———————————— First, I’ve a post about Starz’s Outlander series here. Starz has made the first episode available for free for a short time. So far, they’ve done a great job of adapting the novel. I recommend seeing it. One thing I will say about it that I did not on my blog (at least not on that post) is that I very much like that Claire is of the 1940s. She’s not a woman of the 2000s stuffed in a 1940s world. I also very much like that Jamie isn’t a man of the 2000s stuffed in the 1700s. Gabaldon did her research from what I can tell, and she doesn’t pull punches in Outlander. I hate it when authors decide to rewrite history in order to make it more palatable. At the same exact time I hate it when history is used to say that previous to 1960, all men were sexist barbarian assholes (thank you HBO’s A Game of Thrones). Although some would argue the point with me, I always felt like Diana Gabaldon did a good job of walking that line. I give the first episode five out of five stars.
211. Yor, the Hunter from the Future (1983) — A Torture Cinema “Adventure”
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode211TortureCinemaMeetsYor/SandF%20–%20Episode%20211%20–%20Torture%20Cinema%20Meets%20Yor.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSDinosaur wrestling, wife-swapping, and lasers, oh my! Through an extraordinary feat of bribery, Shaun, Julia, Paul, and David tackle the 1983 Academy Award-snubbed classic, Yor, the Hunter from the Future. This one is for John Stevens, who has nothing better to do than to make us watch ridiculous movies released the same year Shaun was born. We hope you enjoy the episode! Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 211 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: Yor, the Hunter from the Future (1983)(IMDB) You can also support this podcast by signing up for a one month free trial at Audible. Doing so helps us, gives you a change to try out Audible’s service, and brings joy to everyone. Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). Additional music Kevin MacLeod’s (incompetech.com) “The Builder” licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 and from “Yor’s World” by Guido and Maurizio De Angeles under fair use rules. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx-F6VnLezM] That’s all, folks! Thanks for listening. See you next week.
#23. Edge of Tomorrow (2014) — A Shoot the WISB Subcast w/ Rachael Acks
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/ShootTheWISB23EdgeOfTomorrow2014/Shoot%20the%20WISB%20%2323%20–%20Edge%20of%20Tomorrow%20%282014%29.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSExoskeletons, Tom Cruise dying-in-movie fantasies, and alien time loopers, oh my! Shaun, David, Paul, and Mike are joined by Rachael Acks (AGAIN) to take on the brand new Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt vehicle, Edge of Tomorrow (adapted from Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s All You Need is Kill). A little death never hurt anybody! We hope you enjoy the episode! Spoiler Alert: the following podcast contains spoilers for the film being reviewed; if you wish to see the film without having it ruined for you, download this podcast and save it for later. Download the episode here. [audio http://archive.org/download/ShootTheWISB23EdgeOfTomorrow2014/Shoot%20the%20WISB%20%2323%20–%20Edge%20of%20Tomorrow%20%282014%29.mp3] Show notes (info about our contributors can be found on the about page): Edge of Tomorrow (2014) (IMDB) All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka (Haikasoru) Rachael’s Website Rachael’s Edge of Tomorrow Post Rachael’s Twitter Mike’s new book: Shield and Crocus (BUY IT) Paul’s Review of Shield and Crocus at SF Signal Comment away!
Film Review: The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (2010) — A (World) SFF Film Odyssey
Readers may be familiar with director Luc Besson’s previous work, which includes the excellent films like The Fifth Element (1997), Leon the Professional (1994; featuring a quite young Natalie Portman), or the lesser-known, but personal favorite, Unleashed (2005; featuring Jet Li, Morgan Freeman, and the late Bob Hoskins). These are wildly different films, but they are a testament to Besson’s versatility as a writer and director. The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (Les aventures extraordinaires d’Adèle Blanc-Sec; 2010), seems, then, to be a departure from what has come before, in no small part because this is a film which is coded for a younger audience by its humor and delivery. In that respect, it is a fun, if not somewhat uneven adventure comedy.
