Books versus TV/Movies

Some time ago now, during a riot in London, it was reported that in one area every shop had been picked clean by rioters except—the bookstore. That one had been left untouched. I can’t imagine the same to be true of the video store. 

It’s a familiar refrain and sometimes even I get tired of hearing it.  But it does often seem that our society’s values are a little skewed.  Sports often appear to be valued over education, infotainment over actual news, and—yes—movies and TV over books and literacy.  I generally find that when I’m reaching for an example to illustrate some important point about writing, that a reference to a “movie” often works best. The books I want to use as illustrations will work only for a subset of people.  The movie will work for nearly everyone. In fact, I sometimes feel as if I watch most TV and movies just so I’ll have something to talk about with other people and to use as examples in my classes.

Along a similar vein, I’ve had dozens of folks over the years find out that I’m a writer and immediately recommend that I 1) write for the movies, 2) read screenplays as a way to improve my writing,  3) read a book about screen writing, or 4) all of the above.  This is in spite of the fact that I, 1) don’t really find movies very interesting, 2) personally find screenplays the most boring thing to read outside of technical manuals, 3) don’t ever want my written prose to sound like it came from a movie, and 4) it just plain irritates me.

Now, I have nothing against folks who like movies. I like plenty of them myself. I also think that writers can learn something from studying every form of writing, including screenwriting, and there are movies that contain great dialogue, although I generally find them strongest at the “one liner” verbalizations.  But what irritates me about people making the “movie” suggestions to me is that these folks seem clearly to value movies more than books.  It almost seems they are saying, “well yes, write your little novels until you develop the professional skills to write for the important markets, TV and the movies.”  Frankly, most TV and movie writing isn’t very good, and that which is good generally comes originally from books, as with the Harry Potter movies and Game of Thrones.

I’ll admit that I probably sometimes overstate the case against movies, but that’s because hardly anyone else seems to question the “movies are just worth more than books” vibe that we live with in our society. I question it.  If my TV/video system was gone when I woke up tomorrow, my life would go on almost exactly as it did before.  When Lana is not home, our TV is off 99% of the time. But if I woke up and all my books were gone, I’d be devastated and would probably head for the nearest bookstore immediately to start replenishing my shelves. 

For me, and for always, books are where it's at.

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Favorite Movies: Part 2

Here's part two of my list of favorite movies, and the ones that have had some influence on my fiction. 

             

             6. Alien. I consider this my second favorite horror movie. It’s far more horror than SF to me, although it combines those elements. It has definitely influenced some of my more graphic horror. I know Sigourney Weaver from this film, and I would recognize the name of the Captain if I heard it, although I can’t think of it now. Despite that, there’s one element of this film that irritates me, and that is how fast the alien grows after it “hatches.”

                7.  Aliens. The sequel to Alien is a very different movie. It has horror elements but it is primarily adventure SF, which I do enjoy writing. There are some great dialogue lines in this one, and some great characters. I know Weaver, of course, and would certainly recognize the names of several of the other actors if I heard them. This was an influence on Under the Ember Star.

                8. Predator. This movie nicely combines horror and adventure. The SF elements are really quite minimal. I know Arnold, of course, and Apollo Creed. I know that’s not the real name of the actor but the character he played on Rocky. There are elements of this movie that influenced Cold in the Light.

                9. Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 1978. Also a horror movie as opposed to a true SF film. Very enjoyable. I like the first version quite  a bit too, but this is the first version I “saw” and I’ll always have a soft spot for it. This film was remade a couple of times later and was horribly mangled. Only the first two versions are worth seeing. I would say this has influenced some of my horror.

                10. Brotherhood of the Wolf. This is a French film starring a number of actors whose names I wouldn’t even recognize. It’s based on real historical events, a “beast” that terrorized the French countryside and was widely believed at the time to be a werewolf. The movie puts quite a bit different spin on the “beast.” It’s got great action and wonderful visuals. I enjoyed this enough to go and buy a copy. I did so, partly, because I figured it wouldn’t show very often on TV. I was right.

Honorable Mentions:

                11. The Exorcist. One of the few movies that actually creeps me out.

                12. Excalibur.  A dramatic retelling of elements from the Arthur legend.

                13. Raiders of the Lost Ark. Great pulp adventure.

                14. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Western mythmaking with Clint Eastwood.

                15. Young Frankenstein. I seldom watch movie comedies but this is one of my favorites.

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Favorite Movies: Part 1:

I quite often make a point of saying that films mean almost nothing to me. It’s true. I watch movies. I enjoy some of them. Almost always I promptly forget them and can’t even remember their titles within a few days. I have no idea about the names of most actors. Lana often tells me the names when we’re watching movies, but within fifteen minutes I couldn’t give you that name. I think I’ve looked up something on the internet about movies or actors maybe a dozen times in my life. I’ve bought exactly six movie DVDs in my life, three of which I got in a package deal for about 3 bucks (and have never watched since I bought them).  Lana has bought two others that I might well have bought myself under the right circumstances. Yet, I cannot say that movies haven’t affected me. And there have been some that have influenced my writing. So, instead of bashing movies too badly today, I’m going to actually talk about a few movies I really do like and which have been influences on my fiction.  To avoid making these posts too long, I'll do it in two parts.

                1.  Once Upon a Time in the West. This is my favorite western, and perhaps my favorite movie. It stars Charles Bronson, Jason Robards, and Henry Fonda.  Bronson plays a gunfighter known only as “Harmonica,” and Fonda is the primary villain. This is really the classic myth of the old west and I do own a copy of it. I didn’t actually buy the copy, though. It was a gift. There are lines of dialogue and certain descriptions in the Talera series and in Cold in the Light that evoke elements of this film.

                2. The Outlaw Josey Wales. This is my second favorite western, starring Clint Eastwood, of course. I couldn’t tell you any of the other actors in it. It is actually based on a novel and is one of the very few cases in history where—for me—the movie is a whole lot better than the book. This also had an influence on the Talera series.

                3. The 13^th Warrior, starring Antonio Banderes and a bunch of other actors I don’t know. This is my favorite heroic fantasy movie. It’s based on Michael Crichton’s Eaters of the Dead, which is a retelling of the Beowulf story. Both the book and the movie are very good. The movie has been more of an influence on my work than the book, primarily because of the very strong visuals. This movie’s influences can be seen in some of my heroic fantasy, such as “A Whisper in Ashes.”

                4. The Thing, John Carpenter version. This is my favorite horror movie. I know the faces of many of the actors in it from other films but the only name I know is Kurt Russell. I thought the casting was excellent, though, and Carpenter got great performances from all the cast members. This has definitely influenced my horror fiction.

                5. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The one exception to my “I don’t care about TV/Movies” feelings is Star Trek: The Original Series. I will watch anything and everything about the original series and have seen every episode and film more than once. I’ve even watched the cartoon series, which featured the voices and likenesses of most of the original cast.  I know almost all the actors names, which is unheard of for me with any other series ever. I even know the names of many of the guest stars and have several of their autographs. Wrath of Khan is by far the best of the movies made with the original cast and I’ve watched it so many times I largely have it memorized. Perhaps strangely, however, it has had little actual influence on my writing. I’m sure it’s influenced overall themes but not many details of the Star Trek Universe enter my fiction. Part of it is that I seldom write SF of this type, and part is that I know the stuff so well that I automatically reject it for specifics in my own fiction. The one exception is probably the Spock eyebrow arch, which I have had characters do in my stories. Lana bought a copy of this but I fully endorsed the purchase.

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Movie OD

First, thanks to everyone who commented on my last post. And thanks to everyone who suggested possibilities for the books I mentioned there. Special thanks to Greg, Writtenwyrd, Don, and Daniel, who did indeed identify some of the books. I owe you folks. I now can put authors and details to “The Secret Staircase,” “Smuggler’s Island, “Claws,” “Listen to the Worm,” “Panther!,” and “My Gift to You.” Don over at Issa’s Untidy Hut came up with the most. I knew my blogging pals were cool.

Today’s post is on movies. Now, I don’t watch many movies. And only when they are absolutely convenient to me. But we’ve got the Showtime movie channels for free for a bit and I thought, why not take a day off and watch a few. I was actually pleasantly surprised that I didn’t hate most of what I saw. But here’s my take, ranked from my favorite to least favorite:

1. Rambo. OK, this has to be one of the all time goriest movies ever. So, rather naturally, I enjoyed it. I imagine the effects of the artillery and mines was probably portrayed very realistically, but I’m skeptical that regular rifle fire, even from a sniper rifle, would completely disintegrate whole heads or blow off limbs at the shoulder. I’ve seen the effect of high powered bullets on animals as big as deer, so thus my skepticism. The end was rather touching, though, and it seemed to bring the series to its close.

2. 3:10 to Yuma. It’s a western and I liked it, although it’s no Once Upon a Time in the West. Russell Crowe did a great job as the villain I thought, and had some great one liners. However, there were some letdowns in the orchestration of the whole thing. How does a prisoner in cuffs manage to kill two members of the posse taking him to the prison train without, perhaps, being bound and watched a little more closely after that? On the other hand, this one had by far the best all around cast of the movies I saw. Even the supporting actors did well, and many of them were well known, such as Peter Fonda.

3. Snow White: A Tale of Terror. Sigourney Weaver did a bang up job as the wicked stepmother/witch in this one. I thought she was superb. This was a somewhat loose retelling of the Snow White story but was pretty enjoyable. It was definitely a horror rather than a fantasy. The supporting cast was much weaker than Weaver, and I could kind of see at the beginning why the Stepmother didn’t much like the stepdaughter. I would have wanted to strangle the little priss myself. Some interesting visuals as well.

4. Into the Wild. This is the story of the young man who walked on his own into the Alaskan Wilderness, lived for something like a year in an abandoned bus there, and then died from eating poisonous plants. I came close to abandoning this one early on because the kid was just so immature. He was born into privilege to the point where he could afford to rebel against it all. And he did, against a life and parents that were not nearly as bad as he seemed to think. However, I have to admit the boy had some testicular fortitude and in the end I felt quite a bit of sympathy for him. He learned a bit of wisdom, although he died before he got a chance to exercise it. There were also some very good supporting actors in this one, especially Hal Holbrook.

5. There Will Be Blood. Twenty minutes into this long, long movie I turned to Lana and said, “OK, I see where this is going. We’ll have one scene with blood at the very end and then fade to black. That was exactly what happened, with no tension or suspense in between. How can a pretentious art film be so incredibly cliché? How many times has this story been told? 1). A businessman who is already somewhat unscrupulous becomes more and more brutal and bitter over time, as he also descends into alcoholism. 2). Said businessman gets everything he thinks he wants but nothing he needs. 3) said businessman runs off the only people who give a damn about him. There were two good things about this movie. Daniel Day Lewis did a great job as the despicable businessman, and the musical score was quite good. These could not save what was ultimately a rather silly and completely predictable film. This is the only one of the five I wish I had my time back on.
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Movies and the Shaky Cam

I watched a couple of movies this weekend while off for Easter: Lakeview Terrace and Quarantine. Both were sadly flawed. Lakeview Terrace had some interesting characterizations and I thought it had the makings of a pretty good movie, but it was very slow to develop. The model for this kind of urban thriller to me is Pacific Heights, and this one had nowhere near the suspense of that movie, although to be fair it didn't have as clear cut of a bad guy either.

Quarantine's flaws were of a different sort. The premise and setting were interesting, although not terribly original, and there were some cool gory sections, as when a badly injured man tries to walk on a broken leg. The problem was the shaky cam. The premise was that a TV night show crew consisting of a woman reporter and a camerman ride along with a fire crew who are called out to treat a sick woman. Once the firemen and camera crew are inside the building, along with a couple of cops, the feds lock the building down because of the disease, which seems to develop into uncontrollable rage.

Unfortunately, all we see of the events is the "camera eye," (Shaky cam) view. I suspect that someone somewhere thinks the shaky cam adds realism to a movie. The opposite is the case. Whether shaky cam or not, we all know at the beginning of a movie that we're just watching a movie. With the regular camera set up, we only have to suspend our disbelief once, and then we're into the movie. With the shaky cam we are constantly bombarded with the realization that this is only a movie, and, unfortunately, we're only seeing bits and pieces of that movie. In Quarantine, for example, I could not suspend my disbelief over and over as to the fact that a "real person" was supposed to be filming all this, and I could not get past my irritation that at times the movie I paid for consisted of running feet. Had I known it was shaky cam I'd never have rented it.

Just say "no" to shaky cam.
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