Rehash: The Hobbit

I watched the movie Up recently and made some interesting observations comparable to the Hobbit. In heart both of the main characters are destined for adventure and discovery, but fall into a situation they did not particularly favor. As I mentioned in my first post, this is a common element in the stories told in many fantasy worlds. Initially they fall victim to their own destiny but in the end take more from it than they expected and become better people. Something I did not quite consider is the essence of "hero" and how these stories appeal to audiences of all ages. When Up came out, some people thought the nature of the film was a bit mature. Regardless, the movie holds appeal to children just as well as it does the older audience. The Hobbit to some, on the other hand, seemed to be somewhat of kid's story yet it was a sensation among adults. So what makes these stories appeal to such a variety of demographics? I would say two things: the heroic possibilities within someone who is not heroic in stature by any means and the capabilities of the beta male.

As I've grown up and watched tv and read comics, the heros I have come to know are all muscular men and women with go-to attitudes and a commanding presence. The appeal here is purely in the action and "superpowers" that these people possess. The characters are not necessarily ones we can emphasize with. As a kid the entertainment value is purely on the surface and as an adult... well most interest is lost with the exception of some die-hard fans. When we mature we see the absurdity in these types of heros and we begin to look for characters with depth. Bilbo Baggins is a character with depth. Tolkein was smart with how he designed his protagonist. To keep interest with the younger audience he made a short character with a certain cheerfulness that accentuates his naivety. Bilbo, although old, is not quite unlike a kid. However an adult reader can see into his character and see how exceptionally average he is. As the story unfolds, both mature and young minds can appreciate the world and enjoy the journey Bilbo is a part of. This is similar in Up with Carl.

Take into consideration the idea and appeal of the beta-male. In this society the beta-male is often referred to as the nice guy and that nice guys always finish last. The majority of society can emphasize with this character type due to the overall average attributes they possess. In The Hobbit, Bilbo fits this role. He's a standard individual who is typically caring and is put against antagonists who are alpha-males. His success over these people give a sense of hope to readers, both young and old, who especially find themselves to be of this archetype. Comparatively in Up we find Russell and Carl, both beta-males, pitted against the protagonist, an alpha-male, and overcome him. Pixar pushes the appeal to younger audiences with the addition of talking dogs. So literally we have a case of an alpha (the lead bad dog) and Dug caught in a battle of their own.

So there you have it, stories that appeals to any age even though some content may be too mature for younger audiences or an appeal that may seem too kid-oriented for older audiences. Novels such as The Hobbit are successful because of this. I hope to see more narratives with these ideals. I too feel I am a beta-male and enjoy a story in which this type of person overcomes the alpha.

DON'T PANIC!

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is an incredibly interesting piece of literature that takes a step outside of the box then takes another laughs at space outside of the box while it takes another step into a parallel dimension from which it gawks at the science fiction literature that preceded it. I do not mean to illustrate a degree of grandeur that places this piece of work on a pedestal or golden throne in the kingdom of books, but to merely state it has a certain degree of bizarreness that places it in its own category. Take from it what you will but from what I understand it is quite a large satirical stab at Earth culture. A macrocosmic comparison of the workings of a microcosmic Earth if you will. I would believe this was made quite obvious from the beginning by comparing the 'necessity' of destroying a man's home so a road can go through the town then suddenly the same must be done to Earth. This destruction that came 5 minutes premature and brought upon by the " bureaucracy" known as the Vogons. A stab at parliament and/or conservatives in general I'm sure.

    One of the best selling points of the book, for me anyways, is the absurdity in which everything is presented. What's great about it is that Douglas Adams uses quite compelling arguments for many of these absurdities that borderline probability. Well, maybe not quite so much "probable" but more believable at least. Adams' outlandish excuses for why something is the way it is just makes the book stronger. His probability drive, for example, is such a wild creation that pushes the boundaries of ones imagination that I cannot help but wonder if something could not exist. The fact that mice are a super intelligent inter-dimensional race and Earth is a giant computer is such a ridiculous notion that I can't help but question the true workings of the universe. How do things out there work? What is the Earth's role in the universe? Of course I would be a fool to forget the Babel fish. I find it quite amazing that such a small hapless fish can be the cause of the most and bloodiest wars ever since creation. Using it to prove God does not exist and making him 'poof' in a cloud of logic is quite wild. I cannot help but assume Douglas was making a comment on the relation between religion and war, but I tend to read too deep sometimes.

    Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy makes a farce of the universe before we even discover how it truly works and I love it! To humans it is such an awe-inspiring thing filled only with unknowns and beauty but to the rest of the universe it is like a large collection of neighborhoods where some neighbors hate each other, some like each other and the rest simply do not care. I would feel sorry for Arthur Dent if I weren't so jealous of him. The poor guy gets sent on a highly improbable journey through dimensions and time through the aid of amazing technology. Sure it's a lot to take in at once, but it would be so mind-blowingly awesome that I wish that this would happen to me. There's even time travel to the end of the universe available. You can wine and dine and literally enjoy the last few minutes of existence and be back to your own time without a problem. The fact one can do this pretty much desensitizes everyone to the end of all existence. What I mean is: since we can travel back and forth through time we essentially remove what we know as "time" and simply confine ourselves to merely existing in any given space at any given time. As a result, there is no 'end of the universe' since time is no longer is an issue, simultaneously eliminating the concept of "end". I love metaphysical arguments and theories so you can imagine I love this book.

    Unlike pretty much everything in the book, the big concept of knowing the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything" is not beyond Earth. We are in a constant battle of trying to figure out our roles and meanings if not on a mental level then at least physically. We go day-by-day trying to better ourselves but to what end? Deep Thought's answer of 42 is such an oddity that I wonder if there really is an answer at all. What I think Adams was trying to get at was that questions like this only lead to exponentially more questions and that we are better off with just one question. Some things are best left unexplained. I find it interesting that the "ultimate question" can only be found in the mind of Earth's inhabitants yet the rest of the universe ignores the insignificant little blue and green planet. In fact it gets bulldozed with little to no consideration for life. This goes to show the overall feeling of the universe: everyone is trying to change it but no matter what you do, it is too large to be really influenced one way or another. In this book it seems everyone is out to make fools of themselves in a desperate attempt to define their own place in the universe. With so much going on out there, I am not surprised the first words you see on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is "DON'T PANIC".

The Dragon Storm Cometh

    Electric Dragon 80,000 Volts was quite a ride. Personally I enjoyed it and I think there are multiple factors that play into the appeal. Firstly I was unsure of what to expect when I saw it was only 55 minutes long. On average, the shorter the movie the less I enjoy it. I can't quite say why this is but I suspect it has something to do with the director, budget and overall story. Honestly, I was unaware this movie was on the selected watch list for this lit class. I picked this movie out on a whim the other week just to watch it out of sheer interest because of my ever-increasing need to see intriguing science fiction films.


    Overall the film played much like a storm. It was overall black and white, started with a rumble, got calm then BAM! the storm hit and the then died just as quick as it came. This was fitting for the film. I am sure the director knew the story was not deep and so to make it short was essentially a necessity. The pacing worked well and it did not bother me that it was slow for a lengthy time. I can appreciate this. It seemed to have a French Nouveau approach and reminded me a bit of Breathless. A considerable amount of time was spent in one place and it had a mundane a-day-in-the-life feel even though Dragon Eye Morisson's daily life was quite energetic. Chaos is the keyword. It's only logical that the story takes place in Tokyo, one of the most electrified cities in the world.


    Energy throughout and everywhere is an understatement. The shots added to this as well. Even from the first shot I felt as if I were reading a comic book or manga. The electric tower shots were actually quite nice and got me interested fairly quickly. The framing as well as the on screen text, narration and character actions seemed to be pulled right out of a comic. I suppose this is expected of Sogo Ishii considering his background and interests. I have not seen any of his other films but I would be interested in checking them out.


    The concept of becoming a super-charged individual and shooting lightning bolts to fight your enemies is not necessarily a new thing. Even William Wallace joked about shooting it out his 'arse' and there's also Raiden from Mortal Kombat who I could probably have gone without mentioning but I had to get my video game kick in somewhere... The point being that at least in this film there are some new approaches such as the necessity of an outlet for excess energy through playing his guitar. Without his guitar, he would become an uncontrollable violent slob who would need to punch something to satiate this loss of humanity. Well this isn't that far from any typical metal-head now that I think about it... I always enjoy a nice little satirical stab on occasion. Thunderbolt Buddha is just ridiculous. Being super-charged from an electrical tower and absorbing energy from shock-therapy treatments and emitting lightning is totally understandable and believable but a dude who wears a mask that covers half of his face and is half possessed is just silly. I love it. Anything that is bizzare is brain food to me. I say bring it on. I like to see that some directors can still step outside of the box on occasion and produce something that not only looks professional, but challenges audiences to accept something beyond reality on a ridiculous level.

Birth, or Get Eaten from the Inside Out

Bloodchild. This story was really quite... twisted. I don't mean to say this is necessarily a bad thing, as creating a deviant story can be captivating.

In typical science fiction fashion I was put in the middle of a reality that I did not understand and yet was expected to know. Immediately I was trying to put the pieces together but could not quite paint a mental picture of what was happening and who T'Gatoi was and what she/he/it looked like. I was unsure of where this story was headed. The line, "I lay against T'Gatoi's long, velvet underside, sipping from my egg now and then" made me weary and I thought, "Where is this going?". I am unsure if i continued reading because of my fancy for science fiction or because of my sheer curiosity of what kind of story will unfold. Eventually I finally put two and two together and realized the narrative behind this short story and it leaves a lot to the imagination. I am interested in learning more of this world and how the humans came across this planet and why they are part of a reserve. What happened with Earth? Where is the rest of the human race? Octavia stated herself that she is not a fan of writing short stories and that she is more of a novelist. As a result, the concepts that work as the architecture/framework for her short story Bloodchild could definitely be seen as content for a much longer or larger narrative. I have not read anything else she has written yet I assume the majority of her work has social criticism.

The major theme in this story would be pregnancy of course. In reading Bloodchild I concluded that she was attempting to visually represent the ordeal of child birth and the pains involved. Octavia has been quoted as calling herself a feminist and this shows. I find this particularly applicable because of the fact she removes men from their stereotypical place of power and brings them down a notch. On this alien world, everyone is dominated by its powerful inhabitants but most importantly, human males are the focus. They have become the "woman" in the sense they are weaker than the alien and they provide the womb for the alien race. Social archetypes and typical understanding of sexual roles in society have a completely different place in this story which makes the reader even more so displaced from the reality of it. Octavia grew up in a dominantly female household in a racially diverse and financially struggling neighborhood, so I cannot help but wonder if a great deal of her world was reflected in this story.

An interesting concept here is that for every birth, the male has to be literally ripped open. In our culture, a c-section is typically done only in the event there is complications. Is Octavia taking out some aggression on men through this? Perhaps she is just trying to paint a picture of how she feels about birth for the men who read her science fiction. She defends the position of using males by saying the alien race feels empathy for humans and want the women to continue procreation of the human race. Regardless of whether or not they feel sorry for humans, the obvious and most important reason for this is the fact they need humans to procreate themselves at a healthier rate.

Another major theme in Octavia's short story is growing up. According to sources (Wikipedia) she wrote the story simply to tell about male pregnancy and coming-of-age (and to conquer her fear of the botfly). What we see unfold in the story is something that Gan had never seen before and was terrified by. His exposure of this birth could be compared to the familiar situation of describing child birth to a girl. The idea of reaching adolescence and adulthood is stressful enough, but to explain to a boy that he will be responsible for giving birth is wild. To be eaten from the inside-out by a symbiotic being is not something I personally fancy, I can tell you that.

Stories of role reversal and breaking down the male's social place have always been interesting, whether it be a more straightforward and serious point of view like that in Bloodchild to a comedic take on it like the movie Junior.

I would like to write more on this once I gather my thoughts again...