jruwaldt

I don't usually go much for films that get into religious/philosophical concepts, but this one was fascinating nevertheless. The idea that another civilization might contact ours as a result of our telecommunications is wonderful.

There were also some nice touches in the film. My favorite is a charming allusion to the star Vega, which features so prominently. When everyone's communing in the desert, among them are the Vega Car Club of Southern California. Perfect, especially since the Vega is such a forgotten vehicle these days, with very few left running. Not that it was a very good car, but I suppose it was a decent small car, reasonably priced. At any rate, this was very amusing, and it was such a blast from the past.

Not having read the books, I can't comment on the transition to screen as so many others have. However, I can comment on what I saw and contrast it with what others have written.

Yes, so much of what was in the film has been done before. In fact, most adventure stories are simply repetitions of previous stories. I haven't read Joseph Campbell, but what I've heard about his works indicates that there are common themes in all hero stories, many of which recur in most fantasy and science-fiction. The film's interpretation of these themes may have been more clichéd than most, but the story was nevertheless interesting.

I am intrigued by the comments regarding the two schools in the film. Although in the film, Roke was coed and the other all-female, apparently, in the book Roke was all-male. Additionally, wizards are apparently supposed to remain celibate, continuing the typical holy-man construct that we often see in these types of stories. I've heard that Star Wars' interpretation is not in keeping with the way the concept of Jedi was developed in the original films or in the books; however, that "a Jedi shall not know ... love" fits exactly with Le Guinian wizards. Regardless of how it fits with the books, it's interesting that, at the coed school, students go out drinking and go on dates, or at least flirt, while, at the women's school, they're essentially cloistered. Not only do they act like nuns, but they dress like them. This seems to me to be a not unusual dichotomy: men are allowed any fun they want, whether through alcohol, sex, sports, etc., while women must be content with their art or devotions, which are often presented as being the only things they're interested in, unless having babies is included, which then precludes the others. So, regardless of how the books presented the relationship between the chief male and female characters, the film essentially turns it into a forbidden relationship which enhances their desire for each other. It's interesting how popular that is, even now, when very few barriers, at least in the United States, exist between potential lovers. Perhaps that's why, but it may just be that we need two lovers to have some social tension between them. Additionally, the barriers that do exist may be so subtle that the older barriers work better in a story. Although only one school broke away from the typical religious themes, if only to some extent, it is nice to see that in the film, even if it contradicts the books. Perhaps there will eventually be more adult-oriented fantasy in which wizards or masters are not required to be ascetic.

This is an excellent series, which explains a lot about evolution and demonstrates how it affects our everyday lives, particularly in reference to AIDS patients and Russian prisoners. The dramatization of Darwin's life and development of his theory provides a fascinating background to the science. My main complaint with series is in the final episode, "What about God?" I have nothing against the existence of the episode, for this is a very important concept, one which many people wrestle with and which affected Darwin profoundly. My main concern is that the creationists appear to have complete control over the episode. A reply may be that the "evolutionists" had complete control over the other episodes; however, evolution is a valid science, whereas creationism is religion presented as science. The creation/evolution controversy is an important topic for discussion, especially in a series on evolution, but they didn't discuss the controversy very much. When the high school students wanted to get some form of creationism taught in their school, they made vague references to evidence against evolution, but that evidence wasn't mentioned. Most likely, the evidence is simply alleged complications that only seem difficult when one doesn't have a good understanding of science. Scientists have probably refuted all of those claims many times over, but this wasn't addressed in the show. Nor was it mentioned that evidence against evolution isn't automatically evidence in favor of creationism. The discussion of how students at a conservative Christian college were attempting to accommodate evolution to their religious beliefs was also very interesting, although not sufficiently developed. Finally, the different forms of creationism also weren't mentioned, with the episode's becoming largely a forum for Ken Ham. Probably, there wasn't enough time, but it would have been interesting to see more of this discussed.