Pen-Elayne on the Web

The Future Ain't What It Used To Be

Neil Gaiman (link right at the top of the sidebar) mentions today an opinion article in the Guardian about, among other things, the dearth of utopian movies. He quotes, "The future is always depicted as a place where a technical fix has gone wrong, where androids stalk a devastated urban landscape. I have recently noticed a lot of people suddenly worrying about nanotechnology. Could Michael Crichton's "Prey" have anything to do with this?" And offers his reaction: Oh, right. I thought. An idiot.

Now, maybe this reaction was specifically to the Crichton mention, I dunno, I haven't read any Crichton. But I'm afraid I quite agree with Mr. Ridley's observation "How many movies have you seen set in the future in which you thought - what a nice place to live?" The only unironic shiny happy futures I tend to see depicted are usually in corporate-sponsored ads. And even the New York Life Insurance one has an omenous night sky against which the flying cars are travelling. I actually blame another Ridley for this; ever since Bladerunner it seems like every set designer and cinematographer for every sf picture goes dark blue and neon and all Vegas'y (or Times Square'y now) garish. They've taken the "literature of possibility" and made it into the cinema of ultimate hopelessness, as if an imagined future can only consist of "more of the same" as we have now or post-nuclear devastation.

And I think that, because life itself is so complicated, with both wonders and horrors, so sf should reflect both. And I lean towards the side of wonder, always. Because sf is also escapist entertainment, and I think there's a greater need for people to escape into a hopeful future than a dismal one. (It goes along with what I was saying here about inspiring people with positive visions rather than turning them off with negative ones.) That's one of the things I always liked about Star Trek, particularly the Next Generation series - that it showed life in the future could still be complicated and even dangerous but at the same time great social strides had been made, people's needs were being met better than ever before, technology was being used wisely to benefit humankind, etc. You know, neither "oh, everything is so hopeless" nor "gosh, I so love living in this GE-provided dreamland paradise!" Some middle ground, you know? But a happy medium, not a depressed one.

My favorite sf movie ever, The Day The Earth Stood Still, was on TV the other night. (For the record, The Wizard of Oz and Star Wars (A New Hope) are my favorite fantasy films, not that I'm splitting hairs or anything.) Not a lot of gosh-wow special effects, no darkness other than some scenes taking place at night - and granted, it was about the present-day of the time, but the open end leaned towards a hopeful future. A future wherein UN politicians might take a page from the book of the world's leading thinkers all gathered to listen to Klaatu's message. A future where suspicion and mutual mistrust could be overcome by reason - and when you watch the movie it's remarkable how calm and reasoned and unpanicked the officials to whom Klaatu speaks sound. They carry on coherent and logical conversations and everything. The movie implied very well that for every overly-concerned citizen there was a Helen (Patricia O'Neal) who was intrigued and curious. (That Helen didn't join Klaatu when he left Earth always disappointed me, but I do give credit to Robert Wise and Edmund North for not succumbing to that particular Mary Sue'ism when it would have been so easy.) In other words, almost all the main characters with substantial speaking roles acted like grown-ups. When the US Army folks chased after Klaatu it wasn't because they didn't believe that he came in peace from outer space, it was simple greed - they wanted to keep him and his message for themselves. Human emotion, including uncertainty and possessiveness, carried much of the drama, but unreasoned fear wasn't at the top of the order by any means. Even the Earth-standing-still part, when the world's power was neutralized for half an hour, seemed like more of an inconvenience than a disaster (I don't know that the same plotline would work in today's world, though!) as even the military brass admitted their wonder (admiration?) that essential services such as hospitals and planes in flight kept running so nobody, it was strongly implied, was killed or injured.

So yeah, I want to see more movies like that - dramatic tension, sure, but with reason employed, with hope for the future, with people talking things out like grown-ups. With a bit of sunshine instead of all that dark blue and neon. I'm with Mr. Ridley (and against Mr. Scott, I guess) - I want to look at that screen and say "What a nice place, I wish I lived there! Maybe I will someday."

Update: Okay, Neil was talking about the Crichton thing rather than the dystopia thing. Robin points out that it's probably a good idea for me to thoroughly read the opening paragraph of someone's blog entry before taking them to task for essentially agreeing with me. :) [Emily Litella] Never mind. [/Emily Litella]