Belinda Week 8

Firstly I will need to apologize for my apparent tardiness in regards to posting. It's been a rough few weeks and have now begun to see somewhat of a light piercing through the fog that is my personal life...argh! Onwards and forwards as they say (or something to that effect)

Research the films that have been adapted from Philip K. Dick novels or short
stories. Which have generally been acclaimed as the most successful? Why?

Admittedly I am not (nor do I think I will ever be) a 'hardcore' fan/avid follower of the whole SF genre. However I did as a child on a few occasions watch Battlestar Galactica (circa early to mid 80s) and remember eagerly anticipating the demise of the Cybernetic race the Cylons; even if they were rather badass creations of coloured wire and polished white metal. I have never actually read anything written by PKD, but I have seen the occasional movie adapted from his work. To date I have seen only 5 PKD movies listed and personally I really enjoyed Total Recall (1990) with Arnie. One of my fave Arnie movies happens to be Total Recall, (and no it wasn't due to his Hollywood status as an action hero) an adaptation of PKD's novel "We can remember it for you wholesale" (1966), which stems from the SF genre.

 
Completed PKD movies:  

Blade Runner (1982) based on "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" 

Screamers (1995) based on "Second Variety 

Total Recall (1990) based on "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" 

Confessions d'un Barjo (French, 1992) based on "Confessions of a Crap Artist" 

Impostor (2001) based on "Impostor" 

Minority Report (2002) based on "The Minority Report" 

Paycheck (December25, 2003) based on "Paycheck" 

A Scanner Darkly (July 7, 2006) based on "A Scanner Darkly" 

Next (April 27, 2007) based on "The Golden Man" 

The Adjustment Bureau (2010) based on The Adjustment Team" 
 

Films in Production: 

King of Elves (coming 2012) based on "King of the Elves"

 

There seems to be much widespread opinion as to which of PKD adaptations fans deem to be more successful. This of course can be attributed to things such as personal opinion and to whether people were able to overcome the stigmata of 'the movie never does the book any justice' assumption. The later I find myself identifying with, simply because I find the literary works of the authors are more often than not mercilessly 'massacred' by Hollywood.

 Blade Runner (1982) adapted from 'Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?' (1968) appears to be a lead favorite since having reached cult classic status, and there are a plethora of rather pivotal elements to the plotline which only served to amplify the popularity of the film.

There is the religious connotation; in how a human subjects memory is implanted into that of a replicant, thereby executing an act of god by the 'creation of man'. Running with the religious context, Schloss (n.d) also discusses the parallels between science and technology, and how it becomes evident in the film that viewers are to presume that science is the work of God and the affore mentioned created the world, as both are considered important in their society. He goes on to further imply that one of the underlying themes of the movie is the notion that science is something that is feared, "the maker and destroyer of worlds, an all-powerful beast, a God, and Tyrell is the head of it". I think that is a pretty strong statement to make. The more I read the text books and articles relating to the movie you really can't help but conclude that (post nuclear holocaust) people would want to seek out a saviour.

There is also the question of humanity, as Vest & Lopate (2007) stress that viewers need "multiple exposures to understand how evocatively it questions the nature of humanity" (p.g 2). For example the question arises as to whether man has made a mistake by 'creating' (in a sense) a replicant which was supposedly not to equal man. However it becomes apparent that they are just a susceptible to sensitivity, if not more, than man. And then of course there are the typical elements of a detective film noir (or neo-noir) i.e. the detective, femme fatale and the bad guys etc. So therein lies the action element.

The popularity of Blade Runner (even now almost 30 years after the premiere) resonates with the broader audience simply because it is a story that is all too clearly ahead of it's time in terms of a visionary future.  Imagine yourself in 1968, and try to fantasize what 2019 would like given what little knowledge one would have of the technology. It would probably be close to what Dick had penned. As Kerman (cited in Brooker, 2005) suggests, during the premiere of Blade Runner in 1982, the millennia would've seemed just that. A millenium away, and in the movie itself the ' post holocaust of 2019' from the 1982 release does not differ to the original publication of 1968, if anything in her opinion, it is better (p.g. 31). PKD had a vision, and he portrayed that vision through the book, and Scott ever so effortlessly emulated that vision onto film captivating the minds of audiences. 

I have to confess to wanting to watch the movie now given what I have found, so that I may draw an opinion of my own, compared to that of the fans on Rottentomatoes who as one fan quotes "A quintessential film noir of the 1980s, much underestimated at the time of release", and "For all it's armor of brutalizing urban dystopia (and, boy, is there alot of that--you could fund a war on terror with the fog-and rain-machine budgets alone), Blade Runner has a gooey center".

References

Sutin, L. (2003).The official Phillip K. dick Website. Retrieved September 21, 2011, from

http://www.philipkdick.com/works_stories.html

Blade Runner. (2007). Retrieved September 23, 2011, from Rotten Tomatoes: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blade_runner/

Brooker, W. (2005). The Blade Runner Experience: The Legacy of a Science Fiction Classic. London: Wallflower.

Schloss, T. (n.d). How Science Became God In Blade Runner. Retrieved September 24, 2011, from http://www.wesleyan.edu/synthesis/culture-cubed/schloss/maintemp.htm

Vest, J. P., & Lopate, P. (2007). Future Imperfect: Phillip K. Dick at the Movies. Westport, CT: Greenwood.

Week 7 What does Brown (2001) identify as the central themes and concerns of the novel? What elements conform to the wider generic features of SF?

Through the depection of The Man in the High Castle by Phillip K. Dick (PKD) it explores ‘little people living in small lives with honor and confusion’ (Brown, 2001). It examines the conflicting ideas of totalitarinism and Eastern philosophy as the story is set in San Francisco, post World War Two and asks What if the Allies had lost the war? How would this effect the ordinary citizen? PKD uses themes of imlipcit evil, the claustrophobic sense of being impriosined in a world, seemingly without hope and individuals trapped in circumstances beyond their control (according to Brown, 2001). These themes and concerns are explored throughout the novel, and are also displayed in the novel that is within the novel The Grasshopper Lies Heavy a science fiction piece of work penned by Hawthorn Abendsen. These themes are unwound from the stories core as you follow various characheters and how they live in a world dominated by boundraies and how the Eastern philosophes of the I Ching help to come to terms with their lives. The element of the novel that conforms to the wider generic features of science fiction is the novels ‘glimpse of another world, a reality we are invted to compare to our own” (Brown, 2001). An easy comparison in The Man in the High Castle  as it is a place and time that is known to the reader, but with an alternate lifestyle.

References

Brown, E. (2001). Introduction. In Dick, P.K, The Man in the High Castle (p.v-xii). London: Penguin

Dick, P.K. (2001;1962). The Man in the High Castle. London: Penguin

Naima week 8

Research the films that have been adapted from Philip K. Dick novels or short
stories. Which have generally been acclaimed as the most successful? Why?


After researching the novels and short stories of Phillip K Dick that were adapted to films, i have personally concluded that the the most successful film is the 1982 'Blade Runner".
Blade Runner is based on the novel 'Do androids dream of an electric sheep?' and is directed by Ridley Scott starring the Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard.

Rick Deckard is a police officer and is as the blade runner who's mission is to kill four human clones that stole a ship from space in order to return to Earth determined in finding their creator. This film has captured Philip K. Dick's vision both visually and intellectually. Putting aside the Academy awards and golden globe and many more other awards that it won, Ridley Scott has academically examined the science fiction novel with haunting soundtracks that go along with the theatrical stunning visuals of the technological environment. The dark atmosphere of the film portrays aspects of noir such as the cynical attitudes and the corruption of the characters which depicts the novel well. I usually am a sheep that follows the crowed but in this case it is truly a good movie. For me personally Adjustment Bureau was equally as compelling even though it didn't have futuristic elements to it as it is set in a modern era and blade runner is the opposite to the norm of daily lives, however, Adjustment Bureau had it's moments of mental block and twists and turns that almost felt like fireworks.

In my opinion, the blade runner film is not as effective as the novel;however after watching and reading it, the emotions are the same with philosophical questions running through the head. Thus, the film is successful as to how it still maintained Philip K. Dick's narrative and symbolic motifs and over all it's sense of Science fiction depiction.

Reference

Blade Runner Official Website. (2007). Retrieved September 21, 2011, from
http://bladerunnerthemovie.warnerbros.com/

McConvery, N. (2011). The 5 best Philip K.Dick Movies...and 5 more we'd like to see. Retrieved September 21, 2011, from
http://blog.moviefone.com/2011/03/04/best-philip-k-dick-movies/

The internet movie Database; Blade runner. Retrieved September 21, 2011, from
http://www.imdb.com

The official Phillip K. dick Website. (2010). Retrieved September 21, 2011, from
http://www.philipkdick.com/works_stories.html

Week 6 What are the underlying themes of Princess Mononoke? How does it ‘defamiliarise’ its historical setting, according to Napier (2005)?

The 'defamiliarization' of historical Japan.

“The film offers a vision of cultural dissonance, spiritual loss and environmental apocalypse’ (Napier, 2005) which seems to contrast the traditional notions of the Japanese identity.

So in order to appreciate this subversion and recreation, one must understand this ‘traditional Japanese identity’ that is spoken of and represented in films, These myths of Japanese culture and history are idealized ones of harmony, progress and an unproblematized homogenous people.

Princess Mononoke manages to ‘defamiliarize’ the myths of the feminine’s as long suffering and supportive and the myth of the Japanese as living in harmony with nature. This is evidenced through the involvement of an outsider in the struggle between the supernatural guardians of a forest and the humans of the Iron Town who consume its resources.

Granted this movie is set on a period usually considered an ‘apex of the Japanese high culture’ and ‘relative peace’ (Napier, 2005), Miyazaki himself acknowledges the cultural subversions in the film by saying that it is a film in which ‘the main protagonists are those who usually do not appear on the stage of history. Instead, this is the story of the marginal’s of history (Miyazaki, as cited Napier, 2005).

It is noted that the mixture of fact and fiction in the movie is a key aspect in the films ‘defamiliarization of conventional female characters and its supernaturalization of nature’ (Napier, 2005). By having gender neutral female characters who remain ‘completely outside the misogynistic patriarchal that became the foundation of premodern Japan’ (Napier, 2005) Princess Mononoke manages to ‘defamiliarize’ the feminie in the text. The ‘defamiliarization’ of nature is done through offering an ‘alternative vision to the conventional Japanese view of nature...(by viewing it as) something that can’t be tamed and cultivated.

References

Miyazaki, H. (Director). (2006). Princess Mononoke. Tokyo: Studio Ghibli Productions

Napier, S. (2005). Anime: From Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle (pp. 231-248). Hampshire: Palgrave/Macmillen

Week 5 Looking at Napier and Cavallaro (2006) discuss how anime is culturally ‘located’ – in the East or West or somewhere else?

The 1990’s saw a shift in cultural Japan, with the export of ‘anime’ – a Japanese abbreviation for animation. Although this concept was already considered a ‘popular’ or ‘mass’ culture in Japan, in America it was only deemed a ‘sub’ culture (Napier, 2005) but in the last decade it has been shown that this is starting to gain more and more popular in the Western world. Anime could have been popular in the Western world, before it was even understood that it was anime gracing our tv screens every afternoon (with shows like Pokemon and Sailor Moon). It is said to be an Easternised ‘Disney’ although the themes and elements would all be seen in ‘live action films’ rather than a characterised television show (Napier, 2005) something that Westerners could not perhaps wrap their heads around quite as easily as those in Japan who deem this great tv.
Cavallaro puts it best when he mentions that the ‘themes are closely bound with Western culture due to literary and cinematography elements...(but are) distinctively Japanese in their use of tradition and lore” (2006). He makes aware that some of Miyazaki’s films (such as Princess Mononoke) should not be considered more Eastern or more Western just because the setting are more in one place or another. They are movies that, regardless of setting, are works which do not follow either uncritically or uniformly the Japanese...aesthetic (Cavallaro, 2006).

I don’t think anime has a specific home in either the West or East culture. It is very much a Japanese idea but one that the Western nations are very quick and willing to add and adapt to everyday culture.

References

Cavallaro, D. (2006). Introduction. In The Anime Art of Hayao Miyazaki (pp. 5-13). London: McFarland & Company.

Miyazaki, H. (Director). (2006). Princess Mononoke. Tokyo: Studio Ghibli Productions

Napier, S. (2005). Why Anime? In Anime: From Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle (pp. 3-14). Hampshire: Palgrave/Macmillen 

Week 6: Danni :What are the underlying thematics of Princess Mononoke? How does it ‘defamiliarise’ its historical setting, according to Napier (2005)?

What are the underlying thematics of Princess Mononoke? How does it ‘defamiliarise’ its historical setting, according to Napier (2005)?

Princess Mononoke 'defamiliarises' Japan's historical setting by what is said by Napier as 'Princess Mononoke undermines the myths of Japanese identity while offering a counter-narrative in its place'(pg 233). The film does this by making the old Japanese myths like 'the myth of the feminine (long suffering and supportive)' and 'the myth of the Japanese living in harmony with nature.' These myths are a big part of Japanese culture, and this film changes them, making them unfamiliar.
Napier also says that the film Princess Mononoke was set during the 14th century and doesn't include the usual 'conventions' about tea ceremonies and Japanese high culture, whereas the film was more about the 'outcasts' of history, the people who usually do not appear or are talked about, these include the peasants, outcasts, women and half casts (not completley Japanese) And of course the film including a war between people and the Gods (Kami in Japanese), who in the film are more beast like. The defamiliarising of historical setting and the film is also the use of women being in control of others but are not bad or villians. This was not seen in Japanese culture or history as the men are to be respected and in charge, a notion still prominent in Japanese culture today.