Timewaster's Guide Archive
General => Suggestions Box => Topic started by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on September 15, 2003, 11:02:44 AM
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The first one has been submitted.
The next one will be about fantasy movies. I expect to see a lot of Lord of the Rings submissions for this, so if you could treat the whole LOTR series as ONE film, so we have a little more diversity on this, that'd be nice.
So email your picks to [email protected]
Rules Reminder:
- No more than three recommendations
- Limit your explanation for WHY we should watch the movie to 50 words or less.
- email them to me at the above address. Don't post them.
- Deadline is 11:59 PM (that's 23:59 for you military folks) on September 19, 2003.
Again, if we're to be realistic about the deadline, I'll still include your comments if it gets to me before I write the thing, which this week was on Monday mornnig.
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Uhm... define "fantasy". The only ones i can think of are
a) LoTR
b) harry pothead
c) labyrinth
d) D&D the movie.
Not much diversity? :(
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You forgot Willow, and a bunch of B-Movies like Beastmaster I, Beastmaster II, Beastmaster III, etc. And Dragonheart (or whatever that movie was where Sean Connery was the voice of the dragon.) That one had a sequal too. And I'm sure there are plenty more that aren't coming to mind right now.
I think you could consider The Neverending Story fantasy. That one had a sequal also.
Are we defining "fantasy movies" by setting? There are many who consider Star Wars fantasy...
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Does superhero count as Fantasy, or is that it's own genre?
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Would Groundhog Day be a fantasy? What about The Truman Show? Or are we supposed to stick with "epic" fantasy?
I suppose that Truman Show would be considered science fiction either way, but you could make an argument for it....
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Or The Mask of Zorro? I'm not sure what other genre that would fit in. Does that mean that Pirates of the Carribean would qualify. Or is there a separate adventure film genre?
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Yes, a definition of "fantasy" for the purposes of this feature is called for. I imagine Saint will provide one soon.
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Or a list of "fantasy" movies even. That way we don't all submit for Willow and LOTR because we can't think of anything else.
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There's no way that Zorro would count, because there's no fantasy elements in it (except for Catherine Zeta-Jones, of course, but that's not the kind of fantasy we're refering to...I hope). Pirates would definitely count because it has magic.
I think a list is a bad idea. If you have to be reminded about a movie, it's obviously not one of your top picks.
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Problem is that when you say fantasy Willow, LOTR are the only ones I can come up with. I guess Pirates if it counts. Are those the only 3 fantasy movies that aren't corny? Well, Willow is probably corny to most.
And is magic the defining point of fantasy? Because when I think of fantasy I think sword fights, which Zorro has in abundancy. There wasn't any magic in Princess Bride does that mean it doesn't count either?
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Hmm, looking at the above post, I guess I can think of more than 3 fantasy movies, depending on the criteria, of course.
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What about 13th Warrior, which has no magic?
I hope animated movies are included as well.
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No magic in The Princess Bride? What about when he got brought back to life? Or the torture device that sucks the life out of you? That's as fantastic as magic.
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or a giant, or the shrieking eels, or potions, or a holocaust cloak, or the fact that a man survives being tortured to death because he has "true love." Come on, no magic?
I didn't think we'd have this much trouble, with fantasy, but I'll define some terms. then
A Fantasy movie is one that contains elements that do not and cannot occur in the natural world as we understand it. Note that this specifically excludes hard sci-fi, because we may eventually be able to develop the strange elements of those, but does not exclude horror films.
However, for a good list, we'll be looking for films that we like that are fantasy, but not just incidentally fantasy. Jane Eyre, for example, has a fantasy element where she "knows" that her boyfriend has been calling to her, but it feels nothing like a fantasy, epic or otherwise.
We're not restricting this to epic fantasy, and by no means are animated films excluded. Which means you can put in your picks for about a billion anime and/or disney movies.
Fairy Tales (Peter Pan -- all seventeen hundred versions, for example), modern magic (Powder, Phenomenon anyone) all qualify, not just epic fantasy like Krull, Legend, LOTR, or Willow.
If you like Star Wars because it "feels" like a fantasy, then use it. I personally think that the unexplained light speed, sentient droids, and biologically impossible creatures make it hard to justify as science fiction.
Does this help?
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13th warrior I would count as fantasy even though it's based off true events. Things shouldn't have to be high fantasy to be fantasy.
Other:
Dark Crystal
Krull
Last unicorn (animated)
Secret of Nym (animated modern fantasy)
Hook
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Well, it's based off Beowulf, which is DEFINITELY fantasy, but it's made into historical fiction. Count it if you want. It "feels" like fantasy.
However, Sword fighting alone doesn't make soemthing fantasy.
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Actualy 13th warrior isn't based off beowolf. Crition wrote it from the notes left behind by the character Antino Bandaras played.
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Actually he made up that character and it is Beowulf.
It was an attempt by Crieghton to rewrite the classic and make it into his own work. The Historical "facts" are semi real but "Iben" almost certainly did not exist.
A quote
"The story behind this novel appears in an essay in the paperback edition. The short version is, I wrote EATERS on a bet that I could make an entertaining story out of "Beowulf." It's an unusual book. Readers either like it, or they don't. I'm quite pleased with the movie ("13th Warrior"), which I think captures the feeling of the novel very well. "
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That's the first I've heard it told that way. I've never read the book, so I don't know. But my understanding was my version. Is your information in the introduction or something?
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Ya in the introductory of the book Criton say that. I haven't read the book either but a friend has it and showed me the intro.
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Weird, well. That changes my whole perception of the story. Now I want to read the book even more. I wonder if the local library has a copy.
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Your misquoting it, I'll find the intro tonight and post it.
The Short version of why the book was written is listed above and is a direct crieghton quote.
It was written on a dare to make Beowulf entertaining.
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That's odd. I'd heard the 'written off some guy's journal' explanation of the book in at least a good half-dozen places. Wonder where that explanation came from.
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Because he designed the book that way... it gave it a better sense of realism and made the story more engrossing.
To whit the premise was... What if Beowulf was real? What if there was an eyewitness acount of someone who could write it all down? How would the story be different? What would it be like?
Its really a masterful device and he did it so well that he fooled a lot of people into thinking that it was real.
Not to be snooty, but do you really think that if the journals were real the first person to write about them would be Michael Creighton. How come no one mentioned it in my college comparative mythology classes, and why isn't it a much bigger deal. I mean we're talking about a firsthand account of Beowulf... that'd be like the archeological and sociological find of the century... as pertinant as the rosetta stone because we know relatively little about the dispositions and culture of the Norsemen except what is written in Christian texts and what has been handed down via the oral tradition.
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uhm...
I guess no one likes fantasy movies.
Should I assume part of why i received no submissions was because I didn't give a reminder thursday or friday? (sorry, my computer was down, hurricane, yknow...) Or should we try a different topic and move on?
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I did submit because I was waiting for your definition of what a "fantasy" movie was.
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Sorry. I forgot. I can send something if we're still doing fantasy movies.
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we are. And I discussed what qualified as "fantasy" to some extent early in the thread.
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some of us got distracted by niggling things such as a hurricane ruining our internet connections and getting their work sschedules all messed up. :)
You'll get my submission tomorrow.
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that was niggardly of you!
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niggling and niggardly have different roots... the former is of scandinavian origin and has nothing to do with the latter which has its origins in Latin and the Romance Languages Negro, and Negre
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ok, you really know how to kill a mood. Do you have to be right about things that aren't even being thought about by other people?
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Sorry, I missed it in the middle of all the 13th Warrior discussions.
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No, I don't I was just getting your goat.
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I've officially extended this deadline to Friday (that's the 26th). The original plan was every other week anyway.
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Just a reminder, staff picks are due tomorrow
But also, I have a copy of Eaters of the Dead here. THe introduction DOES claim that the story was based on Ibn's journal. But several problems arise from this: Ibn (a real person) wrote in the early 10th century, a century and a half after the earliest known manuscript for Beowulf was written, and probably at least twice as long after the story was written. Therefore, Ibn could NOT have been in the story.
But the clincher is the post script, wherein Crichton points out that everything in the book EXCEPT for the existence of this Ibn fellow (not his writings) and the contents of the post-script are in fact fiction. The intro was to make it seem more real, but was part of the fiction.
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Thnaks, I knew it was made up and have been looking for that reference... didn't know Ibn was real... but C'est Le vie
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You need to call me so I can figure out whats wrong with that email account at zyx!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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last call.
Technically this was due yesterday, but I'll haven't written it up yet.
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/me smacks herself in the forehead.
Crap. I haven't had a chance to check the General Sections of the board in the past couple of days. Crap.
Sorry Saint.