05-09-2011, 05:18 AM
Thanks for the kind words Addy
To be fair Dr. Strangelove was a comedy, whereas The Thing From Another World was supposed to be a serious science fiction thriller. I'm glad you get as angry as I do about this kind of uber-macho stupidity though
Like you said, sci-fi is at heart a very philosophical genre, thus it doesn't need military jarheads and girl Fridays sitting around spouting silly dialogue. The love story between the captain and the woman (as "woman" is about as much character development the fairer sex are afforded in these stories
) was grossly inappropriate when threaded into a narrative where people at a remote outpost are being ripped apart and fed on by an alien. That's like Two Weeks Notice ending with Sandra Bullock hanging Hugh Grant from the ceiling by his ankles and slitting his throat. Although...
To be fair Dr. Strangelove was a comedy, whereas The Thing From Another World was supposed to be a serious science fiction thriller. I'm glad you get as angry as I do about this kind of uber-macho stupidity though Like you said, sci-fi is at heart a very philosophical genre, thus it doesn't need military jarheads and girl Fridays sitting around spouting silly dialogue. The love story between the captain and the woman (as "woman" is about as much character development the fairer sex are afforded in these stories) was grossly inappropriate when threaded into a narrative where people at a remote outpost are being ripped apart and fed on by an alien. That's like Two Weeks Notice ending with Sandra Bullock hanging Hugh Grant from the ceiling by his ankles and slitting his throat. Although...
"We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges." - Gene Wolfe