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Science-Fiction & Fantasy

First of all, I believe quality is quality, regardless of genre. I love movies of all kinds, but I have a special interest in science-fiction and fantasy. A great drama or musical will move me as well as anything else, but I like my entertainment to be imaginative. Most of all, I love how easily science-fiction and fantasy lend themselves to allegory and symbolism.

Everyone has their biases. There are types of movies I cleave to and others that I tend to avoid. Quality always shines through, however, and while I may not generally enjoy westerns, for example, I do love Unforgiven. Similarly, musicals leave me cold most of the time, but I can never get tired of Grease. I like movies that transcend the boundaries of their genre; I admire the ambition to try and do something different. I think it’s the inherent challenges involved in mounting science-fiction and fantasy that make me favourably predisposed to anyone willing to try. I’m still ruthless about the whole, though: creation of worlds may be a feat unto itself, but it’s all for naught if the story fails.

I wouldn’t say I like the genres of science-fiction or fantasy per se. However, I do prefer stories that expand the boundaries of my reality and that is more or less what defines them. I like to wonder. I know the world is mundane and that my life is mostly predictable. I also know that, if I had the courage, I could radically alter my life, but it would still be the same world with the same physical laws of nature. I like to think there are other ways of not only living but of existing, and that is what science-fiction and fantasy are all about, at their best.

Of course, while a typical science-fiction story may be set in the future, it’s really about the present. All art is a reflection of its time. What sets science-fiction and fantasy apart from other genres is the capacity for symbolism. You know as soon as Darth Vader walks onto screen in Star Wars that he’s the bad guy; just look at him! For an active mind, it’s fun to try and decode the design work in these kinds of films, though you’re as likely reading into it your own ideas as deciphering the filmmakers’. That revelatory aspect is the essence of any art, but for some reason it comes across most strongly to me in science-fiction and fantasy films.


What I respond to in anything is quality of craft and ingenuity of storytelling. I appreciate most those flights of imagination that transcend expectation and broaden my horizons. I like to have lots of spectacle on screen, which science fiction and fantasy excel at, but I also want to care about why the characters are in conflict, which is where they fall short a lot of the time. When they work, though, there’s nothing as good. I am a devotee of science fiction and fantasy. 

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