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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 12/06/91 -- Vol. 10, No. 23
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon.
LZ meetings are in LZ 2R-158. MT meetings are in the cafeteria.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
12/11/91 LZ: MIRKHEIM by Poul Anderson (Novels with Names of
Scandinavian Mythological Places in Them)
01/08/92 LZ: EXPECTING SOMEONE TALLER by Tom Holt (Operatic SF)
01/29/92 LZ: A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess (Dystopias)
_D_A_T_E _E_X_T_E_R_N_A_L _M_E_E_T_I_N_G_S/_C_O_N_V_E_N_T_I_O_N_S/_E_T_C.
12/07/91 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: Denise
Little of Barnes & Noble and B. Dalton (phone
201-933-2724 for details) (Saturday)
(***NOTE CHANGE OF DATE***)
12/21/91 NJSFS: New Jersey Science Fiction Society: TBA
(phone 201-432-5965 for details) (Saturday)
HO Chair: John Jetzt HO 1E-525 908-834-1563 hocpb!jetzt
LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell LZ 1B-306 908-576-6106 mtuxo!jrrt
MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzy!leeper
HO Librarian: Rebecca Schoenfeld HO 2K-430 908-949-6122 homxb!btfsd
LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen LZ 3L-312 908-576-3346 mtfme!lfl
MT Librarian: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzy!leeper
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 908-957-2070 mtgzy!ecl
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
1. This week's topic is "Novels with Names of Scandinavian
Mythological Places in Them." Unfortunately, all I could come up
with other than _M_i_r_k_h_e_i_m was Edmond Hamilton's _Y_a_n_k _a_t _V_a_l_h_a_l_l_a,
which appeared in an Ace Double years ago. Luckily Lance Larsen
has a bit more to say:
First, let's dispense with the associated "general topic" for this
meeting. Mirkheim is not a place out of Norse mythology, which has
many heims, but no Mirk. :^):^) Besides, the only other books I
found with titles out of Norse mythology, except, of course, Norse
mythology, weren't worth reading, let alone discussing.
THE MT VOID Page 2
Okay, this is the sixth book in Poul Anderson's future history
series about the Polesotechnic League, and, of course, Nicholas Van
Rijn. Amidst all of the galaxy-spanning empires (benign and
otherwise) that other authors have postulated, Anderson has created
a galactic civilization based on commerce and engineered by traders
in search of profits. Other organizations (e.g., unions and
governments) are also considered, but it is the central role of
commerce that sets this series apart. The alliances, and the
conflicts, between species are dictated by habitats and histories
of their respective planets and cultures. When two similar races
are both intent on the same property or commodity, there is liable
to be conflict or cooperation - depending on the two cultures'
values and histories. If two races are entirely dissimilar, there
is unlikely to be either.
In Mirkheim, a source of extremely rare superheavy metals is found,
hidden, secretly exploited, rediscovered, claim-jumped, argued
over, and ultimately fought over. Because Anderson has focused on
commerce as a driving force in this series, the plot works and is
sensible in a way that many others are not. All of the actors have
motives, and both the characters and the motives are believable.
Past actions and conflicts (from the earlier books in the series)
affect the behavior of the actors in this story, but nothing is
left unclear if you haven't read all the other volumes. [-lfl]
2. Mah friends, many and devious are the ways of SAY-TEN. Like
GAHD, SAY-TEN moves in mysterious ways. We do not know where EE-
VIL will strike next. I am here to talk to you today about SAY-
TEN's most devious plot in years.
Now many did not believe me about the comm-YU-nist menace. They
said I was seeing comm-YU-nists everywhere. They laughed at me
like they laughed at JEE-ZUS. And now what do they have? Rap
music. People with funny lines in their haircuts. Mah friends,
that comm-YU-nist plot is still working.
But today I want to talk to you about a threat that they all will
KNOW is all around. That threat is OX-EE-GEN. Yes, OX-EE-GEN.
OX-EE-GEN is SAY-TEN's most dangerous substance because it is
always there. SAY-TEN will not let you get away from OX-EE-GEN.
Now, many of you grew up being taught by GAHD-LESS teachers that
OX-EE-GEN was a good thing. And they say there are no comm-YU-
nists in our school systems!
But I am here to tell you that if we all work together we can
defeat the menace of SAY-TEN's OX-EE-GEN. We did it in Michigan.
There, a school system was giving its innocent students deep-
breathing exercises. Luckily some good CHRIST-GENS who were ever-
vigilant--as we all must be--found out about SAY-TEN's plot. They
told the school system that deep breathing of OX-EE-GEN leads to
out-of-body experiences, promotes mysticism, and undermines
THE MT VOID Page 3
CHRIST-GEE-ANITY. In some parts of Michigan I bet it also promotes
emphysema and lung cancer. That was all it took, good GAHD-fearing
CHRIST-GENS to stop SAY-TEN in his tracks.
Now I know what many of you are thinking. We all have to breathe.
Yes, that's true. It is part of the human condition. Like
ORIGINAL SIN. But we owe it to JEE-ZUS to take shallow breaths as
JEE-ZUS took shallow breaths. And let us all say, AAY-MEN.
3. I'd just like to add that if you have ever deep-breathed in
Michigan, you would want to have an out-of-body experience too--
preferably to another state. [-ecl]
4. Correction: In spite of what the heading said, two weeks ago, I
reviewed _W_h_a_t _M_i_g_h_t _H_a_v_e _B_e_e_n _3: _A_l_t_e_r_n_a_t_e _W_a_r_s, not _W_h_a_t _M_i_g_h_t
_H_a_v_e _B_e_e_n _2: _A_l_t_e_r_n_a_t_e _H_e_r_o_e_s. [-ecl]
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
...mtgzy!leeper
Character is that which can do without success.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Disney's animated feature films
are, in my opinion, over-rated. They lack plot and
complexity. Their emotional impact is limited. The
usual excuse is that they are only supposed to be
simple children's films. _B_e_a_u_t_y _a_n_d _t_h_e _B_e_a_s_t
demonstrates that a lot more can be done in this
medium. It beats _B_a_m_b_i, _C_i_n_d_e_r_e_l_l_a, _S_n_o_w _W_h_i_t_e,
_S_l_e_e_p_i_n_g _B_e_a_u_t_y, and all of the other classics,
including _F_a_n_t_a_s_i_a. Parents should go with their
kids. If you don't have kids, go anyway. This one
may not be on cassette this century. Rating: +2 (-4
to +4).
I rather surprised myself with _B_e_a_u_t_y _a_n_d _t_h_e _B_e_a_s_t. When I
was young, I liked the Disney feature cartoons as little
entertainments, but after age ten or so I found the stories a little
uninteresting. Eventually I could respect the detail in the
technique, but even then I was rarely impressed with their
imagination. Yes, they had attention to detail and if I knew what
to look for, I liked that. But, with the exception of the dragon
sequence from _S_l_e_e_p_i_n_g _B_e_a_u_t_y and the "Night on Bald Mountain"
sequence from _F_a_n_t_a_s_i_a, there was not much beyond lukewarm
imagination. And the stories were really uninteresting. And being
a realist about my own looks, I have long been a little irritated at
the subtext that equates physical beauty and ugliness to evil. With
all that to set up my attitude, it is hardly surprising that I would
come away from _B_e_a_u_t_y _a_n_d _t_h_e _B_e_a_s_t genuinely believing it is the
best animated feature film ever to come from Disney Studios. And
that includes that beloved intellectual fraud _F_a_n_t_a_s_i_a.
The plot of the film maintains Disney's usual standard for
fidelity to the original story. This means, of course, that if you
read Madame de Villeneuve's story and then saw the film, you would
be likely to see similarities and probably would believe that the
story did somehow inspire the film. (Those anxious to read the
story faithfully told can find it in Andrew Lang's _B_l_u_e _F_a_i_r_y _B_o_o_k.)
Some bits were more likely inspired by Jean Cocteau's film _L_a _B_e_l_l_e
_e_t _l_a _B_e_t_e. Belle, if not a real intellectual, is at least a
reader. In fact, she seems to love books more than boys, so is
thought to be weird. (Bravo for her!) But Belle has a semi-secret
admirer. Gaston is handsome, big, and strong. He is also
obnoxious, insufferably conceited, sexist, and selfish. Gaston is
supremely macho and the film subtly makes the statement that to be
macho is to be beastlike. All of Gaston's virtues that he tells us
about are really just descriptions of a beast. He is big, he kills
Beauty and the Beast November 27, 1991 Page 2
animals, he is covered with hair. There are a bevy of young women
from the town who swoon over the beastly qualities of Gaston.
Belle, however, is unimpressed and wants nothing to do with Gaston.
Then events conspire (or contrive) to make her the prisoner in an
enchanted castle ruled over by a real beast--or at least an
apparently real beast. He has all of Gaston's qualities in a more
extreme form. The Beast is super-macho, but knows that it is a
curse both literally and figuratively. Belle wants no part of the
Beast until he starts to win her over. How does he start to win her
over? In a manner--time-honored in Disney films--for beasts to win
over people. I won't say how, but anyone who has seen _O_l_d _Y_e_l_l_e_r
will find the situation familiar. The story is well-told, though
almost entirely revisionist.
Some mention should be made of the castle's enchantment, since
many of the film characters exist as a direct result of that
enchantment. Once touch that Cocteau put in his film version that
was not in the original story was that the walls of the castle had
ornamental torch-holders that looked like human arms holding the
torches. These ornamental holders have a life of their own. The
Disney film extends this to most of the furnishings of the castle,
giving them also voices and personalities. At moments this almost
has a Philip K. Dick sort of horror, when someone drinking from a
tea cup finds the cup is talking to him. The personalities are
genial, however, and the potential horror is quickly muted.
Visually this film is at least up to and probably better than
what we think of as the classic Disney feature cartoons. Snow White
and Sleeping Beauty were drawn as sweet and cheerful as a bluebird
but perhaps not quite as smart. They were characters for years when
innocence was prized over intelligence. Belle has apricot-sized
eyes and high cheekbones, but also a range of facial expression far
greater than the classic animation heroines. There is clearly more
going on in her head than in those of her previous counterparts.
Whether it was done before without acknowledgement, or is a new
approach, a different team animates each of the major characters.
James Baxter headed the team which animated Belle and Paige O'Hara
voiced the characters.
The Beast is a strange concoction combining elements of a
mandrill, a bison, a lion, and the American werewolf in London.
Glen Kean was is chief animator for the Beast. The voice casting
director (I am sorry I do not have his name) listened on tape to
several dozen voices for special characteristics. He said in an
interview that he himself was surprised to hear the qualities he
wanted in the voice of Robbie Benson. I share his surprise and his
conviction that Benson's voice does work for the Beast.
In general, the art and animation are impressively done. These
days effort goes into every background painting. One place I noted
poor technique and it took me some time to get the joke. While
Beauty and the Beast November 27, 1991 Page 3
Disney artists usually take pains to make each character different,
the three village maids who fawn on Gaston are really one character
drawn three times. They were then animated in a perfunctory two-
dimensional style. Perhaps the filmmakers were subtly saying that
women impressed by macho are just not worth much effort.
The songs are by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, who also wrote
the songs for _T_h_e _L_i_t_t_l_e _S_h_o_p _o_f _H_o_r_r_o_r_s (one piece is reminiscent
of a piece from _L_i_t_t_l_e _S_h_o_p) and _T_h_e _L_i_t_t_l_e _M_e_r_m_a_i_d. Overall, the
music is better than that of _T_h_e _L_i_t_t_l_e _M_e_r_m_a_i_d. The remainder of
the film's music was by Menken. Ashman served as executive
producer. A note at the end dedicates the film to Howard Ashman,
who died of AIDS eight months before the release of the film.
There is some irony in the fact that Don Bluth left Disney
animation studios because they were not doing animation films in
their own grand tradition and now they may be doing them better. In
_B_e_a_u_t_y _a_n_d _t_h_e _B_e_a_s_t Disney Studios has given me something it has
not given me in a long time: an animated feature film I want to see
again. I rate it a +2 on the -4 to +4 scale. Amazing.
PROSPERO'S BOOKS
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Peter Greenaway's Christmas
package for really jaded fans of fantasy or
Shakespeare. This film breaks a lot of rules, but it
is still a marvelous and fascinating retelling of _T_h_e
_T_e_m_p_e_s_t in visionary terms. It may be one of the
great fantasy films for just the right audience.
Rating: low +3 (-4 to +4).
This has been a year for some unusually visual films. We have
seen a man made from liquid metal in _T_e_r_m_i_n_a_t_o_r _2. We have seen a
beautiful animated fairy tale with _B_e_a_u_t_y _a_n_d _t_h_e _B_e_a_s_t. But you
haven't seen anything like _P_r_o_s_p_e_r_o'_s _B_o_o_k_s. Not this year.
Probably not any year. Peter Greenaway retells the story of
Shakespeare's _T_e_m_p_e_s_t. Well, in a manner of speaking, that is what
Greenaway does. It also, as the title suggests is a tour of
Prospero's books. When the scholar and wizard Prospero was ousted
as the Duke of Milan and set adrift in a small boat, a friend gave
him his twenty-four magical books so that Prospero should not die.
Shakespeare does not tell us what the twenty-four books are;
Greenaway walks us through the books and shows us the texture of the
medieval magic.
Now Prospero knows that the air, the ground, and the sea are
thick with spirits. Knowing his books, he is able to see the
spirits. Once we start the books, we also see the spirits all
around. Spirits generally do not wear clothing and because of the
overwhelming number of spirits we see, this film has the most nudity
from the greatest number of angles of any film that comes to mind.
At almost any given time humans are a tiny minority in the midst of
a host of spirits that surround us--at least to the mind of
Prospero. And that is what Greenaway has filmed, thumbing his nose
at conventions of no or limited nudity. There is a nearly constant
ballet of naked spirits of both sexes cavorting around and visually
overpowering all humans but Prospero.
Nothing overpowers Prospero. We do not know if the story is
happening entirely in Prospero's head or if Prospero has made
himself an all-powerful deity playing with mortals as a child might
with dolls. Like the child playing, Prospero gives the voices to
all his characters, occasionally with the actor providing a shadow
voice speaking in near-unison. So while Caliban speaks in gruff
Gielgud, Miranda speaks in a dual voice of John Gielgud and Isabel
Pasco.
Prosperos Books December 3, 1991 Page 2
Greenaway's script is almost as daring as his staging. Yes, it
does tell the story of _T_h_e _T_e_m_p_e_s_t eventually, using Shakespeare's
own lines. But it also describes the great books of Prospero in
Shakespearean prose, a writing task the Bard never attempted.
Starting with the Book of Water, whose pages were once colorful and
are now faded from dampness, each new book is a pleasure if not a
total delight. The Book of Mirrors is lined with mirrors. The Book
of Architecture has pop-up buildings, some of which become sets.
Prospero's whole world can be found in his books. No wonder he
prized them over his dukedom!
Greenaway's visual style overpowers his story after slowing it
to a halt as dancing and singing spirits get in the way of the plot.
The sets are like fanciful intricate paintings with beautiful
images. Not content even there, Greenaway overlays and composes
images in mattes and multiple exposures. The film is made in high-
definition video and takes full advantage of the electronic effects
that medium provides.
For more than two hours the viewer is bombarded (with the
accent on "bard") with visual image after visual image after visual
image (although when he tires of the intellectual content he can
take a few minutes of vacation from it watching the naked bodies).
The film is challenging and taxing at times. It probably requires a
good knowledge of the original play. Recognizing this limitation
for United States audiences, Miramax has provided an 8-1/2- by 11-
inch cheat sheet card to tell us Yanks what the plot of _T_h_e _T_e_m_p_e_s_t
was. I suppose it is a nice gesture, but I am impressed by anyone
who can so fast read and remember even this short summary. One
rather wonders what Shakespeare would have made of the film.
Greenaway has made yet one more film that will appeal to only a
very narrow range of tastes. But as with his _C_o_o_k, _t_h_e _T_h_i_e_f, _H_i_s
_W_i_f_e, _a_n_d _H_e_r _L_o_v_e_r (and unlike _T_h_e _D_r_a_u_g_h_t_s_m_a_n'_s _C_o_n_t_r_a_c_t), I find
myself in that splinter. This is a fantasy film that does a great
deal that is new but one I cannot recommend without strong
reservations. For those with my odd tastes I rate it a low +3 on
the -4 to +4 scale.