I first read Brave New World
when I was 13 or 14. My class was assigned to write an essay on a book in
English so I went to the library to find something that interested me. Now
Icelandic libraries in the early 90's did not have great selection of English books
(at least I do not recall them) but the librarian helped find some Sci-Fi that
was appropriate for me and my reading abilities.
She showed me a simplified version of a Brave New World. I read the book and
loved it. Now 20 years later I read it again and now the original version. My
memory of the novel was so different. The emphasis on the society’s addiction
to Soma was not as prevalent in the simplified version. I see now how this
theme is rich in many other dystopian novels. The free love aspect was really
interesting to a shy teenager but now I see how it is connected to numbness
induced by the Soma.
The story is slow and it really drives home some of its themes (some of which I
do not agree with). Now when reviewing a work like this I always feel conflicted.
Should I judge as I would a contemporary novel or should I take into account
the influences the book has had? I am never sure but I would recommend this to
anyone who is a fan of dystopian fiction and wants to explore the roots of the
genre.
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Speed reading
Last winter I attended a speed reading seminar. Before I was a relatively fast reader but decided to see if I could improve. Now the main thing you learn at these speed reading seminars is running your finger under or next to the text you are reading. I was given some exercises that would improve my speed even more. I gave these a try and sure enough the worked. The thing is I am not sure that speed reading is useful on all occasions.
Now I am a native Icelander but i learned English at a young age. I found right away that the methods worked better for me when reading Icelandic. This is not surprising as it is my native language. For simpler English text it also worked really well but if the books are to difficult I prefer reading regularly. Maybe I should practice more or maybe the method just works better with easier texts.
So should one try speed reading? Sure, especially if you are a slow reader. The teacher in the course said some books can be read twice if necessary but I prefer to read them just once and spend longer amount time on the first go. I think from here on out I will mix the two depending on the case.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Enemy Mine: Movie v Book
Last
weekend I finished reading Enemy Mine by Barry Longyear. I had seen the movie
as a kid and really loved it so I decided to check out the book. After I
finished reading and I revisited the movie to compare the two. Spoilers
below!
Enemy Mine
is the story of Willis Davidge an earth pilot who is stranded on a deserted planet
alongside an alien named Jeriba Shingan who is member of the Drac race. The two
enemies need to work together to survive in the harsh environment. When Jeriba
dies in childbirth it falls to Davidge to take care of Zammis, Jeriba’s
offspring.
The
interaction between Jeriba (Jerry) and Davidge is very interesting as the two
try to explain their own philosophy to each other. After Jerry’s passing
Davidge has to teach Zammis everything he has learned about Drac culture. In
this part of the story the movie is very faithful to the novella. It ads in a
few differences but story is mostly the same.
One thing I
wanted to note is that in the beginning when Davidge refers to Jeriba as ‘it’ you get
the sense that is because of his hatred of the alien. When Davidge started to call
Jeriba Jerry I got the impression that the alien was a masculine being, maybe I
was influenced by the movie were that part was played by Louis Gossett Jr. After
Zammis is born Davidge sometimes refers to him as ‘it’. At this time in the story
we know that Drac are neither male nor female but both (they reproduce
asexually). So ‘it’ is not derogatory but an attempt to address his neutral sex.
The last part
of the story differs greatly between the movie and novella. In both cases Zammis
and Davidge are separated but that is where the similarities end. In the book
Davidge travels back to earth. The war has ended but many humans still hate the
Drac due to government propaganda. Davidge has problems adapting into this society
which appears to be a reference to problems encountered by Vietnam veterans as
they returned to the US after that war. After some troubles Davidge travels to
Drac and finds Zammis in an asylum. The two are reunited and travel back
to the planet. In the movie Zammis is captured by slavers and forced to work in
a mine. Apparently a producer insisted that mine be added else the title would be to confusing for audiences. Davidge is badly wounded but recovers and mounts a rescue mission. The
movie ending is more exiting and suits a movie better than the original (both
in regards to excitement and budget) but it could have been done better.
Davidge’s problems regarding his reintroduction into human society are abandoned
but didn’t need to be. I really liked this theme and would have liked to seen it
referenced in the movie.
The movie had
massive production problems. It started with a completely different director,
Richard Loncraine, who wanted to make a bleaker movie. Filming began in Iceland
in the fall of 1984 but was shut down after weeks of shooting. A new director
Wolfgang Peterson was brought on board and the movie production restarted almost
from scratch. The Drac design was among the things that were changed
so it would be more similar to the novella. Peterson used nothing of Loncrain’s
footage although some claim that a few shots of Quaid walking in the movie’s beginning appear
to be from Iceland (I agree with this). According to interviews with Dennis Quaid
and Peter Jurasik (cut from Peterson’s version) they both liked Loncrain’s
version. Apparently there was a lot of footage shot in Iceland that hasn’t been
seen. Some say it is completely lost but Quaid believes it still exists somewhere. It would be nice if these
were included in some future DVD release. Because of these problems the movies budget
ballooned and to 40$ million. Enemy Mine was released in December 1985 and only
made about 12$million.
Below are a
few stills from the Icelandic production I found in old newspapers, there are
also a few more in the links.
 |
| Construction of giant tree stubs |
 |
| The completed tree stubs. These were not used in Peterson's version |
 |
| A crashed spacecraft, most likely Davidge's craft. There were also pictures of covered spacecraft which were likely the Drac ship. According to the article four crafts were created bu only two were used in Peterson's version. |
References:
Monday, September 1, 2014
Hangover day
Last week I read and watched The Halloween Tree by Bradbury and Enemy Mine by Barry Longyear. I wanted to write a short blog about both stories yesterday but alas I was so hungover I didn't do anything. Hopefully I will find the time to write about these and I plan to put up some pictures from Richard Loncraine's unseen version of Enemy Mine which I found online.
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