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Posts Tagged ‘star trek’

Missing the Point of Moby Dick

Before I started reading Moby Dick, I thought I knew what this book was about.  Captain Ahab swears vengeance on the sea monster that robbed him of his leg.  The crew of the Pequod searches for the whale, finds him, and it turns out that overweaning lust for vengeance is a poor trait in a sea captain.

Not only is this the story I’d been told about Moby Dick, it’s the story that’s been adapted from Moby Dick.  When the story’s retold into other genres, especially science fiction, the vengeance quest is the center—that’s how it works in Wrath of Khan and First Contact and Nova, for example, and Railsea is full of good-natured ribbing on mole-train captains and their vendettas against unfeeling giants of the deep.

I’m reading Moby Dick now and while Ahab’s an important part of the story, I’m struck by how small a part he is, and how little the book’s actually about revenge.  For every one chapter about Ahab there are six or seven about the Pequod being a normal whaler, and for each such slice-of-life chapter, there’s another four or five about whales, their beauty, biology, history, mythology, the lies told about them, the way they move, the way they die.  While Ahab’s psychodrama is cool, and Queequeg and Ishmael have an epic bromance, the book’s more about this vast world of whales and whalers and whaling.  Ishmael’s experience of whaling seems less about man struggling with nature and more about man’s most direct and overpowering encounter with nature.

(For all Melville saw, the things he didn’t see are more interesting—I think we’re supposed to see Stubb as a charming jokester, which makes his off-the-cuff racism pretty overwhelming.  It also never seems to cross his mind that all this hunting might actually endanger the whales as a species.  I don’t know much about historical thoughts on extinction though.  When did we first start to think that species might die out from human action?)

Anyway, I’d love to see a science fictional story with a whaling to revenge mix closer to the novel’s—where the captain’s quest for vengeance is even smaller and stranger set next to the immensity and majesty of his quarry, where the quarry’s closer to the center of the book.  Making the whale a MacGuffin seems to miss the point.

Beware the Pseudo-Articulate Man!

Updates first!  Another solid day’s work, despite the colder weather keeping me from walking.  Back in November I worried that I’d run out of story too early.  I made my usual mistake: forgetting that even though sometimes you work through an entire paragraph of synopsis in one sitting, other times one line presents such a complicated moment that characters will take a few thousand words to carry it through, and more space to realize the implications of what they’ve done.

I had a hilarious idea for a Christmas story on a walk today.  I hope I’ll have time to write it.  Also, after that Buddha – Fantasy book a few days ago, I’m reading one of Not-Bob Thurman’s collections of Tibetan Buddhist texts.  Fascinating, and a lot more mystical.  I’d forgotten about Tibetan Buddhism’s wonderful opinion on gods, about which more later.

Something else happened today, says the internet: JJ Abrams and company released a trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness!  Now, I’m a big Trekkie from way back.  ‘Darmok’ was the episode that convinced my parents to allow television into the house for occasions other than the Olympics.  I’ve seen giant chunks of every series up through Voyager, and all the movies—yes, all the movies.

I enjoyed the heck out of the Star Trek reboot!  I loved the actors they used to present the key characters, I liked the new vision of the Star Trek universe, I liked seeing a rougher, tumblier Starfleet than the very polished version the post-TNG series presented.  Harry S. Plinkett’s criticisms notwithstanding—and I think he is right that the Star Trek reboot movie was designed to be more accessible, flashy, and over-the-top than the television series—I saw the first Star Trek in cinemas three times (not all on my own dime, mind—there was / is a recession on).

And, also, I love me some Benedict Cumberbatch.  Sherlock, yes.  Also, if you have not seen Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy yet (with Gary Oldman as Smiley), my god, what are you waiting for?

So, in sum: excited for Star Trek Into Darkness (to be followed by Star Trek To The Future, Star Trek To Infinity And Beyond, Star Trek to the West, etc., no doubt), but watching the trailer, well…  Here, let me show you.

Compare this:

With this:

Notice anything?  The kinda articulate, vaguely threatening, bass-boosted intellectual serious actorvoice presenting a Threat to You Complacent Sheeple, maybe?  Remind you of anyone?

Not now, Bane!  I’m trying to make a point.

This is not me saying “zomg everyone point and laugh at Hollywood ripping Hollywood off.”  For one thing I never say zomg.  Okay, I rarely say zomg.  For another, I mean, these movies were all in production at the same time, so maybe that’s what happened, but I don’t care.  I’m much more interested in the fact that a bunch of different folks and their teams seem interested in correlating “people who critique a complacent society” with “people who blow your shit all to hell.”

Granted, the Batman trailers didn’t feature Bane talking much, but I think that was partly because they wanted to keep the voice special and a secret.  Selena Kyle, though, is happy to offer Bane’s critique for him:

And she even does it honestly, unlike the guy in the mask, who’s just running a super convoluted shell game with idealistic pretensions.  (Which guy in the mask, you ask?  That’s a good question, I reply.)  Anyway, it seems a little odd that this is our movie bad guy now.  Alyssa Rosenberg has cool thoughts on the subject.