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by Rick Norwood
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SF on TV | |
The new breakout genre of the second decade of the 21st century is the fairy tale,
that far edge of fantasy most distant from science fiction. Fairy tales have none
of the rational underpinnings, the human characters, or the imaginary geography and
history that make high fantasy so appealing. It's as if America has become too
slack-jawed to face up to a world where we actually have some competition, and
are retreating into a world of make believe, where you can make a country great
just by talking about how great you are, and you can stop global warming by
denying that it exists. I've recently discovered that most people I talk to
under the age of thirty don't know who was president of the United States during
the American Civil War. And I was told by a Tea Party member, "You mathematicians
like to pretend those little x's and y's actually mean something, but I know
better!" So, fairy tales are a natural genre for the post-modern age.
Don't get me wrong. Modern fairy tales can be fun. I love Stephen Sondheim's
Into the Woods, for example. It is just that I fear for the future of a
country whose motto seems to be "Stop making sense!"
SF on TV in January 2012
Tim Kring's new series, Touch, begins in March. Doctor Who won't be back until next Fall.
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Rick Norwood is a mathematician and writer whose small press publishing house, Manuscript Press, has published books by Hal Clement, R.A. Lafferty, and Hal Foster. He is also the editor of Comics Revue Monthly, which publishes such classic comic strips as Flash Gordon, Sky Masters, Modesty Blaise, Tarzan, Odd Bodkins, Casey Ruggles, The Phantom, Gasoline Alley, Krazy Kat, Alley Oop, Little Orphan Annie, Barnaby, Buz Sawyer, and Steve Canyon. Visit his web site at comicsrevue.com. |
Thursday, January 5
 
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