Posts

Showing posts from December, 2012

The fascinating science of fiction

Image
It doesn’t matter if the film is about robots, aliens, space or time travel, science fiction movies have a great influence on our culture. From the B-Movies in the 50’s to the hi-tech special effects of the 21 st century, there is something about these stories that continues to amaze one generation after the other, specially teenagers and young adults, but why is that so? To understand this fascination, first we have to try to figure out what is common to all good science fiction movies, and that has something to do with the main characters of the stories. Mainly, it is always the technology that somehow changes the world the character is used to, and it is how he deals with these changes that the stories are all about. For instance, take such different movies as E.T. and The Matrix. One is about a little boy who finds an extra-terrestrial being that changes his life when he has to go on a quest to save his E.T. friend from the malevolent government’s agents. The other

Be careful, the zombies are invading your TV!

Image
Two TV shows have been attracting a great audience recently, featuring dead people coming back to life as zombies. Both drama series have won Emmy Awards and were nominated for the Golden Globe Awards as Best Drama Series this year, and they are really popular among young adults. “The Walking Dead” is an adaptation of the comic books by Robert Kirkman, and “Game of Thrones” is also an adaptation, based on the book series called “A Song of Ice and Fire”, written by the American author George R. R. Martin. While “The Walking Dead” is set in a post-apocalyptic world, “Game of Thrones” has a background that is a bit more romantic, the mythical kingdom of Westeros. But that’s where the romance ends, for the knights and ladies are far from being noble and ingenuous. The plot includes adultery, sex, murder, incest, rape, have I said murder? It’s actually executions, sometimes. Although the themes are heavy, the way the screenplay is constructed really gets you going and some of the acto