a scanner darkly

[rmd]

i'm a bout to go on call, which means NO FUN FOR THE NEXT WEEK, so i went and saw "a scanner darkly" last nite with quietann.

the rotoscoping was an excellent choice -- it just adds the right edge of dreamy weirdness to the whole thing. i don't think it would work nearly as well live action. they stayed fairly close to the book, which means it had moments of deep creepiness and generally left me with that philip k dick feeling. good stuff.

Comments

[bedfull-o-books.livejournal.com]

Should I go read the book before seeing the movie?

Sorry about the on call thing. That would make me so sad. Hope it's uneventful.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

eh, being on call is part of the job.

as for reading the book before seeing the movie, i don't think it's necessary. iirc, quietann hadn't read the book and she enjoyed the movie.

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

Should I go read the book before seeing the movie?

I wouldn't. One of the things about the movie that's so powerful is how incredibly current it is-- it's amazing how the political and social structures and issues he was addressing 30 years ago echo issues we face today. Politically his work always seems timeless and hard-hitting. Socially, however, I always find his work incredibly dated. Personally, I can't make it through more than one or two short storeis in a collection of his before I have to put it down and go find something to read in which the women have any depth or character, besides being a beautiful, desirable foils to the men.

I know I'm a heretic to say this, but I don't really enjoy reading his writing at all. I prefer to wait for his fantastic stories to be made into contemporary movies.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

yeah. his depictions of women are one of the things that i dislike about PKD's writing. not that i don't have similar issues with a notable percentage of SF writing from that era.

and, in fact, the female lead's character is fleshed out and made a bit less vapid, here in the movie compared with the book. (in the book, she's underaged -- apparently somewhat like the young kids who hung out with pkd when he was being a speed freak.)

[lil-brown-bat.livejournal.com]

Personally, I can't make it through more than one or two short storeis in a collection of his before I have to put it down and go find something to read in which the women have any depth or character, besides being a beautiful, desirable foils to the men.

Jeez, don't you hate that? That feeling of, "This would be a really profound book (or at least a good read) if it didn't keep treating people like me with contempt."

Some day I will create an Amazon list of writers who consistently portray women as fully realized human beings. However, for the moment (and I'm sure you know all of these)...Ursula LeGuin, Elizabeth Lynn, Laurie Marks, John Varley. Not too surprisingly, they also portray men as fully realized human beings, too. Reading books like this is a sort of guilty pleasure that shouldn't feel guilty, and that makes me a little mad when I think, "Dammit, this is how people should be/treat each other, so why is this escapist fiction?"