Sci-Fi Cliches

Even if you don't know, read, respect, or care about Science Fiction - and I border on not really caring - the article I found, which lists most to all of the horribly overused science fiction cliches is pretty kick-ass, going so far as to add symbols to let you know to what extent it is hackneyed. Honestly, though, even if you've never heard of Battlestar Galactica and you think Star Trek is a new exercise machine, you might still enjoy the list itself.

Okay, so I'm a nerd about this kind of stuff, I admit. But it IS entertaining, whether you think it is or not.

And I think that cliches teach us a lot about ourselves, because it's funny to laugh at all of the dumb and ridiculous plot ideas that are outlined in cliche lists, but the truth is that it only applies to really uncreative people. I'll call these people "movie executives."

Anyway, people still take hackneyed, cliched, and just downright dated ideas and turn them into something interesting. Stephen King's Dreamcatcher, for example, works completely, despite the fact that it's a how to stop aliens from taking over the earth sort of story.

The truth is, as long as you move beyond the basic gist of an idea, you should be safe creatively. The Shining - the movie, not the book - is a good example of a play on the "Haunted House" idea.

And don't even get me started on zombie movies and Shaun of the Dead. It was great; so great, in fact, that Lady Protocol, who's afraid of just about anything that does or doesn't move, could watch it all the way through. And that's saying something.

It's only when people who are in charge of selling things - movies, books, tv shows - to the public for massive amounts of money that it becomes sort of, well, disgustingly homogenous.

Let me make something extremely clear, though: it's not completely the TV network's fault or the producer's fault. TV and movies take a lot of money and you've got to have an enormous set of balls to think outside of the box. That's why you get The Ring, The Grudge, The Ring Two, The Grudge Two, White Noise, Pulse, and several other movies with similar ideas come out at approximately the same time.

It's hard not to become cynical, but we get stinkers because no one wants to take a creative chance. The people who are just starting out want to stick to overdone models of expression because they want to make it. And people who have already made it want to stay on top, so they produce whatever is popular. Being completely out of touch with the viewing or reading public has no bearing on with what's going on. Why do you think we have approximately thirty-five thousand CSI shows? It ain't 'cuz they're gettin' any bettah, I coulda told ya that.

That's why I'm a proponent for independent-based media, even though independence is quickly becoming an outmoded idea. Sundance, for example, is a film festival in name only, since most of the movies have big-name stars in them. They're just doing their art-house picture or whatever, trying not to seem like a high-paid douche bag.

Oh well.

Also, here is a list of the horror cliches that piss MAXIM off. Enjoy.

Have a good weekend. I'll post again tomorrow.