John Scalzi’s post on SciFi Scannerabout whether or not some of the big movies from last year qualified as scifi got me thinking. Not about those movies, since I didn’t see any of them (I don’t get out to movies much, having a 5 year old and all). About A Boy and His Dog. My mom (yes, my mom – she is one of my now 5 regular readers) actually just sent me an email suggesting I post about it and ask other people’s opinions of whether or not it is scifi. I think it definitely is, being a post-apocalyptic film featuring a main character who communicates telepathically with his dog and a secret subterranean society that uses artificial insemination (which was well established as a technology but still considered kind of out there when the movie was made) to procreate and has android servants. But I can see the argument that it is a surrealist fantasy heavy on the social commentary also.
Either way it is a fabulously bizarre film, and if you have never seen it, you should make a point to do so. Also it has a very young Don Johnson as the lead (human) character. (My mom once made the argument that the dog, who is the brains of their operation, is actually the main character.)
Wow that’s a lot of parentheses.
Stumble It!
January 10, 2009 at 8:49 AM
[...] Truscifi’s commentary on “what is or is not scifi” (playing off of Scalzi’s AMC piece this week was picked up by File 770 and Mike offers a very amusing and oft-told tale of Harlan Ellison’s gafiation. [...]