Jodorowsky's Dune

[malignd at aol.com]

There's that great scene in War of the Worlds when the preacher approaches the aliens, reading the 23rd psalm aloud as he goes, only to have the aliens obliterate him. Don't know if that fits what you're looking for, but I remember it fondly.


 Another problem in all creative fiction is imagining an alien mind that really 
is plausible but outside our dramatic formulas. Anyone know great books that do 
this? 





-----Original Message-----
From: Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net>
To: P-list List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Wed, Mar 26, 2014 11:42 am
Subject: Re: Jodorowsky's Dune


I enjoyed Contact though it was far from 2001 in film pleasure. Even more 
carefully scientific than 2001 in many ways. One of the problems with that 
approach is people go to movies more for drama than mind expansion. 

 Another problem in all creative fiction is imagining an alien mind that really 
is plausible but outside our dramatic formulas. Anyone know great books that do 
this? 

As far as prescient SF style  drama I thought Minority Report was good and Sleep 
Dealer . For pure fun The Fifth Element.   
On Mar 24, 2014, at 3:03 PM, <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:

> I'd like to imagine an alternate history where neither Jodorowsky's Dune 
(which, the documentary makes the case, was hugely influential on such projects 
as Star Wars and Alien) or any of the Star Wars movies were made. Because I 
think they helped to warp the definition of sci-fi movies as falling solely in 
the realm of action-adventure-western-horror genre flicks. Heavy on franchises: 
Star Wars, Terminator, Alien, Iron Man, Men In Black,etc. Or stand-alone flicks 
like Oblivion or Avatar. I'm not saying that none of these have sci-fi elements, 
but their basic goal is cheesy entertainment, as opposed to profundity. 
> 
> Jodorwsky's an interesting character, but his profundities are more in the 
realm of New Age-y mysticism than scientific ruminations. I won't argue with 
anyone who saw the Star Wars movies at a formative age and loves them, because 
they're a good telling of the Hero Myth, I guess. Unusual Dali-esque visuals 
have a place in film, as do standard-issue heros and villains, and gruesome 
torture scenes (present to varying degrees in pop sci-fi), but they're less 
interesting (to me, if not to mass audiences, alas)than, say, Tarkovsky's 
Stalker, where pretty much nothing happens and the final visual is very 
minimalist.
> 
> 
> What a great movies might have been made had 2001: A Space Odyssey been the 
sci-fi template that everyone wanted to copy? There've been few genuinely 
cerebral and/or "hard" sci-fi movies made - movie that are speculative about 
humanity's place in the universe, our relationship to technology, etc. Blade 
Runner is one, but, personally, I don't think it holds up that well. 12 Monkeys? 
This comes closest for me to entertaining, thought-provoking and "science-y" to 
be classified as good sci-fi. Others: Pi, Tarkovsky's Solaris and Stalker 
(Soderbergh aside, Hollywood isn't chomping at the bit to make these kinds of 
movies). Moon? Small, but at least speculative. The small is a problem, though. 
I want something as grand as 2001, but it's unlikely to materialize. I'm really 
looking forward to Interstellar (this year!), but I'm steeling myself for 
disappointment. Inception fell short, but the other Nolan (Jonathan) has more of 
a hand in Interstellar, so maybe ...
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> 
> From: Dave Monroe 
> 
> it occurred to me recently that the alternate history where J's Dune actually 
exists also contains the David Lynch Return of the Jedi.
> 
> http://www.slashfilm.com/david-lynch-talks-about-not-directing-return-of-the-jedi/ 

> 
> -
> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l

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