Shapeshifters – a Romance
Boy(?) meets girl(?). Being shapeshifters, kind of hard to nail down gender. I’ve got a few ideas how such a story might play out. But for today, I’ll share my vision of their first sexual encounter. As they’re bumping and grinding, their sex changes. His morphs into a vagina; hers into a penis; and back and forth. Movie technology being what it is these days, Hollywood wouldn’t have any trouble translating that to the silver screen.
Harry Potter and Star Wars
Harry Potter has his magic wand; Luke Skywalker has his light saber. Interesting that they both engage in the realm of magic – “May the Force be with you,”…yeah, that’s a form of magical incantation. I guess some people call that “prayer.”
I never got into Star Wars or Harry Potter, since I’m a firm believer in truth being stranger than fiction. But I salute both for having fired up the imaginations of two generations. And, in the case of Potter, got millions of young people to read. Now that’s magic! It will be interesting to see what kind of reading material those millions get into as the years go by. Better yet, to see what kind of writing or other creating they get into. For sure, millions won’t be creating – for there are always more fans than those who actually create works of art.
But still, with a pool of millions inspired by mass entertainment, surely an appreciable number of creators should emerge.
So, now that Star Wars is nothing but a fading memory, and Harry shall soon follow, what will be the Next Big Thing? Does there even have to be a Next Big Thing? Hollywood certainly hopes so, but I’m not so sure that’s a thing to be desired. Maybe it would be better if each of us worked on developing our imaginations. Oh, what power that would be!
Let the Right One In
This was a novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, which became the basis of a movie by the same name. I wrote these comments back on Dec. 1, 2008:
QUOTE:
The vampire movie: Let the Right One In
I saw Let the Right One In last week - twice: once on Friday and again the following day. Yes, I liked it - a lot.
Basically, Right One is a boy-meets-girl movie set in Sweden in the early ‘80s, about two twelve-year olds - Oskar and Eli. Oskar is a boy who is one of us (I'm assuming you, dear reader, are not a vampire), while Eli isn't really a girl (though looking like one, Eli is a castrated boy), is a vampire, has been twelve-years old "for a long time," and is a lot stronger than "she" looks.
The dialog (in Swedish, with English subtitles) is minimalist to the point of being terse. Yet somehow it inspired a lot of thought (well, at least in my mind). For one thing, imagine coexisting with a species more intelligent than our own, yet one which needs our blood to live. I started rethinking some of PETA's arguments.
It was only later (delayed reaction?) that I realized the true horror implied by the movie's ending. Quite simply, if Eli and Oskar (who had run off together) were to have any kind of life together, Oskar would have to become a vampire himself. Or else he would age, while Eli remained perpetually young, which would put Oskar in much the same place as Eli's "father." This person was not Eli's real father, but was utterly devoted to her and must have an interesting story of his own which (I hope) the novel reveals. [Just yesterday, I started reading that novel (same name as the movie) by John Ajvide Lindqvist.]
I also thought about the kind of buttons a movie like this might be pushing with its audience. There's an awesome scene in a swimming pool where skinny, frail-to-the-eye Eli metes out punishment to three bullies who were about to harm Oskar. She even tears one's head off - while Oskar is being held under water. I know a lot of guys are out there who would appreciate a kick-ass girlfriend like that. Maybe that's got something to do with the pressure we feel from society: Always be strong, never show weakness, and we're always better than women who are always inferior.
There's a lot to recommend Let the Right One In, including the music. So even though most of you didn't vote for me for US president in 2008, I hope you'll listen to me on this score: Check this movie out.
:UNQUOTE.
So, that writing was two-and-a-half years ago. Since then, I’d read Lindqvist’s novel twice – and have recently started a third reading. Why? I couldn’t stop thinking about the possibility for a sequel.
The original’s title: Let the Right One In
A possible title for a sequel: Let the Right One Become
I have to take back these words I’d originally posted:
“I realized the true horror implied by the movie's ending. Quite simply, if Eli and Oskar (who had run off together) were to have any kind of life together, Oskar would have to become a vampire himself.”
Instead of “true horror,” I think “food for profound thought” is more fitting. In my (so far, partial) vision of a sequel, Oskar asks Eli to “convert” him – this after a few years on the run. Eli undergoes a conversion of her own – a sex change operation. Not to become the boy she once was – before having been castrated centuries ago. Eli becomes a girl.
There are some things I’d like to see come out in such a sequel:
· Vampirism isn’t caused by any ordinary virus. Victims don’t feel sick after the initial onslaught, and there are gains – like strength and longevity. These things, and the fact that only blood can be their food, seem to indicate profound genetic changes – which points to a very powerful virus indeed.
· Do you believe in God? “I believe in living.”
· Eli had tried moon gazing as an indirect way to reconnect to the sun, which is fatal to vampires. “But time passed and nothing happened. Then worst of all – everybody found out the truth: The moon is nothing but a piece of rock.”
· Oskar changes from “I’d never had a friend before” to “I can never have any other friends.”
· They don’t discriminate when choosing who to take blood from – with one exception: Babies. Eli heard of a vampire who wouldn’t take blood from anyone other than a baby. And he had a very convincing reason: Babies who die are granted automatic entry to Heaven, since they were taken before the age of accountability.
· Oskar loves current events, since he was very much a part of the world of the Day Trippers before his conversion. Eli isn’t at all interested in such things.
· “I don’t know how long I’ll live or even if I will ever die – unless by accident or twist of fate. That means I’m just like everybody else, right?” – Eli. “What are you talking about? Everybody knows they’re going to die” – Oskar. “They don’t know any such thing – they merely make a convenient assumption” – Eli.
· Oskar to Eli: “What’s it like being two hundred years old? What do you think about?” Eli: “I’m not in any hurry to do anything above and beyond surviving. I don’t think a lot, but I do dream a lot.”
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Steven Searle for US President in 2012
Founder of The Independent Contractors Party
“It will take a lot of very powerful imaginations for us to create that most unlikely of worlds – one where Democrats and Republicans no longer suck the life out of us.”
Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com
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