The Serendipity of Jupiter Ascending

I watched Jupiter Ascending with my wife last night. When it was finished she asked me if I enjoyed it, I said I did and asked her opinion, she thought it was terrible and had ended up watching it for how bad it was. Now, we don't agree on everything and this is hardly the first movie I enjoyed that she didn't, but I realised I enjoyed it because it was in the tradition of the old pulp novels of the first half of last century, which I love. But being a fan of such pulp fiction does require you to forgive certain things other people may not.

Jupiter Ascending is a Planetary Romance slipped it into an action film. Consequently, the characters don't get much depth and are rather two-dimensional, and some of the villains (Titus in particular) seem somewhat ludicrous. But the whole notion of planets being farmed by galactic mega-corporations is fun pulp SF and the plot is ripe for a serialisation in old-school Amazing or Astounding. And from that point of view it's a good movie. From today's standards my wife is right and it's a shocker.

I think my tip-off to its pulp nature was when it was ending and I started thinking of the series of sequels that could follow as Jupiter's secret ownership of Earth and connections to the larger universe complicate her otherwise normal family life. What were her other properties? Would the surviving villains try new ways to take her inheritance? It's stuff Edgar Rice Burroughs and his ilk would dream about. And I was dreaming about it too.

Which is serendipitous as I come into the year I start my Masters. It confirms my ideas of researching within the founding years of modern Speculative Fiction and the ongoing wonders such traditions started. It's where my geek-dom lies after all.

For the record, I think Jupiter Ascending could have been helped by cutting the sister and just having the two brothers, allowing for more character development. Although, where exactly you'd go with the characters is beyond me, so it's probably best as it was. Ideas, stunning visuals and fun action, with a nice romance - pulp SF at its best.

Keep dreaming!

Subgenres, Wikipedia and Finding My Geek Niche

I had some free time so I was browsing Wikipedia and ended up reading the articles on Sword and Planet and Planetary Romance. They clearly haven’t been written by the same people as they differ on a number of points. The Sword and Planet article, which I think is a better constructed piece than the other, argues that it is a distinct genre from Planetary Romance, whereas the latter article has a non-committal discussion on ‘sword and planet’.

Once the article on Space Opera is added to the mix things get even more confusing as it had a section arguing its definition in opposition to Planetary Romance – since one happens in space and comes from Westerns and Seafaring epics whereas Planetary Romance happens on a planet and is tied to lost world and lost civilisation tales. Who knows what happens when stories go from outer space to a planet and back again?

Now, I know opponents of Wikipedia will jump on this opportunity to say it’s more proof of its inaccuracy and inconsistency, but that’s not fair. Genres are notoriously difficult to nail down and subgenres like these are even worse and will be described differently by scholars regardless.

As always, genres and subgenres are just broad boxes which inevitably overlap in any given story. But looking at them and some of the authors involved in these and others (Weird, Sword and Sorcery etc) I realise I have a huge interest in the developments of Speculative Fiction (the overarching super-genre) through the first half of last century and the end of the one before it. Particularly in the pulp era when genres were being mashed together all over the place and new territories uncovered.

I think that’s where I’d like to focus my studies and my geekiness. So expect to see more posts on this era and the stories it generated.

Keep dreaming.