Babel Clash

I’m not going to lie to you.  I like it when giant robots fight.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I write fantasy and sci fi because I enjoy the chance to explore characters and ideas unfettered by pesky reality.  I want to write about Quetzalcoatl, about country-fried vamps, and drunken ogres because somebody has to, and it might as well be me.  I love exploring how these types of characters are different than we mere humans, and I love exploring how they’re the same.  Believe it or not, I do try to have some depth in my stories.  I’m not suggesting that you’ll discover some profound insight in my novels, though I won’t mind if you do.  Just tell me what it is so that I can act like I did it on purpose.  But, still, I try to do more than just write weird stories.

But, let’s be perfectly clear, I love writing weird stuff.  If I can write a novel where an eyeball monster threatens to destroy the universe, I will.  If I think of a great scene of characterization that just happens to invovle two down-on-their-luck gods sitting on the couch, watching TV, talking about women troubles, it will be written.  And if I can think of a place to insert a naked man fighting a hellhound, then it’s going to happen.

Yes, I want to have my cake and eat it too.

I want to go wild, and I want to be taken seriously.  I want to make you smile, and I want to have you think (or give you the opportunity at the very least).  I don’t want to just have giant robots smash each other to bits.  I want to make you care about the giant robots smashing each other to bits.  Because, really, aren’t giant robots people too?

Robots are awesome.  If they had been more robots and less people, Transformers 2 might have been worth seeing.  Superman Returns wasn’t very good precisely because it was too busy apologizing for being about a superhero who can bench press a yacht.  And Avatar was only really tolerable because at one point, a battledroid was crushed beneath the hooves of a space rhino.

On the other hand, Kung Fu Panda had great characters and a nuanced plot.  It also had an amazing martial arts battle on a crumbling bridge.  Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs took a ridiculous premise and ran with it.  The result was a surprisingly touching and fun film.  Heck, would The Lord of the Rings movies be as popular if not for the epic battle scenes?

We like the fantastic for being fantastic, and there’s no reason to deny that.  Some of us never grow out of liking robots and dinosaurs (or, even better, robotic dinosaurs).  It doesn’t mean we can’t apply a little grown up sophistication to the topic while still admitting that a cosmic monster battle for the fate of the universe is just plain neat.

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