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Entry #1535
 
 
 
 
 
 
Title: So ...
Date: 2007-04-10 @ 22:54
Security: public
... who wants to write me a comparative essay on the use and meaning of fantasy in Life on Mars, Pan's Labyrinth, The Science of Sleep, and the end of Angel season five?
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Title: Untitled
Author: hano
Date: 2007-04-10 21:56 (UTC)
Status:
I think you're the best man for the job. Either that or possibly ninebelow but ask nicely.
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Title: Untitled
Author: sharp_blue
Date: 2007-04-10 22:04 (UTC)
Status:
Could Martin also throw in The Bridge?
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Title: Untitled
Author: surliminal
Date: 2007-04-10 22:06 (UTC)
Status:
It's not Angel, it's Buffy "Normal Again" !!!
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Title: Untitled
Author: andrewducker
Date: 2007-04-10 22:29 (UTC)
Status:
God, I found that episode depressing.
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Title: Untitled
Author: palatinate
Date: 2007-04-10 22:17 (UTC)
Status:
Yes please...
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Title: Untitled
Author: coalescent
Date: 2007-04-10 23:52 (UTC)
Status:
Smashing. I suppose we should try to come up with a slightly more definite title ...
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Title: Untitled
Author: iainjclark
Date: 2007-04-10 23:13 (UTC)
Status:
I found Pan's Labyrinth satisfying precisely because its ambiguous fantasy elements are so carefully balanced that they can neither be conclusively proved nor disproved.

In contrast the finale of Life on Mars has left me a bit bemused. Although it was always going to be impossible to end in a completely satisfying way, it's so very obvious to us as viewers which of Sam's two 'realities' is the real one, which means that the ending is far from ambiguous. Brazil is definitely the more apposite comparison, I think. But still, I can't help but wonder if that's really what they intended.
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Title: Untitled
Author: coalescent
Date: 2007-04-10 23:16 (UTC)
Status:
I don't think LoM's ending is intended to be particularly ambiguous -- I agree with Martin that it's meant to be seen as a retreat into fantasy.
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Title: Untitled
Author: ajr
Date: 2007-04-10 23:16 (UTC)
Status:
I'd throw Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective into the mix too.
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Title: Untitled
Author: grahamsleight
Date: 2007-04-11 08:30 (UTC)
Status:
YES.

Also, while we're at it, Potter's Cold Lazarus, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, Mulholland Drive, Total Recall, and *especially* Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

Also, was I the only one who was strongly reminded of the end of the Sodebergh/Clooney Solaris? Right down to the thumb-cutting scene?
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Title: Untitled
Author: snurri
Date: 2007-04-11 00:38 (UTC)
Status:
I haven't seen LoM, but it's an intriguing pitch.

Sorry for flaking on the Pan's/SOS discussion, BTW. I went away for a week and when I came back I'd sort of lost the thread.
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Title: Untitled
Author: coalescent
Date: 2007-04-11 09:16 (UTC)
Status:
Yeah, that keeps happening with email discussions I try to start. :)

Not to worry -- it was interesting while it lasted. And you should watch Life on Mars.
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Title: Untitled
Author: grahamsleight
Date: 2007-04-11 06:13 (UTC)
Status:
Perhaps. I'm in equipoise.
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Title: Untitled
Author: cellardoor28
Date: 2007-04-11 07:29 (UTC)
Status:
That comment has disturbed me to a ridiculous amount. Ask Liz why...
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Title: Untitled
Author: i_ate_my_crusts
Date: 2007-04-11 06:13 (UTC)
Status:
Shame I can't stand Angel, eh?
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Title: Untitled
Author: coalescent
Date: 2007-04-11 09:16 (UTC)
Status:
On many levels. :-p
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Title: Untitled
Author: ninebelow
Date: 2007-04-11 13:27 (UTC)
Status:
My new favourite comment on Life On Mars.
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Title: Untitled
Author: drasecretcampus
Date: 2007-04-11 14:41 (UTC)
Status:
*coughs*Todorov*coughs*.


Funny how Turn of the Screw was supposedly the only Todorovian fantasy and yet there's half a dozen movies we could name that do the hesitation thing.


The phrase cosolation fantasy distinction sprang to mind, too.
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Title: Untitled
Author: drasecretcampus
Date: 2007-04-11 14:43 (UTC)
Status:
The consolation fantasy definitely sprang to mind, too, dammit.

Could've been worse. Might have typed coleslaw fantasy.
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Title: Untitled
Author: twic.myopenid.com
Date: 2007-04-11 17:07 (UTC)
Status:
I haven't been watching Life on Mars, but am curious as to how it ended: did it turn out, as i had predicted, that he was a character in a Chris Priest novel?

-- tom
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Title: Untitled
Author: coalescent
Date: 2007-04-11 17:33 (UTC)
Status:
Not quite. Sam was in a coma; Gene turned out to represent a brain tumour; they operated to remove the tumour (which in 1973 equated to turning Gene in to internal affairs), failed, but managed to get Sam out of the coma; Sam found life in 2007 numbing, and jumped off the top of a building to get back to his 1973 life.
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Entry #1535