Navigation

Middelboe Chronicles, Part 9: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

By on July 19, 2019 0

The location of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (from “Shakespeare: The Animated Tales,” 1992) is purportedly ancient Greece (specifically Athens, during the preparations for the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta), but the fairies who populate the nearby woods are all drawn from the Celtic and Germanic folklore of northern Europe, which makes this a natural segue from the tale of Fionn mac Cumhaill; and the hostility between the estranged king and queen of the fairies and their struggle for control over the Indian prince resembles the hostility between Mozart’s Sarastro and the Queen of the Night, and their struggle for control over Pamina, from before that.

The artistic style for this one reminds me a bit of Gahan Wilson.

SciFi SongFest, Songs 38-39

By on July 19, 2019 0

These are the mystical voyages ….

38. David Bowie, “Did You Ever Have a Dream?” (1967):

39. Jon Anderson, “Flight of the Moorglade” (1976):

Middelboe Chronicles, Part 8: Fionn and the Fianna

By on July 19, 2019 1

Passing from The Magic Flute to Fionn and the Fianna (2001; from “Animated Tales of the World”), but continuing the theme of magical quests, magical tests, and magical gifts – this adaptation of the Irish saga of Fionn mac Cumhaill (a.k.a. Finn MacCool).

Several themes we’ve seen in other stories recur here, such as the chess-playing challenge (The Green Man of Knowledge) and the monster-periodically-attacking-the-royal-hall (Beowulf). And the fact that the monster can be killed only in a doorway (i.e., neither indoors nor outdoors) is another example of the magical-loophole stories I discussed last week.

SciFi SongFest, Songs 36-37

By on July 18, 2019 0

36. David Bowie, “Within You” (1986)

This song is from Bowie’s role as the Goblin King in the movie Labyrinth. “But that’s fantasy, not science fiction! And the fantasy aspect isn’t even part of the lyrics, it’s just part of the context!” Yeah, well, I said at the start that I was going to be interpreting “science fiction” generously.

37. Sting, “Moon Over Bourbon Street” (1985):

Makes sense to follow up a song about a seductive, morally ambiguous goblin with a song about a seductive, morally ambiguous vampire. And technically this one does count as science fiction, since it’s based on Anne Rice’s vampire novels, and in those novels she eventually (long after the song’s release, of course) gave vampirism a science-fiction-y origin.

Another version:

Geworfenheit

By on July 17, 2019 1

Addendum to my recent mediæval-related posts:

In Will Durant’s Story of Philosophy, the chapter on Aristotle ends like this:

[A] few months after leaving Athens (322 B.C.) the lonely Aristotle died. In the same year, and at the same age, sixty-two, Demosthenes, greatest of Alexander’s enemies, drank poison. Within twelve months Greece had lost her greatest ruler, her greatest orator, and her greatest philosopher. The glory that had been Greece faded now in the dawn of the Roman sun; and the grandeur that was Rome was the pomp of power rather than the light of thought. Then that grandeur too decayed, that little light went almost out. For a thousand years darkness brooded over the face of Europe. All the world awaited the resurrection of philosophy.

And then the next chapter is on Francis Bacon.

When I teach either Hellenistic philosophy or mediæval philosophy, I sometimes read that passage to my students and then throw the book across the room. (Such violence toward books is not my usual wont, but it’s a cheap, sturdy paperback, and it does serve to wake them up.)

Middelboe Chronicles, Part 7: The Magic Flute

By on July 17, 2019 0

From a man swallowed by a giant fish to a man nearly swallowed by a giant snake – Mozart’s Magic Flute (1995), part of the Middelboeverse “Operavox” series. The animation is batshit crazy – but no crazier, really, than the loony plot of the opera it’s adapting (complete with sexist and racist bullshit, Masonic rituals, and characters dressed as birds for no obvious reason).

The stylised, elongated figures seem to be influenced by such art nouveau and art deco artists as Erté and Aubrey Beardsley, with perhaps some influence from the likes of Ferenc Helbing, Gustav Klimt, and Jean Giraud as well – and maybe even a touch of the art from “The Yellow Submarine” and Monty Python?

The dancing hippos and crocodiles are of course a nod to Disney’s Fantasia:

Powered by WordPress. Designed by WooThemes