Black Gate

I first read Joanna Russ as an assignment for a graduate seminar in science fiction. The story was “When it Changed.”  The 1972 Nebula Award winner for Best Short Story, and a 1973 Hugo nominee, it depicts the visitation of male astronauts on the entirely female world of Whileaway.

I didn’t get it.

In this exemplar of feminist SF, women on a (temporarily, it turns out) manless world act in many ways like men, particularly in terms of violent behavior. The casual way the female narrator notes she has fought three duels and that the funny thing about her wife is that “she will not handle guns” bothered me. Here I thought feminism was supposed to be about rejecting this kind of macho behavior.

What I didn’t get was that the story isn’t advocating gunplay as necessarily a good thing, but rather that women should have the right to make the same choices as men, unhampered by patriarchal-imposed expectations and restraints. Even if they are not very good choices that don’t fit into some mother-goddess worshipping, nourishing pacifist utopia.

The moral of “When I Changed” is that even when women are somehow allowed to make whatever choices they want, without imposing values of “masculine” or “feminine” on what those choices should be, men get involved to screw things up.

Here’s a quote from The Female Man, which features Janet Evason, the narrator of “When It Changed,” as one of four women from alternate universes who cross over into each other’s realities:

As my mother once said, ‘The boys throw stones at the frog in jest. But the frogs die in earnest.”

You don’t need to be from an alternate universe to realize the truth of that.

CONAN is coming. Okay, I’ve had serious doubts until now, based on the “teaser trailer” I’d seen. But this new trailer does it. I’m sold. I’m officially excited and enthused about this new CONAN movie. The Hyborian Age settings look terrific; Rose McGowan looks creepy as hell–nice touch having a female villain; the costuming and design looks superb; the creatures are well-done CGI beasties.

Is this the Arnold S. Conan from ’82? Is it the John Buscema-drawn Conan? Or the Frank Frazetta-painted Conan? No…it’s a new incarnation. Actor Jason Momoa reminds me of the Young Conan–the one Barry Windsor Smith drew in the 70s at Marvel Comics. If only he had that two-horned helmet and that three-disc necklace, he’d be a dead ringer. It’s a younger, rawer Conan, fresh from Cimmeria and the siege of Venarium. The Conan from Howard’s “Tower of the Elephant” story: a savage youth set loose in a civilization of decadent savagery.

I’m a HUGE fan of the original CONAN THE BARBARIAN film–the one directed by John Milius and co-writen by Oliver Stone. But I’m ready to jump in and experience this new take on Robert E. Howard’s most enduring character. For a guy who grew up reading Conan books, comics, and magazine–and someone who considers the original a classic–that’s saying a lot.

Of course, you can only tell so much from a trailer…but I’ve got a good feeling about this one. That said, I’m going to skip the 3D version and see the 2D instead…except for AVATAR, 3D tends to ruin most movies these days.

Judge for yourself at Yahoo:
http://movies.yahoo.com/summer-movies/conan-the-barbarian/1809953260#first

And if the movie still sucks, despite all this going for it: Crom help us all!

I reserve my final verdict until I actually see the film.