Sunday, January 09, 2005

Throwing the book at them

Ursula K. LeGuin goes to town on the Sci-Fi channel for raping her book. To edify Ms. LeGuin, for many years in interviews she's stated the same line: Caucasians are a minority in the real world, and thus they're a minority in her books. So this is no new rant for LeGuin, this is a philosophy she's cleaved to her breast for decades, and thus rants like the following:


My color scheme was conscious and deliberate from the start. I didn't see why everybody in science fiction had to be a honky named Bob or Joe or Bill. I didn't see why everybody in heroic fantasy had to be white (and why all the leading women had "violet eyes"). It didn't even make sense. Whites are a minority on Earth now—why wouldn't they still be either a minority, or just swallowed up in the larger colored gene pool, in the future?

...are more than justified.

But what most stood out for me was this statement (my emphasis):


When I looked over the script, I realized the producers had no understanding of what the books are about and no interest in finding out. All they intended was to use the name Earthsea, and some of the scenes from the books, in a generic Magic movie with a meaningless plot based on sex and violence.
Basically, all they wanted was Ms. LeGuin's brand to sell a largely unrelated product.

Oh look,

...half this post was lost in the posting process. Damn Blogger!