Good excuse. 
- Edit 1
- Edit 1Before modification by Legolas at 31/01/2010 10:39:49 PM
I guess my contention is that if sf/f is more than special effects or worldbuilding, why isn't it popular in theater? Basically, why aren't there more District 9s (or, you know, movies that are like District 9, except they don't suck
)? And why are there almost no serious sf/f plays/musicals? If one of the powerful abilities of sf/f is that by removing preconceptions of our world, it allows us to view certain truths about humanity, why isn't that reflected in other media? Maybe because the effort of removing preconceptions of our world takes so much time and worldbuilding, which isn't conducive to theater. But I'm pretty sure Larry would dispute that if he and I would stop arguing about the importance of theater.
I suppose I'm issuing a challenge of sorts to the stalwart defenders of sf/f. If the best of the genre is more than worldbuilding, if it focuses so heavily on character development, for what reason is it that sf/f doesn't show up in a medium that is primarily dedicated to character development?
There's at least one critically acclaimed sf/f play. I think Waiting for Godot is undeniably fantasy. I want to know why there aren't more Godots.
I could answer this better if I knew more modern plays, I suppose. But take a seminal play like Sartre's Huit Clos (I think in English they call it "No Exit"? the one that spawned the infamous "Hell is other people" line). It's heavily implied, or perhaps even stated explicitly, I don't know, that the characters are not merely in a closed room, but that they are in some kind of limbo or even hell. Clearly there is a supernatural setting of some sort. But it's not fleshed out much - because it's a play, you don't spend too much attention on your setting.