Saturday, November 16, 2013

My Favorite Things -- Sci-fi Movie Moments

Hi, folks, I think we take inspiration from what resonates with us. I thought I would chat about my favorite sci-fi movie moments, why I loved them, and what those moments mean to me as a creative soul.

And for extra special fun, I took a simple programming class at Kidlitcon last week from Sheila Ruth over at Wands and Worlds. I learned a nifty trick.

First,
in the movie CONTACT, the beginning scene shows the Earth. The air waves are noisy. We begin to pull away from the Earth. We pass the planets. The layers of sound begin to fall away. We are catching up with sounds that left the Earth decades ago. We move away from the solar system, and there is a great engulfing silence. Our star becomes a point of light.

I feel that silence in my soul to this day, this hunger within. Is there anyone out there? This speaks to faith in me as a creator of good books. I'm on a journey to write something meaningful that will connect with someone, someday, and regardless of the silence, I will find that connection. This belief is enough.

Second,
this one comes from a silly movie that to this day still makes me laugh my head off. It's called GALAXY QUEST. I have several favorite scenes in this movie, but I really love the moment with the spaceship is about blow up and the hero and heroine have to travel through a number of ridiculous traps on their spaceship to stop the self-destruct ticking in the ship's belly. When they reach the button, they push it. It keeps counting down. The thing does not stop until it is a second before the last moment. The hero and heroine laugh together.

Of course, the button doesn't work until the last moment. We should know things are going to work out at the last moment, and not a second earlier. For some reason we always forget. Always! It's like a human condition. This sci-fi movie moment resonates.
 
The Last One,
yes, "Use the force, Luke." I'd be a big fat liar if I didn't include this sci-fi movie. My favorite scene in STAR WARS: Episode IV - A NEW HOPE. I guess tossing a bomb into a hole about the size of a womprat will never get old to me. I have never worried what an epic fail the first Death Star was. Engineers always build Titanics. That's just what they do.

I've always thought of the force as Socrates' daemon. (Lucas should have given me call before he went with midiclorians.) Socrates claimed to have a "divine something" that frequently warned him—in the form of a "voice"—against mistakes but never told him what to do. Ah, Mr. Lucas, this is a force! Big creative rule: Don't explain everything!

When Luke "uses the force" and sends those balls of light into the hole, I cheer. This hearkens to the impossible of the creative journey for me. Yes, writing a book is like blowing up a Death Star. It's a perilous journey with little chance of success and wholly requires divine invention.

In Closing,
I know this is a little silly list, but I absolutely believe that without the flexibility of creative play, creatives cannot find their vision. Think on your whimsy this week. I will be back next week with more of my favorite things.

Here is the doodle: "Dancing Bears."

 
You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. Plato

4 comments:

Timothy Blaisdell said...

Excellent post! I can't decide whether my favorite Galaxy Quest moment is the "By Grapthar's Hammer, what a savings" scene, or the one where the actor is piloting the ship out of spacedock manually, and it scrapes against the side as it barely makes it out. Both have deep metaphorical meanings!

Leandra Wallace said...

I haven't seen any of these movies! But those all sound like great scenes- especially the first.

Molly/Cece said...

Tim, you are right. About those Galaxy Quest scene but don't forget the rudimentary lathe, you know from stuff lying around...

Molly/Cece said...

Hi, Leandra, Yes, that scene from Contact really haunts me. If you aren't up for Star Wars, I've always enjoyed Grocery Store Wars -- it like the condensed fun version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVrIyEu6h_E.