LOVE
IS A VITAL ELEMENT
Needless
to say, I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with my
colleague’s erstwhile argument that there are too many “touching
love stories” in the sci-fi fantasy (SFF) genre. Love is a vital
element within genre because well-drawn believable characters
have relationships with others that resonate with and draw an
audience into the story, and that’s not going to change any time
soon. Where would the world of sci-fi and fantasy be without Han
and Leia, Bella and Edward, or Kirk and Spock? (OK, so maybe I
made the last one up but that relationship is a serious bromance
by anyone’s standard).The problem, Brad argues, is too many “touching love stories” which focus on soul-mates overcoming epic obstacles on a journey of destiny to be together; to which I reply: well, it never harmed the popularity of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet any -- or to make this genre, the popularity of Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar series. Indeed, a good love story can make even the crappiest film, TV show or book of any genre better, and a great love story can make it popular beyond the wildest dreams of its creators. There’s a reason why romance is the best-selling genre of published fiction; why shipping (the active fan support for a particular relationship) is such a widespread fandom activity; why film producers insist on including a romance sub-plot into all genres that aren’t romance itself. Love equals money in the business of books, film and television.
But
let’s talk some specifics: my colleague isn’t going to tackle
Harry Potter and Twilight, and neither will I.
Primarily because I would argue that Hermione ending up with Ron
is nothing but a contrivance to ensure Harry ended up with
someone else and its only obstacle being Ron acting like a prat.
And as much as I enjoyed the Twilight series, I still
deplore Bella changing herself to be with Edward (possibly I’m
wearing my Team Jacob t-shirt right now).However, neither am I going to talk about the films that my colleague covers because; firstly, what’s the fun in that?; and secondly, with the exception of The Fifth Element I haven’t actually watched them. Yes, yes, I will one day get around to watching Avatar but why anyone would willingly want to watch Underworld and Salt is something of a mystery to me. [You MUST watch Underworld immediately! – Ed.] While I do have my own issues with The Fifth Element, Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis) being revealed as ex-Special Ops being one of them, (like the leading man having a crack military background isn’t an over-used trope in the genre at all), I have no issues with the improbable love story in what is ultimately a camp not-to-be-taken-seriously movie. Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Boy finds out girl is an artificially created life form meant to save the world. Girl falls improbably in love with the hero and saves the day with the power of their Love. What’s the problem?
So, let me turn to the films that I am going to talk about: the Star Wars saga, WALL-E, Batman Returns, and The Mummy. All four are wildly different, hugely successful and yet have at their heart a “touching love story.”
The
Mummy actually has two “touching love stories” at its
heart: one in the shape of the relationship between American
hero Rick (Brendan Fraser) and ditzy but incredibly smart Evelyn
(Rachel Weisz), and one in the history of Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo)
and Anck-Su-Namun (Patrica Valasquez). Both face epic obstacles
and have a destined love. The latter is a tragedy with two
corrupt lovers; the former, a happy-ending fairy tale for
opposites who attract. Both are integral to the plot, to the
characters’ motivations, to providing angst and tension in
amongst the action sequences. Both give the movie some depth
beyond an enjoyable romp. The Mummy would be nothing
without its touching love stories.
The
same goes for WALL-E. Yes, it is an animated film but
its robots in space with an apocalyptic Earth. Regardless of the
environmental and dieting messages embedded in the movie, the
heart of it is the “touching love story” between WALL-E and EVE.
They meet and face epic obstacles but eventually get their happy
ever after. I cried. I’m not ashamed to admit it. OK, maybe a
little ashamed, because they are at the end of the day animated
robots, but seriously, the scene where EVE fixes WALL-E and he
doesn’t remember her? I’m welling up just thinking about it.
Their love gives the movie emotion and drama; it elevates the
fairly twee plot and makes me want to hug a robot.
Obviously
I’d much prefer to be hugging Han Solo (although I’d probably
settle for Harrison Ford if he wasn’t already married). Ah, the
epic love of Han and Leia which survived getting captured by the
Empire, Han being frozen in carbonite and Leia almost falling
out of her gold bikini. Where would the original Star Wars
trilogy be without the sub-plot of Han and Leia’s “touching love
story” and the admittedly slightly icky triangle when Luke turns
out to be Leia’s brother. The best of the shaky prequels (and what saved them from being complete tripe in my opinion) is the romantic tragedy of Anakin and Padme. Their forbidden love and the desperation of Anakin (Hayden Christensen) in wanting to save Padme (Natalie Portman) enabling his fall to the Dark Side, only for his fall to be the catalyst for her death, is actually heart-tugging. It makes the eventual redemption of Darth Vader/Anakin in the saga even more poignant.
Poignant
and tragic are also words to describe the “touching love story”
between Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Batman (Michael Keaton)
in the fabulous Batman Returns. It is often heralded as
the best of the Batman movies and I would argue the
reason for that is the incredible relationship that evolves
between these characters. I love that final scene in the
Penguin’s lair when she kills Shreck (Christopher Walken); the
desperation of Batman in revealing his own identity in trying to
reach out to her, her wanting to give into him but ultimately
refusing to trust him and deny her nature. TRAGIC!! (Yes, the
capslock is necessary.)The common element in all these films is that the “touching love story” is believable on some level. And while I admit some of the genre romances out there leave a lot to be desired in terms of believability and are just badly drawn, badly written and badly executed, the SFF genre as a whole would be a much poorer place without the touching love stories that are great; that pull at the audience’s emotions and make them cry; that provide a window into humanity that the audience can relate to in stories that otherwise present them with strange new worlds. If for every Underworld, I get a Batman Returns; well, I can live with that.
-- Rachel Day
Read The Opposing View
AWESOME WOMEN FALLING FOR LOSERS
by Brad Crammond
AWESOME WOMEN FALLING FOR LOSERS
by Brad Crammond
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