Random Thought....

As a geek gal I enjoy both sci-fi and fantasy and I read a lot of said books and watch a lot of said movies.


Recently there has been something of an upsurge in fantasy movies on the big screen and there are more to come. Some of these have been aimed at a wide range of audience goers some have been aimed more at the tween to teen crowd (ugh. I hate using the word "tween"). Some have been based on books or books series' some have been based on video games (and I still count them as fantasy movies because the video games they're based on are fantasy video games).

Here's the thing, though; there are a LOT of fantasy movies that take place in the "present day" -- 20th to 21st century. And these movies almost always seem to go out of their way to introduce a magic something or other -- an amulet, a sword, etc. And these are the traditional magic things that appear in novels but does it not occur to the script writers how ill these things fit into the present day?

I mean, when was the last time you walked down the street and saw a guy wearing a big pendant around his neck. It's fine if you're a fugitive from a Shakespeare festival, it's something else with a Pink Floyd t-shirt, blue jeans and sneakers.

Or a sword. Really. How would you carry it? WHERE would you carry it? It's not like you'd just buckle a scabbard over your khaki slacks.

If you're going to move fantasy movies into the modern era then it seems like it would be more fitting to move magical objects into the modern era as well. Where is "The Black Permanent Marker of Doom", or "The Highlighter of Light", or "The Laptop of Immense Wisdom" (obviously NOT running Windows Vista), or even "The Invincible Swiss Army Knife".

Come on Hollywood. It's the 21st century... get with the program!