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This will be a kind of rambling, stream-of-conscious post, and I don't really want to talk about Zack Snyder per se but rather about the nature of fiction and what keeps me going as a writer, but bear with me for a moment.
I've mentioned on this blog, several times, that I am a great fan of Man of Steel and now also Batman v Superman. Man of Steel was my first Zack Snyder film, and the first time I watched it, I disliked it, but on repeat viewings, I realized what a beautiful film it was, and I became a fan of Snyder's unique, artistic visual style.
I plan to watch Sucker Punch over the summer, though today I watched a few clips of the movie (courtesy of CinemaSins), and even though I obviously didn't experience the movie in full, but rather in disjointed chunks with overlaid criticism, I still had the unexpected sense of being transported. And actually, I had a similar experience while reading Karin Lowachee's Warchild series (which I talked about in my previous post).
Recently, I've been experiencing a lot of anxiety, stress, and self-doubt. For years now, I've wrestled with my desire to be a full-time novel writer with the feeling that I should seek an alternative career for the near future, a) because that's more financially secure, b) because it's hard to make a living as a novel writer until you actually get published (and sometimes not even then), and c) because I've never been able to shake that voice in the back of my head that making a living by writing fiction is "frivolous."
But something about seeing those clips of Sucker Punch re-fired up my confidence and drive.
It's not about the content of the movie, per se, but rather about my almost enchanted sense of the best of what fiction should strive to be. Fiction, at its best, is transformative. Fiction, at its best, is a work of art and also a dialogue with the audience. Works that ask the audience to think about what they're reading/watching sometimes prove to be contentious—see the reception to Batman v Superman for one stark example—and yet I find them enormously empowering, in a way. When the creator can strike that fine balance between providing enough for the audience to follow and for the movie to clearly have a purpose, yet also inviting the audience to analyze and interpret the story, it's a richly satisfying experience.
The rush I get from consuming, thinking about, and producing fiction is unparalleled by anything else in my life. What I want most is to be able to inspire that same feeling in other people—to provide not just escapism, but also a feeling that we can transcend the gray stresses and drudgery of daily life.
That's what keeps me going as a writer, the belief I cling to in the absence of any other support or vindication that I'm doing the right thing.
I've mentioned on this blog, several times, that I am a great fan of Man of Steel and now also Batman v Superman. Man of Steel was my first Zack Snyder film, and the first time I watched it, I disliked it, but on repeat viewings, I realized what a beautiful film it was, and I became a fan of Snyder's unique, artistic visual style.
I plan to watch Sucker Punch over the summer, though today I watched a few clips of the movie (courtesy of CinemaSins), and even though I obviously didn't experience the movie in full, but rather in disjointed chunks with overlaid criticism, I still had the unexpected sense of being transported. And actually, I had a similar experience while reading Karin Lowachee's Warchild series (which I talked about in my previous post).
Recently, I've been experiencing a lot of anxiety, stress, and self-doubt. For years now, I've wrestled with my desire to be a full-time novel writer with the feeling that I should seek an alternative career for the near future, a) because that's more financially secure, b) because it's hard to make a living as a novel writer until you actually get published (and sometimes not even then), and c) because I've never been able to shake that voice in the back of my head that making a living by writing fiction is "frivolous."
But something about seeing those clips of Sucker Punch re-fired up my confidence and drive.
It's not about the content of the movie, per se, but rather about my almost enchanted sense of the best of what fiction should strive to be. Fiction, at its best, is transformative. Fiction, at its best, is a work of art and also a dialogue with the audience. Works that ask the audience to think about what they're reading/watching sometimes prove to be contentious—see the reception to Batman v Superman for one stark example—and yet I find them enormously empowering, in a way. When the creator can strike that fine balance between providing enough for the audience to follow and for the movie to clearly have a purpose, yet also inviting the audience to analyze and interpret the story, it's a richly satisfying experience.
The rush I get from consuming, thinking about, and producing fiction is unparalleled by anything else in my life. What I want most is to be able to inspire that same feeling in other people—to provide not just escapism, but also a feeling that we can transcend the gray stresses and drudgery of daily life.
That's what keeps me going as a writer, the belief I cling to in the absence of any other support or vindication that I'm doing the right thing.
