#1 In the genre of alternate history, World War Two is a staple, and almost always involved the tired question: “What if the Nazis would have won?” The Empire of the Setting Sun takes an entirely different tack, asking: What if two beleaguered and honor bound former empires would have put aside their differences— and won?” This film would take place in a world where Britain and Japan, sensing their waning global power, regardless of which side won, join up with one another, and betray their former allies, catching both sides completely off guard at key moments, and emerge from World War Two victorious.

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#1

In the genre of alternate history, World War Two is a staple, and almost always involved the tired question: “What if the Nazis would have won?” The Empire of the Setting Sun takes an entirely different tack, asking: What if two beleaguered and honor bound former empires would have put aside their differences— and won?”

This film would take place in a world where Britain and Japan, sensing their waning global power, regardless of which side won, join up with one another, and betray their former allies, catching both sides completely off guard at key moments, and emerge from World War Two victorious.

The Empire of the Setting Sun doesn’t concentrate directly on the actual events of World War Two, but like many alternate history films and novels, on their eventual repercussions. The film takes place in the late ’50s and early ’60s, and is about a young man coming of age in a post-war world, where Britain and Japan have divided the globe into hemispheres of influence. Britain rules over Europe, Africa, and much of North America, including its former colonies in Canada, the Eastern United States, and the Caribbean. Japan’s empire contains all of Asia, most of Russia, and the rest of the Pacific rim, including the West coast of the former United States. There in what was once middle America, the two great empires butt heads, and subtle conflicts abound throughout the Midwest. The audience learns through the main character that although these polite empires depend upon honor and observe tea time above all else, beneath soft white gloves, lies an iron fist!

#2

Science fiction is often thought to mean rocket ships and space aliens, but what it is truly about is how humanity reacts to change and discovery. The best science fiction involves simpler, more realistic technologies, that leave more room for humanity in the stories. One holy grail of both science and science fiction has been more efficient transportation, from faster-than-light space travel, to outright teleportation; high tech traveling is often at the crux of sci-fi.

The Occident Express uses a much more down to Earth form of transportation. In the not-so-distant future, a generation that has been raised on the Net their whole lives grows to expect their physical world to keep pace with their virtual worlds. This leads to a giant network of vacuum tubes criss-crossing the United States between major cities. Inside these vacuum tubes are bullet trains, hauling freight across the country while levitating on magnetic rails. Without friction, or human cargoes to risk, these robotic trains zip parcels around as quick as data could be moved two generations ago.

The film takes place on the maiden voyage of the first passenger tube train, traveling at supersonic speeds from New York to Los Angeles, in just three hours. Some nefarious act has taken place upon the train, and the passengers must solve the mystery, before the train reaches its destination.

#3

In this modern world, sovereignty is often seen as the provenance of great nations. In earlier times, any tribe, village, or city could declare itself sovereign; remaining independent through luck, diplomacy, or force of arms. The Little Coup tells the story of a modern tribe that declares its independence.

The Northwest Angle, separated from the rest of Minnesota by the Lake of the Woods, and only accessible through Canada, have tired of this inconvenience and disconnection. After a heated election, a referendum to leave the United States and join Canada has passed. However, Canada is reluctant to directly take territory from the US, so the citizens of the Angle must formally succeed from the United States before they can be accepted into Canada.

A small Indian reservation located on the Northwest Angle, again mistreated and ignored, sees this as their chance to take back one small piece of their territory. With the aid of members from other nearby Native American tribes and First Nations, they wage a coup on the fledgling nation of the Angle, after succession, and before their entrance into Canada.

The tribe now occupies a sovereign micro-nation wedged between the United States and Canada, with both sides hesitant to press the other’s interest. Meanwhile, The Little Coup, explores this newly independent tribe’s bid for recognition internationally by the United Nations.

This is more recycled content from school, but it was interesting to actually write out some ideas that I have had kicking around in my head. Maybe it will make room for new, better ideas…

Are scary movies just gory splatter films filled with gratuitous sex and violence? Of film’s many genres, only pornography is generally held in lower regard than horror films. Other genres that have their roots in ‘50s B-movies and ‘60s exploitation cinema, such as science fiction and fantasy, enjoy much greater success and esteem. The Wizard of Oz and Flash Gordon bring back fond childhood memories, while Lord of the Rings and Star Wars have found modern mainstream success. Only so-called thrillers like M. Night Shyamalan’s films and the many Japanese remakes of recent years usually have similar financial support from Hollywood. Even within the genre of horror there is a pecking rank. Elegant and erotic, vampires have the charisma to attract Francis Ford Coppola, Neil Jordan, and other quality directors. Jack Nicholson and Danny DeVito have both been drawn to the primal energy of playing a werewolf. Buried at the bottom of this heap lies the zombie.

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Are scary movies just gory splatter films filled with gratuitous sex and violence? Of film’s many genres, only pornography is generally held in lower regard than horror films. Other genres that have their roots in ‘50s B-movies and ‘60s exploitation cinema, such as science fiction and fantasy, enjoy much greater success and esteem. The Wizard of Oz and Flash Gordon bring back fond childhood memories, while Lord of the Rings and Star Wars have found modern mainstream success. Only so-called thrillers like M. Night Shyamalan’s films and the many Japanese remakes of recent years usually have similar financial support from Hollywood.

Even within the genre of horror there is a pecking rank. Elegant and erotic, vampires have the charisma to attract Francis Ford Coppola, Neil Jordan, and other quality directors. Jack Nicholson and Danny DeVito have both been drawn to the primal energy of playing a werewolf. Buried at the bottom of this heap lies the zombie.

Slow and ponderous, a zombie does not easily invite fear or admiration. Only as a faceless mob do these undead assailants pose a threat; this anonymity, and distorted humanity, is what makes zombie movies so imposing and effective. Zombies transcend other archetypal monsters because they are representative of a true threat—ourselves. At their best, zombie films do not celebrate violence, they merely reflect reality.

Just as his literary counterpart Stephen King will never be honored with a Pulitzer Prize, filmmaker George A. Romero is not likely to garner an Oscar for his mantle. But with his first film in 1968, Night of the Living Dead, he left an indelible mark on cinema. Independently produced on a modest budget of $114,000 according to Internet Movie Database, this film is often cited as the progenitor of the modern zombie movie. Romero never actually used the word zombie in Night of the Living Dead; instead the reanimated corpses are referred to as ghouls. Shot in black and white, the film’s grainy texture and high contrast gave it a sense of intense candor.

Shortly after Night of the Living Dead’s theatrical release, Variety dubbed it “pornography of violence” and questioned the “moral health of filmgoers who cheerfully opt for this unrelieved orgy of sadism.” Knee jerk reactions of this type fail to recognize that the film was not made in a vacuum, but had to be a product of its time. Elliott Stein, writing for The Village Voice, astutely observed that “the zombie carnage seemed a grotesque echo of the conflict then raging in Vietnam.”

Closer to home, Night of the Living Dead resonates the darker moments of the civil rights movement. Most of the film takes place in an isolated old farmhouse, which becomes a haven for a middle aged couple with a young daughter, a teenaged couple, and a lone woman; all white suburbanites. They are soon joined by Ben, the hero, who is—in Romero’s most subversive action—a black man. Feminists have, justifiably, been critical the film’s weak and helpless female characters; this critique could also be directed at most of the male characters as well. These characters behave this way not to denigrate women, but to illustrate the breakup of the nuclear family. Radio and television broadcasts are used to insinuate the collapse of American society outside of the house.

Romero saves his most depressing parallel of the 1960s for last. Ben, sole survivor of the Night of the Living Dead, is shot by the authorities; another black man dead.

George A. Romero’s original film spawned a veritable horde of zombie movies: spin-offs, rip-offs, re-makes, parodies, and homages. Romero himself made three sequels. The first, Dawn of the Dead, also featured a strong black man as the hero, and this time, stronger women as well. This 1978 film had the characters take refuge from the undead in a shopping mall, and delivered a timely diatribe against consumerism. Shot in color this time, Dawn of the Dead gained a disturbingly visceral edge from its expanded palette. Romero’s sequel “pummels the viewer with a series of ever-more-grisly events,” according to Variety.

His latest sequel in 2005, Land of the Dead, took place in an urban environment retrofitted to mimic feudal defenses and hierarchy. The wealthy elite had retreated to their ivory tower, a luxury high-rise, where they ruled over the masses, huddled in barricaded slums below. In Land of the Dead, Romero provides a sound social commentary on gentrification and the increasing class stratification in America. “Romero,” Peter Hartlaub writes in the San Francisco Chronicle, “lets the walking dead illustrate post-Sept. 11 paranoia.”

A big budget Hollywood re-make of Dawn of the Dead was released in 2004. This film was, in the words of Roger Ebert, “instructive in the ways that Hollywood has grown more skillful and less daring over the years.” Dawn of the Dead is a beautiful film. The wholesale mayhem is gloriously cathartic, the movie exudes style, but without Romero’s direction, it has a serious deficiency of substance. Removing the satirical aspect of zombie films to dumb them down makes their violence utterly senseless.

Just as the zombies in this Dutch cartoon hunt for brains, good zombie movies seek out an intelligent audience. These films act as a sort of feature length political cartoon, offering social commentary and macabre humor. Humanity has achieved such a thorough worldwide domination that our fears—genocide, nuclear war, or a pandemic—are now manmade.

The walking dead themselves pose little danger in many of these films, provided that the survivors stick together. Many of the characters in zombie flicks meet their grisly end not at the hands of the dead, but the living. It is the zombies though, that allow us to dispense with social niceties and explore our true potential for greatness and depravity. Zombies allow us to literally get under our skin and pick our brains.

I recycled some of my hours wasted on schoolwork into some content for 3PE. This was my final paper for my College Composition class. I managed to pull a 93% even though my instructor was kind of a Jesus freak. I thought some of you might dig it…

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