Skip to main content

Unstuck In Time

One of the greatest sci-fi conventions is being  "unstuck in time".

Although there are MANY great instances of this condition, one of the most famous and most influential is (undoubtedly) Vonnegut's Billy Pilgrim. If you've never read (or seen, I suppose) "Slaughterhouse Five", do yourself a favor and check it out!

"Unstuck in time" is a classical way of questioning reality, sanity, free will, fate, mortality, and perception. Someone who finds themselves "unstuck in time" finds themselves fighting against accusations of insanity while struggling to unravel a mystery that inevitably holds the key to their fate. One false move and they could become trapped in a time that they don't belong in, they could irretrievably alter the path of the future, they could destroy the lives of those around them, they could conceivably live forever... ANYTHING possible can happen.

So the question becomes - what have they done before? How has that changed things? And - does it even matter what they do in the future, if they are permanently "unstuck" - they could conceivably continue jumping from time to time for all eternity.

Aaaah the magic of having a character that is "unstuck", they make us ask ourselves, "Is life completely futile?" They make us wonder, "What REALLY matters?" and they make us stop to think, "How much control do any of us ACTUALLY have over our lives?"

You can see, right, how "unstuck in time" is actually a metaphysical, religious situation, right?

Amazing.
Just more reasons to love sci-fi.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rebuttal: 17 Disturbing Horror Movies You Will Never Watch Again

When I'm not watching movies, I'm reading about movies. I stumble across all kinds of articles, blog posts, book excerpts, etc. in my quest to absorb as much movie knowledge as possible. Now, I'm snotty and loud-mouthed and opinionated but I'd never begrudge another human their opinion. Seriously. You're absolutely welcome to have any opinion about any thing you want. However, I must warn you, if I think your opinion is stupid, I'm absolutely going to say so. I've recently stumbled on an article completely  brimming with so many idiotic opinions that I'm actually compelled to craft a response. Here's the gist of the original article: there are some horror movies out there that are so disturbing , you'll only ever want to watch them once. I've have taken her original list and refuted her claims without pulling her entire article over. You can read the original article here . Let's start at the beginning, with her opening statement
Post a Comment
Read more

Contracted Or I Just Watched A Zombie Movie

Seems like horror fans fall into two buckets these days: zombie lovers and zombie haters. That dividing line just keeps getting deeper and darker the more zombies gain "mainstream popularity". I currently fall into the "I am so tired of zombies I could puke" bucket. I haven't stopped  watching zombie movies so much as I've started avoiding them at all costs, literally watching every other subgenre offering I stumble onto, regardless of how terrible it is. I seriously re-watched Wishmaster  this past week. That's how far out of my way I've been going to avoid the significant number of zombie movies flooding Netflix. Then I accidentally watched one. Contracted - 2013 I'm sure it was partially due to the really terrible movie synopsis that Netflix provided, which I'm prepared to admit that they may have nothing to do with and  that I likely didn't read it very well. In a strange twist of events, the movie cover actually helped
Post a Comment
Read more

Mother!

Alright friends and readers–this one is probably doubly filled with typos and grammar errors because I wrote it while angry. Good luck and happy reading. There are unpopular opinions in every realm. As a film student, you can truly strike a nerve when you say things like, "I fucking hate the self-indulgence of independent films and the way people idolize them." Or, you know, "Low lighting and slow pacing does not a good movie make." Or whatever. You can of course, objectively, understand how this happens. When you are creating art–when you are outside the system  so to speak–you are free to explore things (subjects, techniques, etc.) that may need to be addressed and that freedom can become intoxicating and go to one's head. While it may seem only right  or only fair  to respect and accept each creative endeavor that every artist undertakes, it is unreasonable to believe that the world will remain forever patient with the self-obsession artists have. Th
Post a Comment
Read more