SciFi for chicks

[Cognisant]

I had a weird thought today... err, well not for me but weird for a normal person, anyway I got to thinking about weird combinations of genre like a heist/plot film (Oceans Eleven) and fantasy (swords, wizards, dragons and so forth) wouldn't that be interesting to watch? I don't think I've ever seen someone be suave and witty in a fantasy setting, instead the story usually revolves around the fact that it is a fantasy setting,

So what about other genres, then I remembered how much future style scifi panders to male audiences, so just as an intellectual exercise I got to wondering how it could pander to female audiences instead, it's an entertaining thought.

Let's face it guys are simple, all you need is boobs, explosions and one-liners, maybe a joke or two if you're going for an Oscar, but if one is to pander to a (generalized) female audience there needs to be intrigue, romance, fashion, emotional depth/complexity, a strong female protagonist and some dashing halfwit for her to save.

That's just one idea, post any unusual genre mixes you can think of.

 

[Deleted member 1424]

NO!


Where do you think the Paranormal Romance genre came from!

 

[psion]

NO!


Where do you think the Paranormal Romance genre came from!

Yea I foresee the creation of a "Sci-Fi Romance" genre and that makes me cry.

 

[Cheeseumpuffs]

Feminist Sci-Fi doesn't really appeal to me but I like your idea about a fantasy movie where the focus isn't on fantasy type things.

 

[MissQuote]

Let's face it guys are simple, all you need is boobs, explosions and one-liners, maybe a joke or two if you're going for an Oscar, but if one is to pander to a (generalized) female audience there needs to be intrigue, romance, fashion, emotional depth/complexity, a strong female protagonist and some dashing halfwit for her to save.

Return of the Jedi?

 

[Cognisant]

Return of the Jedi?

Did occur to me.

Where do you think the Paranormal Romance genre came from!

The movie is called Infrared-Light, it's about a teenage planetary colonist girl bereft of personality who ends up in a love triangle with an artificial human named David (Prometheus) and an alien named Garrus (Mass Effect).

Yeah you want to see it don't you?

I know I do

 

[Hadoblado]

Firefly?

 

[Deleted member 1424]

Actually.....
I think this genre already exists...

It's Doctor Who.


I want to be Ten's companion.

 

[Cognisant]

Yeah the doc has been going downhill of late.

 

[Cavallier]

Hummm....It's all been done before.

Historical Science Fiction? That's Steampunk.
Paranormal Mystery? That's most Victorian novels.
Children's Cartoon Romance? That's every Disney princess movie.
Romance + Anything? That's just a different ice-cream flavor of romance.

However, I could get behind some science fiction urban mystery.

 

[inner_mind]

Speaking for myself... I like sci-fi which explores human and societal concepts, I often favour post-apocolytic movies for this reason, although not always. Some of my favourites are Monsters, District 9...
Human relationships, not necessarily romantic, are important in a movie, how the survival instinct and removal of society affects the aforementioned.
How new societies would evolve, think Day of the Triffid (the book not the movies). Or Earth Abides.

Of course, a strong female lead or even supporting character would be essential to me, in a chick sci-fi, think Katnee from Hunger Games in preference to Bella in Twilight. Screw that think Trinity in the first Matrix.

One book that I really enjoyed was based around a society in which males dominated completely and the protagonists smuggled women out and eventually revolted, (Fate), well it isn't a bad base plot, I would like to see this played out in a fantasy movie.
I'm not sure if a dashing halfwit to save is essential at all. Women are not simply the opposite to men. Apologies if you are female yourself, but I don't think this is necessarily the key to a successful movie aimed at women.

But then again, I am not sure if I am the best person to speak for all women lol I don't necessarily fit in the typical woman category.

For the record, there is in point of fact a 'paranormal romance' section in one of the bookshops I visit.

 

[Ninjamanda]

I enjoy BattleStar Galactica. It has everything necessary for both genders. It has romance, and explosions and Cylon sex. It has mystery and suspense. The only thing they are missing is a sexy guy that I can look at every now and then, Lee just doesn't cut it.


But I am also on an outerspace movie/series kick right now.

And personally I think Aragorn was very suave. And what about Legolas, he defines suave.

 

[Agent Intellect]

I wonder if a new genre is like a new color: something completely novel will never be seen, only mixtures of already existing ones.

 

[MissQuote]

I enjoy BattleStar Galactica. It has everything necessary for both genders. It has romance, and explosions and Cylon sex. It has mystery and suspense. The only thing they are missing is a sexy guy that I can look at every now and then, Lee just doesn't cut it.


But I am also on an outerspace movie/series kick right now.

And personally I think Aragorn was very suave. And what about Legolas, he defines suave.

Yeah. He was pretty hot. But what's his face that played him really isn't that great looking, kinda weird looking actually. It was purely the character.

 

[MsAnthropy_Indefatigably]

IDK, I feel like the Matrix sequels were pretty bitched out....
Didn't like them as much because they made the whole thing revolve around their relationship and love and sh*.... In my opinion, I don't want to see sci-fi movies with "feminine" influences because this always means some relationship component.

Now, a female character Prometheus, I heard, puts Sigourney Weaver's character in Alien to shame, and that would be cool to see.

 

[Cognisant]

And personally I think Aragorn was very suave. And what about Legolas, he defines suave.

I meant like tuxedo and a martini suave, sure those two can make funny wisecracks in the middle of a battle and Aragorn's "You shall suffer me" bit was undeniably awesome, but I don't think they could actually talk to their enemies without immediately attacking them, near the end there Aragorn tried but his sword arm got the best of him.

James Bond however (and a number of those guys from Oceans11) can talk to their enemies with manners and dignity, that's the suave I mean, that's never seen in a swords & sorcery story. There should have been a scene where Aragorn is in a tavern when a ring wraith enters, declaring that it's looking for some hobbits, Aragorn alludes that he might know some hobbits, y'know bullshits with the wraith for a while, subtly makes fun of him, until finally when the wraith's temper is just about spent he tells the wraith where to find them.

Then there's the cushion stabbing scene

 

[Jennywocky]

Uuhh..... a new genre called "Zombie Arthouse" film where zombies eat people in a delicate and civil manner and discuss life within the framework of French philosophy while trying not to drift into outbursts of Schadenfreude?

 

[inner_mind]

In my opinion, I don't want to see sci-fi movies with "feminine" influences because this always means some relationship component.

Yeah, in the Hollywood formula, throw in a bit of romance to keep the women happy....

Albeit that women certainly seem to enjoy romance far more than men, that doesn't mean that we want to see that in every movie nor that it always make the movie more enjoyable.

I do like romance if it is moving or important to the plot... simply adding a 'love interest' to an otherwise good movie is tedious.

That said, human relationships are important to me in a movie, but not necessarily romantic relationships.

For example, I'm not actually interested in what aliens look like or act like per se, nor how to defeat them in a battle, but how that affects humans and human society.

Here is a list of things I notice that men seem to like which I find boring:

• great sci fi effects (If I don't notice, it's a good thing)
• long fight scenes
• being bigger faster stronger crazier
• graphic violence
• macho-ness

IDK, I feel like the Matrix sequels were pretty bitched out....
Didn't like them as much because they made the whole thing revolve around their relationship and love and sh*....

I agree. Trinity was great in the first movie, her character lacked once the whole 'romance' part started.
Same as Twilight, Bella wasn't a bad character in the first, but from there on in she was a whiny weak character.

 

[Cheeseumpuffs]

Here is a list of things I notice that men seem to like which I find boring:

great sci fi effects (If I don't notice, it's a good thing)

Depends how they're done. The CGI, greenscreen deal is kind of annoying and, though you'll get this for most movies these days, I much prefer it when there's some kind of genuine attempt to do it without computer generated images.

long fight scenes
being bigger faster stronger crazier
graphic violence

These all kind of fall under the same sphere of influence and I'd say yes, these are not bad things in movies but I would never say that they automatically make movies better.

macho-ness

I absolutely hate it when movies do this. I honestly don't know anyone who likes that one character in any movie who is constantly being "the man" that likes to shoot shit and spout off on liners. It's ridiculous.

 

[Minuend]

A story should be written for its story, not the audience.

 

[Cognisant]

A story should be written for its story, not the audience.

ROFL

I think you mean written for the writer or something like that, otherwise the "story" could be anything, most likely anything but a good story.

Edit: Not laughing at you, rather at the notion of writting a story with complete disregard for narrative theory, complete randomness.

 

[Polaris]

Meh.

If I want bloody romance, I'll watch a romantic movie

I like my sci-fi pure, free of all that soppy crap

I'm only interested when the story has an intelligent plot, well-developed characters and really good special effects. By good special effects I mean ones that don't look like they are special effects. I don't buy into mindless violence, explosions and goofy matcho or feminine stereotypes, they are just products of the Hollywood machine. All that stuff is great if you're an S-type. I think intuitives like to use their brains while they are entertained as opposed to just being entertained, that goes for both genders.

 

[Amagi82]

I think that there's room for a healthy balance of female-attracting concepts in sci fi that won't turn men off either. A lot of the things inner_mind mentioned she hates about "guy movies" aren't really necessary. Special effects don't have to overwhelm the movie, graphic violence isn't at all necessary, "macho" characters are completely unnecessary (but there's a fine line where heroic actions should be respected), the fight scenes don't need to last for 17 minutes, etc.

Firefly/Serenity was a great balance of this sort of thing, and as a result, it has a huge appeal to both men and women. It's a great example of how to mix the life and death, huge galactic problems of sci fi with the powerful human interactions and emotion that make for character depth in a series. Hell, even my mother liked it, and she hates all things science fiction.

My point is, you don't have to turn science fiction into two hours of soppy, crying, emotionally-overblown BS for women to like it too. It's just that most movie producers don't understand women or bother to even try to include elements that may appeal to them.

 

[Jennywocky]

I agree. Trinity was great in the first movie, her character lacked once the whole 'romance' part started.

Well, part of the problem is that

- the romance sucked, it was juvenile.

- it was hard to believe a winner like Trinity would be into a loser like Keanu Reeves.

I think if the romance had been better written, it wouldn't have taken away from her character. She did still have that great line in the third movie, about how six hours ago she had been willing to give her life for him and then asked him what had changed since then.... but that was about it.

 

[Cognisant]

The matrix romance could have been great, say after the first training session (before the whole saving Morpheus thing) still pumped from learning Kung Fu he tries to sweet talk Trinity and she of course rejects him, for her luring him to Morpheus was just business. It's this cold rejection that's his wake-up call, like a bucket of cold water to the face it clarifies things, suddenly this new reality is all a little too real, just as Smith said we define our existence through suffering.

This then puts saving Morpheus in a new light, before we assumed he was doing it because he'd just learnt Kung Fu and thought he was an unstoppable badass (a dreamer, the hero of the story) but now he's doing it because he's seen reality and he doesn't want it, he knows it's a suicide mission, but he can't go home and he doesn't want to live on a cold, ship eating gruel, living in fear of mechanical monsters, still every bit as alone he was before, so he wants to die and this is just a good excuse.

Without fear, doubt or hesitation he fights, that's why he does so well, there's no distractions, like someone jumping off a bridge he's focused on doing because if he doesn't he knows fear will overwhelm him and stop him, it's a (ironically) cowardly way to commit suicide, hoping to get lucky and catch a bullet rather than have to force death upon himself, it just doesn't work out that way, he fucks it up.

After saving Morpheus he finds Trinity is being nicer to him, she's smitten with the leader guy after all (he's her mentor, like a father figure, their relationship was never explored but I'm sure it would have been close, if one sided) so Neo gets it into his head that if he's going to win her over he'll have to earn her respect by excelling during the missions, which brings us to his first big fight with Smith, again he knows it's suicide, again he doesn't care, either he dies fighting Smith or he gets more brownie points the one and only girl in his new reality, either way he gets what he wants.

Fast forward to where Smith catches up with Neo and shoots him, after coming so far it's a shame to die now but whatever, there's no arguing with a bullet, then Trinity kisses him and tells him if he wakes up she'll take him up on that date he offered (there's three movies, she'll have to come around the long way) y'know in that "he's already dead but I'll say it anyway because now I feel guilty" way (admittedly this is juvenile, perhaps the movie would work better if they were late teens or something?) and then of course he thinks "fuck it, I don't know what's real anymore, maybe nothing is, I don't care, all I do know is that I don't want to die now, so I won't" and then through sheer crazy he gets up and kills Smith in a totally insane way, that's how he breaks the matrix, not through enlightenment, instead just sheer fucking crazy.

Thus his relationship with Trinity and the development of it becomes the foundation of his game breaking abilities, not that anyone else knows that, they just think he's the chosen one XD

 

[skip]

I used to have "Women like scifi, too!" as a .sig.

Maybe Voyager? Without 7 of 9, of course (damn Brannon Braga and his hormones).

 

[~~~]

I enjoy BattleStar Galactica. It has everything necessary for both genders. It has romance, and explosions and Cylon sex. It has mystery and suspense. The only thing they are missing is a sexy guy that I can look at every now and then, Lee just doesn't cut it.


But I am also on an outerspace movie/series kick right now.

And personally I think Aragorn was very suave. And what about Legolas, he defines suave.

What about the original BSG?

I'm with the decent plot as the main foundation of any decent story people.

 

[Ninjamanda]

Ok ok, you cannot deny that Han Solo was a smooth guy. And what about Marty McFly, the king of cool haha.
Technically super hero movies are categorized under sci fi, so Tony Stark, and Bruce Wayne. Then there is also Captain Kirk. Haha Suave.

 

[Cognisant]

The difference between corny and charming is two daiquiris, but Shatner can do it sober.