Where did My Love Go, Metaphorically Speaking?

/
Kurt made an interesting point today about the lack of proper application of science fiction on the silver screen. The gist of it, as I interpreted, was that the real meat and potatoes of science fiction is to make commentary about our world by showing us another. Take some philosophy, introspection, or whatever else have you, but instead of telling us the story with "real people," they hand the narration over to space marines, point-eared aliens, or intergalactic wizards.

The mention of wizards segues me nicely into a little rant that Kurt inspired. Incredible amounts of money and talent have been hurled at rapidly developing the sci-fi movie as a genre, but what about Science Fiction's older, hotter sister, Fantasy? Lord of the Rings was an absolute blast, I'm glad we're all in agreement there, but am I the only one who hadn't had his fill after just three dates; especially when, to carry the metaphor too far, we only really got laid on two of them.

Oh, we've met for coffee a couple of times, like Pan's Labyrinth. And we went through that weird let's-save-our-relationship-by-roleplaying phase with the Underworld trilogy; we've since scaled that back to simple dress-up with comic book movies, but frankly those all feel like a different genre altogether. Harry Potter is kind of fun, but it kind of feels like she's just going through the motions there. I miss the relationship I used to have with Fantasy.

Can we ever be together the way we once were? Does nobody remember Willow and Legend? Princess Bride? Big Trouble in Little China? And let's be honest; the only reason Star Wars is called Science Fiction and not Fantasy is because it happened in space.

When will I see a Vampire: the Masquerade movie? When will the words of Terry Brooks spring to life on the silver screen? And do you know I've never sat in a movie theater and seen Merlin on the screen? There's no excuse for that. I want to see knights, sorcerers, dragons. I want damsels and witches. I want people throwing fireballs and lightning bolts.

But, along the lines of what Kurt said, I want all this to be a real story. when I just want the action, I'll play a video game. God knows there's plenty of all this stuff in that medium. With the exception of Pan's Labyrinth, I haven't gotten to see anything in my theater-going life that uses the mythical to comment on the factual.

With all respect to Science Fiction, I generally prefer my outrageous fiction without a soft science explanation trying to explain how all of this was "theoretically possible." When the world clearly doesn't play by the usual rules, it is all the more poignant when the real problems turn out to be the same.