A Princess of Mars, the 1st John Carter adventure

[hitmouse]

Tolkien on Fairy-Stories is a critical edition of Tolkien's famous long essay "On Fairy-Stories," and includes the final text thereof plus drafts and commentary. Ballantine's paperback The Tolkien Reader included "On Fairy-Stories" and Farmer Giles of Ham and some other short works. There are books that include Smith and Farmer Giles in one volume, but I don't recognize the edition you describe... if you do indeed have a book with the essay and Smith, I'd be interested. That would be a good pairing, really.

I was wrong:
Not farmer Giles.
Mine is a 1979 Unwin edition containing Tree and Leaf (which includes On Fairy-Stories), Smith of Wootton Major, and The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth

 

[Vertigo]

Just finished Burroughs' A Princess of Mars. Required just a little more suspension of disbelief than I am accustomed to of late but, oh, what fun Originally published in 1912, the style and language (and attitudes) can be a little jarring at times, far more so, I found, than, for example, Conan Doyle writing 30 years earlier. However I quickly became accustomed to that though there was one sentence that stopped me short: "On the second night both we and our animals were completely fagged..." A quick dictionary check confirmed that this is a valid word and not the slang I had always thought it

Shamelessly copied from my Februrary's reading post (with the date corrected thanks to J-Sun)

 

[Connavar]

I regret that i gave away my copy of the first book. I thought it was dated early and didnt really give it a chance. That was before i became a fan of the sword and planet subgenre.

Now i have to go and order the first book in inter-loan library system.

 

[Metryq]

Here’s Why Andrew Stanton Dedicated ‘John Carter’ To Steve Jobs

I was now pregnant with the dysfunction of Hollywood to make this movie and how this all works, the good and the bad, and it was amazing to see how much he had firewalled us from. Like we knew he had, but he had truly firewalled us and protected us from all the bad influences of the outside world and we had just been raised in this little eden in San Francisco and had no clue how bad it could be. And so I really have to give so much more credit to him than I ever was, even though I always was, of how much he was a major factor for Pixar.

 

[hitmouse]

Just finished Burroughs' A Princess of Mars. Required just a little more suspension of disbelief than I am accustomed to of late but, oh, what fun Originally published in 1912, the style and language (and attitudes) can be a little jarring at times, far more so, I found, than, for example, Conan Doyle writing 30 years earlier. However I quickly became accustomed to that though there was one sentence that stopped me short: "On the second night both we and our animals were completely fagged..." A quick dictionary check confirmed that this is a valid word and not the slang I had always thought it

Shamelessly copied from my Februrary's reading post (with the date corrected thanks to J-Sun)

Fagged or Fagged out, meaning exhausted, is still standard English usage where I come from.

Thereis a tribute to Barsoom in I think the second World of Tiers book (The Gates of Creation) by Philip Jose Farmer, where one of the characters, who is an ERB fan has created an artificial moon to mimic Barsoom.

 

[Vertigo]

I wasn't saying it wasn't normal usage (though I think it was used a lot more when I was a kid) but rather that I had always thought it slang rather that the correct English that it is.

 

[Jeffbert]

I have seen 'fag' & 'faggot' used for cigarette in some old books. It is funny how both 'faggot' & 'Fascist' have the same root.

I am about to read ch 7.

 

[hitmouse]

Fag for cigarette is again common in the UK e.g
a packet of fags
"I am smoking a fag" Waynetta Slob in The Harry Enfield Show

Faggots (a bundle of sticks) is a bit more archaic.
Faggots(delicious meatballs made with liver) are widely eaten:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y136zBVjBg

 

[Vertigo]

The problem is the more modern usage of faggot (primarily in the US I think) is rather more homophobic I believe.

 

[Extollager]

A long and thoughtful review of the movie.

http://orthosphere.org/2012/03/12/john-carter-a-review/

 

[Fried Egg]

That review sounds, on balance, quite positive unlike many other reviews I have seen. Maybe it is worth a watch after all...

 

[Vertigo]

I saw someone on the BBC (News channel I think) doing a review recently. I've no idea who he is (don't watch enough TV) but he seemed to have a regular film review slot.

Basically he tore it to shreds. Said it was visually attractive but that it was utterly confusing even if you had read the books. And if you are a fan of ERB and the Mars books then be ready (in his words) to be very very disappointed.

 

[Vince W]

Good review. After seeing the film I would agree with most of what the reviewer says, but the film never develops the characters of Tars Tarkas, Sola, Sarkoja, and Kantos Kan. All outstanding characters from the book, but not in the film.

The visual effects of the film are outstanding though. Barsoom, the Tharks, Throats, and the air ships are stunning.

 

[Connavar]

I have read the first 100 or so pages of the novel just now and i have hard time seeing why anyone would found the writing to be dated like other Chrons members has recently found it.

Sure its old school late 1800s classic adventure writing but im enjoying the prose as a tool for sword and planet adventure. John Carter is a convincing narrator,hero. He talks like a gentleman but he is a complete badass. The way ERB writes about the different cultures of Mars takes you there so vividly.

 

[Jeffbert]

I just began reading the chapter in which Carter begins speaking with Dejah Thoris, and learns that the Barsoomans are familiar with Earth's cultures. The narrative already indicated that the Martians wore nothing that could pass for clothing, & described this woman as naked when Carter rescued her by killing her tormentor, but now Thoris says that she finds the very idea of clothing grotesque. I must wonder how this novel was received at the time it was published. Just a bit risqué, forcing the readers to visualize this woman fully naked; even when such is not specified, we recall that nothing more than harnesses for carrying weapons was worn.

I think I will wait for the DVD, I just do not enjoy theaters as much as I did when younger.

 

[Connavar]

I just began reading the chapter in which Carter begins speaking with Dejah Thoris, and learns that the Barsoomans are familiar with Earth's cultures. The narrative already indicated that the Martians wore nothing that could pass for clothing, & described this woman as naked when Carter rescued her by killing her tormentor, but now Thoris says that she finds the very idea of clothing grotesque. I must wonder how this novel was received at the time it was published. Just a bit risqué, forcing the readers to visualize this woman fully naked; even when such is not specified, we recall that nothing more than harnesses for carrying weapons was worn.

I think I will wait for the DVD, I just do not enjoy theaters as much as I did when younger.

I think ERB wrote that she was naked except for the few she wore for ornament like the green martians. She isnt walking around completely naked. It would be called half naked today. That it was set in Mars with red human Martians and green Martians i think saved from public infamy when it was published.

She find earth clothing that are much more pants,jackets,hats.

 

[Extollager]

Illustrators have exploited whatever degree of license they had to indulge in depictions of the clothing-free DT. The results usually look like what I suppose you'd see at a Las Vegas show. I think that Burroughs was doing several things when he introduced DT and alludes to her lack of clothing: (1) sure, he is inviting the (assumed male) reader to imagine her charms to the extent that he wishes to*; (2) he is expressing an unspoken freedom from Christian norms wherein clothing is not only utilitarian but is a necessity thanks to the Fall and its effects on sexuality**; (3) he is tapping in to the idea of the nakedness of "barbaric" non-white "savages." For Burroughs, I suppose, as for Howard, the idea that non-white peoples may be closer to the springs of life and feeling is an attractive one. Dejah Thoris is, in fact, a Noble Savage. This along with the perfection of her non-described charms is a great element in her appeal to the reader.

*Burroughs understands that a bit of ornamentation here and there may provoke arousal more than simple sheer nakedness. I suppose this is widely recognized, but if it is a new idea to anyone, that it is a fact may be demonstrated easily. Simply take a painting such as Botticelli's Venus and imagine a few ornaments added to Her. She becomes less a divine beauty and more a "sex goddess" in the modern sense immediately.

**Thus when C. S. Lewis writes a novel set on a planet where the Fall has not occurred, the beautiful Lady of that world is completely naked, and an indication that things are beginning to go very badly occurs when the wicked Un-man inveigles her into wearing a gown he has made (from murdering birds for their feathers, unknown to the Lady).

 

[iansales]

As far as I can determine, the offensive attitudes in the book(s) have been updated to be more palatable to a modern filmgoer - and I see nothing wrong with that. So to complain that it's not true to the source material in that respect - as some people have, notably John C Wright - is dumb. I've seen a number of positive reviews who say it is a typical tentpole sf spectacle film tho happily not as dumb as a Michael Bay film.

 

[j d worthington]

On that note... I can't help but wonder how they're going to "update" Gods of Mars, what with its blatantly racist elements, as well as its parodies of religions of all stripes....

 

[Connavar]

As far as I can determine, the offensive attitudes in the book(s) have been updated to be more palatable to a modern filmgoer - and I see nothing wrong with that. So to complain that it's not true to the source material in that respect - as some people have, notably John C Wright - is dumb. I've seen a number of positive reviews who say it is a typical tentpole sf spectacle film tho happily not as dumb as a Michael Bay film.

Yeah its good if you can update to be less offensive some of old stuff as long you dont change too much. Its SFF blockbuster summer film really so i dont care what they do with it.

The thing that i find uninteresting is that JC is played by a guy of the type that has become the genre american hero. The opposite of macho hero. Skinny,pretty boy....
Why the film will be just another blockbuster to see with people who like that type of film. The film can be really good and not dumb sf spectacle but i have hard time believing that guy is John Carter. Apparently you cant sell an american blockuster without Twilight type hero....