One of the most exceptional type of movies are those rare ones that make you leave the room smarter than you left. The kind that stretches your thoughts to new horizons, and without prior warning, expands your mind to new scenarios you never thought possible.
In this aspect, the Sci-Fi genre offer the most potential for mindsex than any other genre in cinema.
First of all, the futuristic and/or visionary aspect of Sci-Fi immediately takes you to a place in the future that are not familiar with, inducing you mind to start perceiving the story on a different context than the one you were used to.
A context where everything is possible, where there is no normalcy bias nor resistance to new ideas that otherwise would deem too uncomfortable to entertain and would otherwise reject.
New concepts and theories are pretty much like new inventions. Once something is invented, it cannot be uninvented, and the exact same thing occurs with new concepts and ideas.
A mind that is stretched to new proportions cannot shrink back to the way it was before.
I’m sure I’ve read that in some bumper sticker, but the point stands.
It’s funny to observe that those movies that take us to a journey to the unknown where we explore new territories we never knew existed, those are the ones that stays in our memories as the time passes by.
Until they make a remake and screw them up.
Jokes aside, there are these types of movies seem to remain immune to the test of time. Their scenes stay with us forever, their storyline is used allegories for decades and even their dialogue becomes immortalized.
Let me give you an example:
“Welcome to the Matrix Neo” (The Matrix) or, “Hasta La Vista Baby” (The Terminator)…
Or ...Vroooooom! Mad Max.
No matter where you go around the world, and no matter how much time has passed, people will always react to those lines.
However, for every single one of these timeless movies, there are dozens who never made it to the Iconic status despite the absolute brilliance of the concept they are based upon.
And there’s a reason for that.
You Can’t Have Mind Sex Before Preliminaries
The Matrix VS Equilibrium
Equilibrium is a fascinating movie that had all the ingredients of becoming the 1984 of our era but somehow fell a little short.
The concept was bullet-proof, the hero John Preston (played by Christian Bale) is a very capable man who’s plagued by a constant inner struggle. As as one of the top government enforcers in a world gone full-Orwellian, he often has to harm all sorts of innocent people who have done no harm but want a tiny piece of freedom for themselves or display any sort of human feeling.
As the events unfold, we start to see us just how totalitarian the world has gone, and Preston gradually begins to reconcile with his conscience and free will to such point where he stops taking the mandatory blue pills that the state has forced on everyone.
And no it’s not viagra - get your mind out of the gutter - it’s a mind-numbing substance that is used to dull your critical senses and renders you unable to question anything, turning you into a senseless and obedient flesh suit.
John’s struggle doesn’t end there. You see, the government's brainwashing of children had become draconian too, as they successfully implemented what the Swedes refers to as Jante’s Law.
On top of his tremendous inner struggle, having to question all that he has known as well as society’s accepted norms and the state’s cruel and oppressive laws, John is also forced to face the rejection of his own son, who on the other hand was successfully sold on the slick propaganda and who is truly unable to love anyone but the state.
And then he begins his uphill battle (inner and outer) until such point he finally arrives to the place behind the curtain and meets with the puppet master for the very first time, only to realize that it was all a joke.
And oh yeah! Somewhere above this line I should’ve said: Spoiler alert!
So here we are, with a concept that is truly captivating, a story line that is very engaging, a brilliant acting brilliant and spectacular mise-en-scene... So what went wrong?
In one word? Preliminaries.
With everything this movie had to work with, they decided to open with a few seconds narration that says something in the lines of:
“In the future the state has banned all forms of entertainment including art and literature, banned all acts of love and caring.. So the only purpose of existence remains to serve the all-seeing, almighty Gov”.
It sounds dark, doesn’t it?
Imagine the build-up that could have been done with such a fascinating material.
Imagine watching the first minutes where the main hero - the guy you’re expected to connect with - is going after people who were caught reading a book and people who were caught admiring plants or any sort of beauty whatsoever.
How’s that for creating connection?
Going after kids who cared for a little kitten that was injured, or a husband that shows affection for his wife disobeying the government war on love.
As you can see, that is not the type of introduction that’s going to take people’s breath away.
If you’re making a movie about an executioner in medieval times, you better not open with scenes of him chopping people’s heads off just because they disobeyed some bullshit rules.
In other words, no matter how ingenious your concept is, if you don’t spend enough time on the build up process, you can't possibly grab the viewer's attention and help them dive into the story.
Let’s compare that with the Matrix for example, a movie that on the other hand has remained on people’s minds for years, a movie whose lines people do not only remember, but use often use as examples and analogies to this very day.
In The Matrix, the movie opens with a nice character (Neo) that most people would empathize and/or relate with, he’s bored with his life, stuck in a job that he hates and wonders if there is more to this world than we’ve been taught to accept.
So not only they are creating s rapport and connection with the audience, but also setting up the plot to what’s about to come next.
Neo, soon after that, starts to challenge the pre-existing views, and we see just how tired he is of his daily routine that mainly consists of: Comb your hair, shine your shoes, present yourself and clock in.
He wonders if this is all there is to life, or if there was something else out there.
Very soon after that, he meets a woman the likes of which he’d never seen before and he senses that his entire world is about to change, and so does the viewer.
But she doesn’t lay it out on him just like that, instead she teases the message by making him follow the white rabbit.
At this stage, we are all intrigued. We can’t stop watching, we want to know what's coming next and with every scene the world becomes bigger and bigger.
Now that’s a build up!
You see, they could’ve just started with a short narration explaining what the matrix is and immediately skipped to the action and fighting parts, but they didn’t do that.
Instead they chose to not take the audience’s attention for granted, and they built up the story up to the climax.
Closing Thoughts
Whether your story takes place in a futuristic time or in some imaginary land, the last thing you should probably do is to ignore the build up.
You cannot just tell the audience to imagine a far fetched event they never heard about before and expect them to connect with it. Maybe it’s better to spend some time on the preliminaries, create some rapport, build up the connection.
Maybe the viewer's attention shouldn't be taken for granted.
Or maybe the main difference between good and memorable often lies in the preliminaries.
Whatever you do, don’t skimp on the build-up!
Foreplay before sex? I believe that is widely understood.
Bravo!
Remember how, not so long ago, our Steemit Book Club took a hard left turn in our discussion and began discussing the nature of reality, the idea of simulation theory, and how maybe, just MAYBE, there might be something to it?
I have taken the next two months off from work, both for travel to Amsterdam for ADE and for Steemfest in Portugal; however mainly for the time to write my book.
I've been struggling all morning on how to start it...
Then you wrote your post Adil.
Somehow the universe provides EXACTLY what you need, and at that precise time that you need it.
Thank you for your post Adil, looking forward to our book club call this evening!
great
please dont keep reposting the same comment on multiple trending posts...you now what your doing is wrong...please stop or people will be flagging your comment spam! its spam! u cant just copy paste the same long comment like that over and over!
I thought it said why girls love bearback
Hey Craig! I'm so glad you're starting to write your book. Just start, never worry about the opening sentence and the last one, you can always edit those parts or re-write them, but just share your thoughts :)
Looking forward to today's call, I hope we talk about it :)
Another fantastic post @the-alien!! When I read your work I feel "anything is possible, where there is no normalcy bias nor resistance to new ideas"!! This fits perfectly with super talented screenwriter Craig Mazin's ideas on how audiences have to "eat their broccoli" before they can enjoy the meat of the story. As you pointed out, this is especially true for science fiction! Thanks for another awesome read!
Thank you Doug! This means a lot :) Great analogy btw! Eat the broccoli first, then the meat!
Please upvoteme
Life is short. Eat dessert first. ;)
Great Article! Another good example would be horror stories.
That's true! :)
Interesting.
That's a movie I'd like to see.
H. G.
The Matrix is a whole trilogy, I think they have much more screen time to put in more content since you know.. they are 2 movie lengths longer than Equilibrium. But from what my memory tells me, I have no problem being sucked into Equilibrium's dystopian society. Maybe it's my imaginative child brain (i was 15 when i watch Equilibrium).
I understand you are NOT saying either of them are bad.
but you did point the BIG BIG difference of how they introduce the world of which the story was set.
Certainly something i can take note of when watching my next high-quality flick.
Speaking of high-quality flicks.. hmmm... You've just made me wanna watch those two stories again. It's been a long since getting mindblown by them and who knows 23 year old me will see the movie in an entire different light than 15 year old me.
Nice post and i like post you @the-alien
Thank you! :)
You can't have sex before marriage and that's a fucking FACT!
Good content. I liked it. First I almost skipped this post because for the first picture. I do not associated Lucy with good Sci-Fi, too many errors… But now I am glad that I invest few minutes and read your post. I like to repeat one of my favorite authors. Sci-Fi is about humans put in unusual situations and the Sci-Fi part is just the décor. We need a protagonist that is human or remotely human (altered, augmented, evolved, post human, cyborg, etc.) to be able to associate with him. If Sci-Fi is about intelligent crystal that do not move, sleep for eons and dream about the end of time it will not be very interesting right? 🌒
Haha I just picked the picture because it seems like she's looking at something mind blowing :)
Yeah I totally agree o humanizing the characters and create rapport! 100%
You should do a post about Interstellar:
It is thought provoking that when you get right down to it there is no such thing as reality. Reality is simply the story our meat computer brains make up to make sense of our surroundings. Also humbling that Zhuangzi the Chinese philosopher had stated this 2300 years ago "I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man." My own theory is that I'm a self aware AI NPC in a video game which has sold billions of copies in the real universe.
Haha! Maybe you are!
This is a mind-expanding comment btw ;)
Saw Equilibrium ages ago and to be honest I liked it. It is not like WOW WOW WOW, but a good quality movie with its original idea. Thank you for reminding about it :)
I like it too. But that's what I was referring too, if they didn't skimp on the build up it might've been a Wow movie :)
Gotta agree. The same way The Matrix sequels never did it for me. Lack of buildup.
Exactly, just like the Terminator, the first one everyone remembers because they built the tension, but all the sequels failed :P
Wait Terminator 2 is kinda good :p
While I agree on most of what you said, Terminator 2 to me is better than the original. The original was a great story, I just think technology wasn't advanced enough for that kind of CG at the time. T2 is flawless, till this day. This is however just my opinion.
Narrative foreplay, that's an interesting concept! I think it's like when someone's telling a story to a group of friends, you don't want to just say what happened in a factual way.
Lead people on an emotional journey, but helping them experience what you felt at different stages of the events you're talking about.
That way they can 'relive' the story with you. I guess best story is when the storyteller pays attention to and interacts with the audience
Oh yeah! You have to pay attention to your audience and how you interact, it's like with your friends and loved on, you pay attention anyways.
Great comment by the way!
Haha love it!
Muy bueno este post
this was a well writing , I like your point of view on cinema , I also love those kind of movies , like Equilibrium, christian bale played it great , and also Lucy which is your first photo . some of movies also came from Japanese and korean stories , as I saw some , like Inception and movies like that ....
Peace :)
Yeah you're right! I wish Japanese and Korean movies get the credit they deserve. Thanks for the awesome comment man!
Haha thank you for the cool edit!
This post was very informative thank you for sharing
you have my upvote
Keep smiling, reading, writing and voting!!!
@mannyfig1956
Thank you!
This post was exceptionally instructive thank you for sharing
Continue grinning, perusing, composing and voting!!! @alirazaamjad
Thank you! You too! :)
I believe every one of us is the one. Only by changing ones mindset, the universe around changes. Stay woke, my friends.
Excellent article!
Thanks man!
@the-alien. I think my problem is that movies, like The Matrix, are more like documentaries, so instead of mind sex, it feels like a bad trip that doesn't end. Life, it is obvious, imitates art. As a huge sci-fi fan, I at times have to de-stress after watching them. They come too close to home. That said. great post. What other movies do you recommend along the lines of The Matrix etc.?
First of all, thanks for the great comment! I think Mulholland Drive by David Lynch is fantastic! Coherence also is a good one.
The Game a 1997 movie with Sean Penn and Micheal Douglas.
Then any Kubrik and some Chris Nolan's movies like The Prestige.
Please followme or upvoteme
Interesting post. Preliminaries are very important in many things whether it be life or entertainment.
Haha yeah! Some stuff you just can't skip :)
Ahhhhh. You have clearly articulated something that's bothered me for years. Of course! That's why The Matrix worked as opposed to Equilibrium.
And when one starts looking at the movies through that lens, it's everywhere. Iron Man
(2008) does the same thing. We see Tony Stark being Tony Stark; the movie tills the soil, lays the groundwork, plants the seeds for close to an hour before we get our first glimpse of armour. Even then, we at first only see the Mark I from the POV of frightened terrorists in dark caves - a Mook Horror Story like they say on TVTropes. That escape sequence is the same principle in miniature.
Terminator 2 as well is one of the rare sequels that matches or even surpasses its originator because it doesn't take the audience for granted. It re-earns our attention with establishing sequences (Sarah Conner in the asylum, John Conner hacking the ATM) before we get the big moment with the flowers and the shotgun.
Then, for a more recent and prolonged example, we of course have the entire first season of Game of Thrones. The preliminaries (i.e. politics and intrigue and sex and skullduggery) are so engrossing we barely even care if the magic shows up; this is precisely why so many other medieval-fantasy TV shows failed.
Thank you for the insight 👍👌
That's an amazing observation, and I always give the Sarah Connor analogy, Terminator is one of the few that never took the audience for granted and laid the groundwork again.
The other sequels have failed especially because of that, like the 2003 one (Terminator 3) with Kristanna Loken or the 2009 one with Christian Bale... They just told people to imagine a world where robots rule the world, and went on with the action..
Great observation on medieval shows btw!
Thanks for the awesome comment!
Very useful, seems to me that this post combines some thoughts I had on this ques
very attractive contents. Love it.
Thank you, I'm glad you like it! :)
In the process of writing, the story matures as it is written over and over, as they say great works are rewritten many times as the levels are revealed over time.
I will be releasing my 25th novel tomorrow and have the same sensations now as I did on the first one, wanting to know if I rewrote it enough.
Great post, my friend
Well, foreplay describes it quite well :
Haha I thought it was a cool allegory :)
never had heard of it, i'll have to keep it in mind, ty
It's a cool one actually :)
Well written article about futuristic realities @the-alien I agree with you and thanks for sharing.
Do you believe in alien life on earth? after watching some videos ...and thinking about the issue, i came to a clonclusion that we can never be alone in the whole galaxies ...interesting isnt it?
You have written a very beautiful article on your films.
In India, I see very little Hollywood movies, not that I do not like.Everyone has their own choice. You have mentioned the matrix film in your article. It was a my mine that I saw about a year ago in the movie theater of Delhi.
I still remember this film well. In the beginning, I got some nonsense but when the film progressed slowly it gave my thoughts to the stream.
In it, the newly created actor seemed to be a superb acting. But I want to give the whole credit to the filmmaker how a person can think so differently.
After seeing this film, I am surprised at some days. Humans and techonology The combination is done very well.
Do not you think now......?
But what will be the outcome.....? It's a matter of thinking.
I am not a scientist. But I would like to speak one thing. Anyone searching should be used for the welfare of the human.
Now the talk of welfare of human beings is coming, it is also mentioned in the article of Viagra.I think Viagra is for those sensual men who may think of sex as their own life. The rest will be used by everyone.
Do not look at me, I am lonely now, maybe I just do not need it. Sir, your article is quite beautiful. You're just like us and give your thoughts .
happy steeming.
It may be basic that any folks experience precisely string review with superb care. i'm already knowledgeable it and notice that it review is admittedly inserting
Please upvoteme or followme please helpme
Great info @the-alien i love the part where you said
So lovely, i cant for next post
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it :)
THE POWER OF THE EXTREMITY MATRIX
GREAT ARTICLE WITH VIRTUAL WORLD OF TECHNOLOGY
You have my respect and upvote @the-alien
I like @dahri
brilliant , follow you
Thank you!
whatever you right
actually that's one really belong to the real life
yeah what people do everyday in their life by thinking too in their brains and your write them in the form of text.
that's really awesome
at the end you add some image sources with help of numbers 123456
this is incredible - how you did that
overall
love your post
keep posting
and i am waiting for your next one
:)
upvoted
OOOOOO YEEEESSSS!!!! I wrote today about something like this, please read. Sci-fi
https://steemit.com/story/@kuku12170/interface
good like @mosabhelal
Thanks!
thanks for share
Thanks for liking it :)
This was awesome to read sir! Good job.
Haha thanks!
Amazing post,i think you are really happy man.
Haha maybe ;)
I loved your article. I watched both movies. It never hit me why Matrix was better than Equilibrium. Christian Bale was great and will always be a class above Keanu. Both have interesting concepts. It all came out on how was the story was told
Maybe that is why the Matrix sequels were not as good as it immediately skipped to the action and fighting parts
Yeah exactly, it's all came out on how the story was told.
In the sequel, the Matrix forgot what they did right the first time, they just wanted people to imagine that Neo can fly, or that with one thought destroy the enemy.
While in the first everything was built up to that point, or even has to practice before fights..etc.
Sci-Fi movies done right are some of the most intriguing pieces of entertainment, I did enjoy the equilibrium and i agree they should have worked more on the build up, but there really wasn't much they could do, unless they wanted to show us a bit of how life was before everything changed.
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STOPThis is so awesome. Love the comparisons.
I'm glad you like it, thank you!
Another interesting post. Thanks for sharing @the-alien.
Thank you!
very,very,nice
Thanks!
very informative nice work @the-alien
Thank you!
your welcome bro
Let's say if it ain't a B movie or A CHEAP action movie you leave with a bag of new mindset of thoughts patterns in your brain and you're a new one! Just simple as that !? And you cwn mindsex with that !! Too much unnecessary buildup in this article ! 😉 Just get to point which is great movies have brilliant preliminaries that not just save in your brain unconsciously but concously attracts you and even you remind yourself of a particular scene! So I agree with you a 💯 percent!
Haha exactly, preparing the terrain for mind expansion ;)