close your eyes and imagine a perfect
circle
By
Jason Wu
My
philosophy professor told our class one day: “close your eyes…”
My
eyes closed and I sat there staring at a Jackson Pollock-esque black backdrop
strewn with colored dots.
“…
and imagine a perfect circle.”
Somehow,
my mind instinctively spawned a perfect circle.
From
this exercise, I learned that Plato’s view of truth exists on a different
plane, in the non-material world of ideas or forms. But, on a more personal
level, it made me more aware of the power of imagination and the ability to
conceptualize and conjure images from simple conversations, music, and short
stories and novels.
Take
for example the following passage from “Johnny Mnemonic” by William Gibson.
“He
was more than a dolphin, but from another dolphin’s point of view he might have
seemed like something less. I watched him swirling sluggishly in his galvanized
tank… He rose out of the water, showing us the crusted plates along his sides,
a kind of visual pun, his grace nearly lost under articulated armor, clumsy and
prehistoric. Twin deformities on either side of his skull had been engineers to
house sensor units. Silver lesions gleamed on expose sections of his gray-white
hide.”
 |
I
can see a dolphin whose body has been modified by a series of microsurgical
procedures. Like a movie being played, I see him rising out of the water and
like a cinematographer, my mind pans across his galvanized tank casually
zooming onto its altered skull and the array of dusty Christmas lights in the
background. Although Gibson may not have focused heavily on the portrayal of
Jones, the dolphin, I subconsciously strive to visualize, in a certain
subjective manner, details that may empower his writing. I imagine the rugged
warehouse that houses the tank, the superconducting wires tangled across Jones’
torso and the drug-induced
rigidness of Jones’ fins. (On a separate note, I must say that my visualization
of Jones bears minimal resemblance to the more mechanistic Jones from the 1995
film adaptation of “Johnny Mnemonic”.)
When
I’m reading, I subconsciously visualize the descriptions, dialogue, and
narrative. It’s like a two-for-one; a movie and a story all in one package.
Surely, everyone reads a given text differently, and thus visualizes each story
in his or her own perspective. But this inherent difference is what makes
science fiction and fantasy such a perfect blend of imaginary splendor. It is
impossible to singularly define how an author intended to portray a single
sentence, paragraph, or chapter. So, what keeps me reading science fiction and
fantasy is the elation that stems from “filming” a story with my own
imagination.
Although
I enjoy the same visual experience when reading both genres, each genre offers
its own entertaining aspects. Science fiction focuses heavily on abeyance,
withholding information so that the reader can interpret the implications of
the society on individuals. Rather than straying to impossibilities, science
fiction accepts a pervading fear of the not-so-far-fetched unknown. As a
reader, science fiction enables me to “film” the real world, real people, and
scenery, but with a little twist of the story world’s often-pessimistic laws.
Fantasy,
on the contrary, is completely laid out for the reader. From characterization
to plot development, fantasy focuses on the impact individuals have on society
and the world. As fantasy delves into an entirely created world with its own
laws, it often takes time for the reader to comprehend the themes inherent in
the story. But, this unfamiliarity often warrants a nostalgic and comforting
feeling of wonder and a happily-ever-after end. Unlike science fiction, fantasy
allows my mind to capture entirely new creatures, places, and dialogue; fantasy
allows my imagination and film to run freely.
In
“Toward a Definition of Science Fiction”, James Gunn keenly distinguishes
fantasy from science fiction, claiming that “fantasy creates its own
world and its own laws; science fiction accepts the real world and its laws.”
Although the two genres are inherently different, the impracticality of
fantastical events and the logical explanations for science fiction combine to
form a limitless collection of films for my viewing pleasure.
So,
learn to close your eyes, and imagine.
Jason,
ReplyDeleteI'm really interested in your discussion of how naturally cinematic the imagination is. I suppose this is because I agree with that assessment -- it's one of the reasons I discourage students from watching film adaptations before they read a work. It's just too easy for the visually-wired, hunter-gatherer brain to have its imagination short-circuited by some other visual conception of a story or character.
Best,
TT