Stranger in a Strange Land Television Series

Al99

Well-known member
Stranger in a Strange Land Television Series - coming to SyFy.

This news broke back in November - before polyamory became a significant word for me to know - so many of you may have seen this already. However, I didn't see a post for it, so I thought I would add it for those who may not have heard. I know that there a number of Heinlein fans on the Forum, and "Stranger" was certainly one of his more important books concerning alternative marriage styles. Al



https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinm...production-for-the-syfy-channel/#33f1898449d0
 
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I'd be interested. Has anyone seen it yet?
 
Has anyone seen it yet?

Still in production - haven't seen a start date - but hopefully not too much longer.
 
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Squeeeee! I love Heinlein!

They better not fuck it up. But SyFy is usually pretty good...
 
too long;didn't listen? The gist of it is that Stranger in a Strange Land is laughably awful, Heinlein is a crypto-fascist misogynist pig engaged in adolescent wish-fulfillment, and the relationships portrayed in the novel are exploitative, demeaning or just plain creepy.

Followed the link - saw the summary - and blew it off. Some random blogger
presuming to be qualified to judge Heinlein, almost universally regarded among the greatest SF authors of the last century - and the greatest by a great many.

They better not fuck it up. But SyFy is usually pretty good...

I guessing that all of us serious Heinlein fans - and especially "Stranger" fans (put me somewhere near the top of that group) - are hoping just that - that they don't screw it up too bad.

But actually, SyFy has done a pretty good job with their adaptations of classic SF - notably both "Dune" and "Childhood's End" (which was reset in modern day - but still managed to maintain most of the key elements).

Al
 
Followed the link - saw the summary - and blew it off. Some random blogger
presuming to be qualified to judge Heinlein, almost universally regarded among the greatest SF authors of the last century - and the greatest by a great many.

One does not need a special qualification to conclude that Heinlein is a misogynist pig and a world-class creep.

I mean look seriously and objectively at the character, Jubal Harshaw, who is evidently Heinlein's avatar within the book. Would you take him as your model of how to practice polyamory?

Does it not strike you as troubling that the allegedly polyamorous relationships in the book only work to the extent that women are submissive and end up pregnant?
 
One does not need a special qualification to conclude that Heinlein is a misogynist pig and a world-class creep.

No, everyone is entitled to their opinion. I will be offline the next few days and so do not have time to really get into this subject - except to say I would not be the only one to say that although you and others have come to similar conclusions, there are others (including myself) who are completely familiar with his published works, fiction and nonfiction, who would say that these views are superficial and incomplete - and, in large part, factually inaccurate - especially in the context of his complete body of work and with an understanding of his very pragmatic and libertarian philosophies.

Others may have thoughts, and if the conversation continues, I may be able to join in within a few days.

Best of All Worlds! :)

Al
 
No, everyone is entitled to their opinion. I will be offline the next few days and so do not have time to really get into this subject - except to say I would not be the only one to say that although you and others have come to similar conclusions, there are others (including myself) who are completely familiar with his published works, fiction and nonfiction, who would say that these views are superficial and incomplete - and, in large part, factually inaccurate - especially in the context of his complete body of work and with an understanding of his very pragmatic and libertarian philosophies.

Sure, retreat to relativism in the absence of evidence or compelling argument.

As it happens, I've read a lot of Heinlein, from Red Planet to "The Roads Must Roll" to To Sail Beyond the Sunset.

I will grant that Heinlein's early work is compelling and important as a contribution to science fiction. His "Future History" stories are really cool, and I have fond memories of devouring his "juvenile" fiction.

But something happened to Stranger in a Strange Land between the time he wrote the first half of the book (a somewhat compelling premise in line with his earlier work) and the time he wrote the second half of the book (a bizarre act of wallowing in self-indulgent wish-fulfillment fantasy and pseudo-philosophy).

Unfortunately, he seems to have spent the rest of his career spinning out more self-indulgent fantasy, up to and including "arguments" for the benefits of incest, and the advantages of time travel in facilitating said incest.

But step back to Stranger. It's fairly clear, as I noted, that Heinlein identifies with Jubal Harshaw, who becomes the mouthpiece for Heinlein's "philosophy." All he has to offer, though, is a bizarre and regressive variant of libertarianism that falls just short of Rand-level sociopathy, combined with the most conventional patriarchy imaginable.

(And before you ask, yes, I read nearly everything Ayn Rand wrote, back in the day, and tried really hard to believe it and defend it for about two years. I grew out of it, though, and am feeling much better now, thanks. I suspect Heinlein's "philosophy" is a lot like Rand's, in that it's the sort of thing you're supposed grow out of.)

Harshaw himself is constant in his objectification and subjugation of women. They exist for him only as pretty objects for him to ogle and to use, and the more of them the better. He is the very embodiment of the male gaze and male privilege.

Heinlein's regressive thinking doesn't stop there. Far from it! Why, at one point, one of the women in the book argues that, if she's sexually assaulted, she must have brought it on herself!

To turn to this book as a model for polyamory, a model of how human relationships should be, is simply bizarre.

Oh, and in response to your claim that Heinlein is "universally" regarded as a genius whose every scribbling is a towering monument of literary merit, I need simply cite an example of informed dissent from that view: http://www.sfreviews.net/grok.html. (tl;dr? Here's a quotation: "It turns out the haters are, by and large, right. This is crap.")
 
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