MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS AND MOVIES, AND WHY
POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Sunday, May 3, 2026 17:28
VIEWED: 4878
PAGE 2 of 4
Sarah and I watched the movie of Animal Farm in middle school, we went into it not knowing what to expect and finished it really scared, didn't want to turn out the lights that night when we got in bed. Its a great thing, book or movie, to experience at that age and get to thinking about.
I assume you're my pal until you let me know otherwise.
"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya.
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Actually the stand-put piece for Orwells work for me is: Homage to Catalonia.
Also noteworthy.
The Wave, by Todd Strasser under the pen name Morton Rhue.
The 1981 Movie is also well worth watching.
It Can't Happen Here, by Sinclair Lewis.
Catch-22, by Joseph Heller.
More later, maybe - busy day today.
-F
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by RionaEire:
Sarah and I watched the movie of Animal Farm in middle school, we went into it not knowing what to expect and finished it really scared, didn't want to turn out the lights that night when we got in bed. Its a great thing, book or movie, to experience at that age and get to thinking about.
I assume you're my pal until you let me know otherwise.
"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya.
I didn't even know there was an Animal Farm movie. I'm sure if it did the book any justice at all that it would be terrifying for a 7-8th grader.
Actually, even though I like Lenard Nemois, I HATE the fact that I watched the "Brave New World" movie. Don't get me wrong, it was done very well I thought, although the end was changed in "Hollywood Fashion", which to me negates the entire effort. The thing that I hate about watching a movie is that you're watching a heavily edited version of somebody elses vision of the book, leaving you as just a spectator.
If you haven't yet, I STRONGLY recommend reading the book all these years later. No matter how good the movie was, no movie can ever compare to the book because when you read an excellent story like this, from the very first page you're essentially entering into a partnership with the author until the very last page. Not only do you benefit greatly from reading word for word exactly the picture that the author originally imagined unedited, but you also read it differently than any other person would and your own imagination based off of your temperament and past experiences is the "wildcard" Character in the story that is probably more important than any of the characters the author wrote about.
Aside from the very rare instance of those "night terror" dreams I might have once every 2 or 3 years or so, it's been a long time since I've needed a night light. By the time I finally read Animal Farm, it scared me to the core in a way that no laughable slasher flick that even Ron Zombie could make would do.....
He was able to make these animal characters more human than most humans I've ever known, and while you'll find yourself rooting for the good guys, you'll find that Orwell (even though I believe he was one of the good guys) had a capacity inside him for evil that Hitler or Stalin would have envied. It's a good thing for us he just wrote what PN calls "Presidential Manuals", instead of living out the fantasy.
There is no way that you could express that evil so eloquently in written word unless there was a capacity inside of you to exercise it someday.
Seriously Riona, even if you read as slow as I do and it takes you a few weeks of light reading before you go to bed, put this one on your list.
Quote:
Originally posted by FREMDFIRMA:
Actually the stand-put piece for Orwells work for me is: Homage to Catalonia.
Also noteworthy.
The Wave, by Todd Strasser under the pen name Morton Rhue.
The 1981 Movie is also well worth watching.
It Can't Happen Here, by Sinclair Lewis.
Catch-22, by Joseph Heller.
More later, maybe - busy day today.
-F
A "stand out" piece from Orwell that could even attempt to match the profound effect of reading 1984 or Animal Farm.......
Even knowing that you're the type to shun conventional wisdom (takes one to know one), I'd have to say that you're probably the only person in my life still alive who'd I'd even take such a claim seriously.
I've honestly never heard of it.
I'd like to hear more about it from you, rather than look it up on Amazon.com and get the publisher's description.
How on earth did you find it to be more moving than 1984 or Animal Farm?
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by CaveTroll:
Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Excellent TEOTWAWKI novel before the genre had been named.
"You can fly. But we control the lightning."
Lucifer's Hammer had a huge impact on me as a child.
I've got Ender's Game in my Amazon queue at the moment, probably next in line for my reading list.
The Lathe of Heaven, by Ursula K. LeGuin made a big impact on me. The idea of, what if you could change things. REALLY change things? And the idea of unintended consequences of those changes.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? So much to wrap your head around in this one. What is life? What am I? How do I know?
Movies:
2001: A Space Odyssey. Obviously this was a life-changer, since I was about 6 years old when I saw it in the theater. Made an enormous impact, even though I didn't really "get it" until later.
A Man For All Seasons. It's not WHAT Sir Thomas More believed that impressed me about this movie, it's THAT he believed it, so much that he was willing to die rather than recant his belief. And the dialog and wordplay in this version are just spectacular.
Blade Runner. I actually like the movie better than the book it's adapted from. Yes, blasphemy, I know. I don't care.
Other books and movies too numerous to mention.
1984, Brave New World, Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451... All great reads. As a kid, I got hooked on sci-fi by two books: Star Rangers by Andre Norton and Orphans of the Sky by Heinlein.
"I supported Bush in 2000 and 2004 and intellegence [sic] had very little to do with that decision." - Hero
"I've not watched the video either, or am incapable of intellectually dealing with the substance of this thread, so I'll instead act like a juvenile and claim victory..." - Rappy
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Wow... Kwick....
You were actually able to sit through 2001.... and enjoy it on top of it?????
I didn't see that movie until my Film class in college, but it was agonizing for me to sit through. Even my teacher said he hated the movie, but it HAD to be taught in the class.
Quote:
"Will someone tell me what in the hell this is about?"
Rock Hudson as he walked out of the premiere before the film ended. Imdb.com
http://voices.yahoo.com/2001-space-odyssey-movie-changed-movies-133052
7.html?cat=40
We'll definatiley not ever peg you in the potentially ADD crowd Kwick.
I understand the merits of 2001, and realize fully that it was a pioneer movie, and that MANY not-so-good-to-great movies need to thank Kuberick and Clark for their vision today, it was hands down the most slow-paced and boring movie I've ever watched. That's also saying a lot, since we watched Citizen Kane (Considered to be the BEST MOVIE EVER MADE in the snob circles) in that class, which I found to be as equally painful to sit through, but at least it didn't pretend to be Sci-Fi.
I'm not, for a second attacking your choice to put this so high up on your list. I'd never attack a persons personal tastes in music, movies or books. I just don't understand it, and furthermore, I even admire it.
Good for you man.... you probably thought Citizen Kane was excellent as well. I just can't wrap my head around either of them... not because I'm not intelligent enough to, but because they both lost me at "Hello".....
The only interesting, and very weird thing that I can add to this, is that when I was a kid, I was inexcusably terrified of that main orchestra song from 2001 and my 2 year younger brother was only 3 and he loved it. They played that song everywhere from the radio to Sesemie Street in the way early 80's. I remember getting in trouble one day when running to the TV and turning it off before the "Duh-Duh!!!!!!! BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG BONG!!!!!!! part....
LOL.... maybe I just hate the movie because I had to relive that experience and hadn't heard that song in 20 years. Listening to it again today makes my skin crawl.....
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
A "stand out" piece from Orwell that could even attempt to match the profound effect of reading 1984 or Animal Farm.......
Even knowing that you're the type to shun conventional wisdom (takes one to know one), I'd have to say that you're probably the only person in my life still alive who'd I'd even take such a claim seriously.
I've honestly never heard of it.
I'd like to hear more about it from you, rather than look it up on Amazon.com and get the publisher's description.
How on earth did you find it to be more moving than 1984 or Animal Farm?
Well Jack - the REASON it stands out is that Orwell was actually THERE, during the Spanish Civil War, when the alliance shattered and the Communists and Socialists, who were originally down for "freedom" with the Anarchists, showed their true colors and jumped on board with the Fascists...
Cause all of them bastards really want Government, and the only real argument between THEM wasn't over gettin in the car, it was over who got to drive - and when they realized the Anarchists really meant that shit, EVERYONE turned on them.
This is, mind you, why Anarchists despise Socialists and Communists - up till then they'd been staunch allies, but obviously Anarchists are a threat to anyone who wants Government.
Also, America supported Franco, wholeheartedly, throughout his entire reign well into the 70's.
Hell, America was and still is extremely pro-Fascist, they just don't ADMIT it.
http://www.rationalrevolution.net/war/american_supporters_of_the_europ
.htm
That said, SOME americans did *not* support Franco, and snuck over there to form the "Abraham Lincoln Brigade"(1) and fought for the Anarchists.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln_Brigade
(1) This demonstrates a shocking ignorance of history cause Lincoln and Franco would have got on REAL good!
Of course, Anarchists being Anarchists, and foolishly trying to wage a conventional war on up to five fronts at once without any organization, it was kind of a foregone conclusion.
IMHO - the biggest mistake they made was trying to play the game by the enemies rules, it killed them, in the end, and crippled them from the beginning.
But see, again, Orwell was *THERE*, present and in person, at pointblank range and he saw with his own eyes the "true colors" of those involved.
And thus he wrote Homage to Catalonia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homage_to_Catalonia
It was his experiences there, I think, which solidly influenced all his future works and the basis on which they were written, essentially this being the "root" of all his other work, but that's just my opinion.
Here's some more on that for you - folks like to dispute my words in regards to how Anarchists actually fight when forced to, thinking they meekly knuckle under like everyone else - they don't.
I *seriously* encourage you to read this bit, if no other.
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/scw/anarchist.htm
Oh yes, and Movies - Demolition Man.
Cause I swear that damn flick looks more prescient every day.
-F
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Sat through it more than once, Jack. More than several times, in fact. Bought it on VHS, then DVD, then Blu-Ray, too.
If you really need it explained to you, the sequel, 2010 does a passable job of dumbing it down quite a bit for mass consumption. Clarke's short story "The Sentinel" does a far better job, though, as it was the jumping-off point for the movie.
2001 set the stage for pretty much every space movie that followed, including Star Wars, in its look and modeling, but 2001 is one of the very rare few to pay attention to the "space" part of things, where explosions are silent...
Citizen Kane actually is a pretty awesome movie, if for no other reason than just the movie-making aspects of it. Watch it again sometime, and look at the innovations it brought - long tracking shots, up buildings and through windows - things that are commonplace now, but considered all but impossible at the time the movie was made. Orson Welles was the James Cameron of his time in a lot of ways - when others said something couldn't be done, he just invented new ways of doing it and carried on...
"I supported Bush in 2000 and 2004 and intellegence [sic] had very little to do with that decision." - Hero
"I've not watched the video either, or am incapable of intellectually dealing with the substance of this thread, so I'll instead act like a juvenile and claim victory..." - Rappy
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Jack: Unfortunately, video games appear to be becoming the thought control bread and circuses new time sink for everyone.
/hypocrite who plays video games.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by BYTEMITE:
Jack: Unfortunately, video games appear to be becoming the thought control bread and circuses new time sink for everyone.
/hypocrite who plays video games.
I have a hard time getting into video games. At the moment, there's only one I play with any regularity: Gran Turismo 5. I just haven't seen any others that would be enticing enough for me to go out and buy either a console or a dedicated PC to play them on.
"I supported Bush in 2000 and 2004 and intellegence [sic] had very little to do with that decision." - Hero
"I've not watched the video either, or am incapable of intellectually dealing with the substance of this thread, so I'll instead act like a juvenile and claim victory..." - Rappy
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Hmm, you're fortunate. I'd rather not play games, but for some reason people I know want me to, and then once I get started the competitive perfectionist 100% completion parts of my personality kick in.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME