10. My Neighbor Totoro
"Next stop, little sister!"
This is one of the first films I can ever remember watching that I can still point to as a legitimately great movie more than a decade after I first saw it. It was one of those VHS tapes that was just on repeat for a couple of weeks, which seems to be the preferred method of movie-watching for most people below the age of five. Re-watching it again a couple years ago was like seeing an old friend again and finding out that they were exactly as cool as you remember them from last time you met. A serene, charming peek into the life of two young girls struggling with life in a new home away from their ailing mother that serves not just as a fantasy for children but a reminder of what it's like to be a kid in the first place. There's a very good reason Hayao Miyazaki is considered the American Walt Disney, and it's not just because his films are animated.
9. The Dark Tower
"The man in black fled across the desert,
and the gunslinger followed."
I read all 7 books of the Dark Tower cycle over the course of my freshman and sophomore years in high school. Part of this was driven by curiosity over such an ambitious work, one that Stephen King himself considers more like a novel spanning a thousand pages rather than numerous separate stories. The other part was fascination with the idea that an author who cranked out as many stories as King did could try and construct a universe that would encompass all of them in some fashion or another. As I worked through the books, however, what kept me coming back was the way he tried to blend such disparate genres as the western, horror, romance, political drama, and more, producing an unforgettable world that took my preconceived notions of what "fantasy" was and shot them full of holes. The Dark Tower showed me that there's no reason to let yourself become pigeon-holed into one type of story or one genre in particular. If you believe in the vision, no matter how crazy, pursue it to the ends of the world.
8. Fullmetal Alchemist
"Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's First Law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only, truth."
This was the only anime series I actually followed semi-religiously. Part of this was thanks to the fact that it aired on Adult Swim, which made it relatively easy to find time to watch. The other reason was because it appealed to me in a way other shows didn't. I didn't watch a whole lot of anime, but this was a show that caught my gaze and held it. Maybe it was the setting, set on an alternate history Earth in a country modeled off of World War I era Germany where alchemy is widely practiced and regulated by the state. Maybe it was the memorable characters or the political drama that occurred alongside the standard battle sequences. If anything, the show was a prime example of how to break the mold: it took some of the staples of anime and used them in exciting, novel ways to create a unique and entertaining experience.
7. Aqua Teen Hunger Force
"Some would say the Earth is our moon.
But that would belittle the name of the moon, which is the real moon."
My sense of humor is probably one of the weirdest things about me. I frequently find hilarious things that most other people would find just too weird to consider. Aqua Teen Hunger Force was there to remind me that I was not the only one. It's pretty much Dada: The Cartoon. Characters frequently die at the ends of episodes and then just show up again next time like it's no big deal. Some episodes have no plot whatsoever. Most things characters throw to the ground explode for no reason at all. One of the recurring characters is The Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future. Explaining anymore kind of defeats the purpose of the show. Long story short, this show is drugs and amazing, and was super influential in shaping my comic sensibilities, for better or worse.
6. Star Wars (Episodes IV, V and VI)
"The Force will be with you. Always."
Star Wars as a whole has a very troubled legacy. The franchise has become synonymous with merchandising, and the body of work surrounding the movies ranges from comic books to video games to novels to action figures, all of which also range from great to good to godawful. And of course the prequels, but the less said about those the better. Amidst all of this it's easy to lose sight of why all this ancillary stuff was made in the first place. The original trilogy was amazing. The evocative nature of the mythical story it presented took place in a world familiar enough in its fantastic trappings but still genuinely new. Like with Totoro, I fell in love with it at a very young age, and upon seeing it again years later found that love wasn't misplaced at all. If I really have to explain why this is, you haven't seen the movies, which should be remedied immediately. As for the new ones they're making, I don't have any particularly strong feelings, so let's just go with "cautiously optimistic".
5. DMZ
"The only way was forward. Into the belly of the beast.
But my path was not with these men. It never was."
Matty Roth is a photojournalist in his early twenties whose cushy summer internship becomes something very different when he finds himself stranded in Manhattan, the no-man's-land that has become the one physical battleline between what's left of the American government and the Free States of America, who've taken over pretty much the rest of the country. The alternate history this comic presents of a second American civil war should be regarded as a manual for how to write about war in the 21st century. While it might seem like a stretch to say what's happening in Iraq could happen here, the comic brings it home by showing that in any conflict, the "enemy" is never just a group of evil terrorists who want little more than to wreak havoc. 99% of the time, it's scared people made stupid by fear and oppression, who just want to be able to eat, sleep, and protect their community without getting bombed into oblivion. In every war, there are three sides: the two who started fighting, and the people who never wanted to in the first place.
4. Transmetropolitan
"Journalism is just a gun. It's only got one
bullet in it, but if you aim right, that's all
you need. Aim it right, and you can blow
a kneecap off the world."
When I stumbled across the first issue of this comic, it was a revelation. Part of that was because it was the first comic like this I'd ever read, one that wasn't part of a years-long superhero franchise but rather a long form story that was focused first and foremost on just that: telling a compelling story. Most of it, though, was because it's such a damn great comic. The revelation in question was a vision of a future with fantastic technology and wonders beyond our wildest dreams where the people haven't changed a bit, because people will always be people. We live in a world where you can walk around with a device that can access all of the information known to man and most of us opt instead to use it for taking pictures of cats and arguing about trivial crap with other people. Warren Ellis understands this principle quite clearly, and the result is a world that feels intensely believable despite it also being one where powdered Welsh children can be bought at the supermarket. On top of all that, it has pretty much the best main character ever, who proves that it's fine to be a bastard so long as you've got a point to it.
3. Children of Men
"Last one to die, please turn out the light."
I've already talked a lot about this film, so I'll keep this relatively brief. Basically, everything I talk about in that post, about the way the movie accomplishes such a nuanced portrayal of our relation to technology and the world we live in without ever uttering a single word directly about that subject, is to me exactly the sort of thing I'd like to do in science fiction. Sci fi can be great for examining the human condition through fantastical settings and scenarios, but as soon as it starts getting preachy at all the effect is lost *coughAVATARcough*. Connecting those scenarios to a human story populated by people who act believably, however, can allow that sort of film or story to have a message without feeling the need to beat the audience about the head with it. For amazing cinematography and a harrowing, unique story, Children of Men makes my list.
2. Brazil
"Where would we be if we didn't follow the correct procedure?"
My roommate is a huge fan of Terry Gilliam, and as it turns out, so was I. I just didn't know it yet. I first saw this movie, then devoured most of the other movies in the director's ouvre, and while I liked them all for various reasons, none of them matched up to Brazil. A better 1984 story than the actual 1984, it used black comedy to paint a picture of a world where dystopia exists not because of some evil cabal consciously enforcing it. Human virtue can't be mercilessly stamped out, but it can certainly be commoditized, and an evil regime can be founded entirely on a bunch of people sincerely trying their best to do what they think is right. Add to that the way the effects manage to amplify the surreal atmosphere throughout and the result is a dream-like story about a dreamer who doesn't want to wake up.
1. Discworld by Terry Pratchett
"Stories are important. People think that stories are shaped
by people. In fact, it's the other way round."
What I said about sci-fi above for Children of Men and fantasy for the Dark Tower applies here times a million. I picked up the first book in this series on a whim, figuring it would basically just be comedy stories with fantasy archetypes thrown in and skewered, good for a laugh. I was in for quite a surprise. While the books are very comedic, they're actually more like straight up fantasy, and the parodic elements are usually there to subvert tropes, not just make fun of them. The result is a wide range of stories, about everything from watchmen to witches, all of them dealing with actual issues that prompt the reader to think and consider the world in ways they probably didn't before. When I think about what I want to do with my writing, that's always part of it. I want to write things that can make people thoughtful, and Sir Pratchett was there very early on to show me how to do that without sacrificing entertainment or genre. By carefully examining one of the most rote and cliched settings out there, he's managed to craft a wholly original world that has managed to be bigger than merely the sum of its parts.
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