The Core

Several years ago, on the heels of a very strong suggestion by a college professor, I submitted a novel-length manuscript to a literary agent for possible representation.

The reasons for why I did this are thus: The agent in question was known to the professor and professor was of the opinion I had real writing talent which he--undeniably--wanted to claim he 'discovered'.

The response time on my submission, I was told, would be no more than two weeks either way.

Twenty-two months later I was told my manuscript was 'unpublishable', owing much, I was told, to my myopic world view.

In plain English: My manuscript was Politically Incorrect, and, due to the increasing timidness in the publishing industry, my effort was all but dead.

Now I know you may be wondering why I mention this particular blotch on my life record. Because it acts as prelude, because it goes to explain one or two curiosities in the publishing industry as well as the film and movie industry, and because it allows one to understand why the Hollywood Machine does not make good films and movies.

I have said it before, but it bears oft-repeating: The Hollywood Machine does not make good films and movies because it does not want to. It does not want to make good films and movies because no one actually expects it.

Which, long-way-around, goes to explain the sheer existence of a movie the likes of "The Core".

Watch this movie (if you are determined to do so despite well-intended warnings otherwise), and realize, as your rage over paying hard coin for admission fades, that there is no point whatsover for it to have been made.

Of course this begs a question: Why, then, was it made?

Because the Hollywood Machine does not make good films and movies. And we all know why that is.

Superficially "The Core" is a sci-fi b-flick, a certain nod to the dreck cobbled up in the late 1950s; fare frequently relegated to the drive-in for a double bill. Nothing wrong with that, really. Unless one considers that most of the fare made in the 1950s was not Politically Correct. Which "The Core" is. And because it is, well, back to that ever-present question: Why was this movie made?

Now I could ask this particular question again and again but there is no point, for there is no answer beyond the obvious one. So instead of driving everyone crazy with such antics let me, instead, wander into what passes for a story herein: The Earth's core has stopped spinning, and because it has in less than a year the Earth will lose its electromagnetic shield (The what? Oh, never mind. Science fact has no place in such science fiction as this). Of course, if this happens we all get a really ugly sunburn, the oceans dry up, and no amount of skin saver will do much good.

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