sinéad's lifestream

Epic landscapes have always captured my imagination, emphasis on the imagination. American movies often feature grand scenery, and having grown up on a diet of science fiction and fantasy movies I had always associated these incredible places as unnatural and purely cinematic. The documentary series Fry in America reprogrammed me, in more ways than one. Not only did it give me a broader understanding of the diversity that exisits in America culture, it also showcased the grand natural landscape of the American states, without the Hollywood lense distorting and overemphasising.

Lake Powell and Monument Valley, and the entire state of Utah is a fixation of mine since I watched the documentary series (and I’m already planning my visit in 2010). Scenes from 2001: A Space Odyssey and Back to the Future were filmed here, and of course, many many westerns. The ethereal beauty of these spots, especially Lake Powell, remind me so much of a Martian landscape, the addition of the unnatural water (Lake Powell is a man made lake) bring to mind the science fiction concept of teraforming – taking an inhospitable planet and changing it’s atmosphere to make it more Earth like.

Putting a standard film crew, an English gentlemen and his taxicab into these scenes gave me perspective, and I can now understand why everything in America is so… big. The roads, the buildings, the personalities. Being surrounded by these incredibly huge, monstrous natural creations, it’s only human to attempt to fit into that landscape. I imagine the early European settlers felt quite small and insignificant here. I imagine, I will too.