I skipped another major studio picture (Harold & Kumar 2)this evening to see something I've been looking forward to for some time, a biographical film about Harlan Ellison. I have not anticipated Dreams With Sharp Teeth for the same reason many others would, since I have never knowingly read any of his fiction, and have only seen The City on the Edge of Forever once all the way through, at last December's Butt Numb a Thon 9. There are those who would say that my Geek Card should be revoked on a charge of Lack of Sci-Fi Credibility. There are holes in everyone's lists of things to watch, as well as listen to and especially read (these days).
The above admitted deficiency does not extend to any sort of ignorance regarding who Mr. Ellison is in a general sense, nor how important he has been to Speculative Fiction as both a medium and his movement to keep people both reading and writing it.
All writers have blinks of hesitation before starting in on a piece of work. In agreement with a belief Harlan has held for a very long time, I know writing is fundamentally a job that involves hard work like any other. To write well, the process and ethic driving it must reflect it as just as worthwhile an "honest living" as setting girders into place or working on an assembly line. My personal experience is that it is a fear-driven enterprise where the more you do, the easier the going gets progressively, but you still find yourself doubting your capabilities, hence the concept of writer's block. I had only two true fears going in to writing this piece: 1) would the result meet the lofty expectations of seasoned writers like Harlan, and 2) I find myself fearing the approval of someone else. The second scares the hell out of me. When you start caring, you start writing to appease someone, and then it all goes downhill.
This portrait of the man/myth/monster (depending on perspective) that is Harlan Ellison is equal parts touching and sardonically hilarious. Every year at SXSW, I seem to find a "bio-doc" that I love very much, and this is probably it, plain and simple, just two days into the festival.
I enjoyed the excerpts of Harlan's writing (narrated by Ellison himself) interspersed throughout, and though not intended as advertisement for his work, I found myself urged more than ever to find every volume of his work I could and infuriate my wife with more books sitting on the shelf and taking up space I wasn't reading all at once.
One of the things that endears me to Harlan so much is that as pugnacious and confrontational as his reputation may paint him in your mind, he really has all the best of intentions. One of my favorite moments in Dreams With Sharp Teeth occurs when Harlan adamantly resolves that people do not have a right to just any opinion, but specifically to an informed opinion.
Hope that this movie arrives in some form where you reading this can see this truly fascinating portrait of one of the last passionate activist writers I believe we have left. Unlike most of the "giants" of the craft, it feels like he isn't just homogenizing themes, stories, or himself, and he never will.