Friday, April 8, 2011

A-to-Z of Adventure: "G" Is for "Gandahar"


The hell with Japanime; give me "Franime." I prefer Metàl Hurlant to manga, Moebius to Mizuno, and Gandahar to Gundam.



René Laloux's Gandahar (a.k.a. The Light Years) is an animated science-fantasy classic based on a novel by Jean-Pierre Andrevon. The movie takes its name from the Utopian realm in which the film is set. Laloux's worlds have been called "reminiscent of a dreamy and more benign Hieronymus Bosch."



The world of Gandahar is a progressive paradise. Sexism has been eradicated as evidenced by the realm's governance by a queen and her Council of Women. No one goes hungry thanks to a harmonious farming system that involves tilling the soil with strange livestock and harvesting red fruit from blue trees by beautiful demihuman women. "Lucy in The Sky with Diamonds," anyone?



However, when our hero Sylvain heads out on his quest to bring a halt to the incursions of robot invaders, we find that his culture may have more in common with Pol Pot than Paul McCartney.



h/t Electric Sheep and. The Sword.
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