Shady Places

I am going to mix things up this week and not recommend a book. Not directly anyway. No instead of dissecting a classic novel I am going to recommend the Hollywood adaptation of the book John Carter – A Princess of Mars.

The book is worth a read or listen as an imaginative piece of early 20th Century science fiction set in the US west in the 19th. The plot follows the protagonist, John Carter, and his unexpected teleportation to Mars. While there John gets involved in the politics of the planet and, because of his super human strength relative to the low gravity evolved Martians, saves the day.

Other than the creation of entirely new cultures and races, the one lasting element of Edgar Rice Barroughs story that had me most excited was his insistence that everyone on Mars was always naked. As an author of erotica you can imagine where my mind went on reading this. Imagine a society where everyone was naked, all the time, and what effect it would have on relationships and dating etc.

That that aspect of the novel is not in the Disney version was to be expected but what they did give us as compensation was Lynn Collins in the role of the titular “Princess of Mars”. Maybe it is just a time in my life or maybe it was her wardrobe or body paint but Lynn Collins in that role, thusly dressed, is the personification of female power and beauty.

But even more than that, John Carter is a rip roaring adventure with a great plot, interesting characters, and exciting and innovative action. It was meant to be a series but bombed due to bad marketing. But if only they had decided to stick with the source material and make everyone naked the whole film things may have been different. Watch it today and decide for yourself.

Oh, and there was also some dude in it. Apparently.