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Actors/Heroes

Last night, Becky and I turned on TBS to watch Galaxy Quest, a fabulous parody of the science fiction genre. We’ve seen it before, but the last time I watched I simply wasn’t in tune to the movie as much as I was last night. So now I have a few observations that I’d like to share. First, Galaxy Quest has quite a varied assortment of actors. There are some bigger names, like Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, and Tony Shalhoub. In addition, there are some smaller name actors who we recognized from their television roles, such as Enrico Colantoni (Elliot of “Just Shoot Me”), Daryl Mitchell (”Ed”’s Eli Goggins), Justin Long (”Ed”’s Warren Cheswick), and Patrick Breen (”Kevin Hill”’s George).

Beyond being a hilarious parody of science fiction fans and the genre they love (I am no exception), Galaxy Quest is also one of an apparent sub-genre of movies which, for lack of a better term, I’ll call “Actors/Heroes”. Other movies in this genre, which Becky and I also enjoy, include A Bug’s Life and ¡Three Amigos!. The genre’s typical plot centers around three groups of people: The Oppressed, The Actors/Heroes, and The Oppressors. In this plot, The Oppressed seek relief from the cruelty of The Oppressors. They find it in the form of the Actors, who, in their acting careers, portray Heroic characters. The Oppressed make contact with the Actors, thinking them to be real-life Heroes, entirely oblivious of the fiction. The Actors, at first duped into thinking they are being recruited for an acting job, go along with the Oppressed’s requests. Eventually, however, they learn that The Oppressors are quite real. Though at first they try to escape responsibility, The Actors assume the role of real-life Heroes to The Oppressed, and succeed in defeating The Oppressors.

In Galaxy Quest, we have Tim Allen and the cast of the show Galaxy Quest as The Actors, the alien race of Thermians as The Oppressed, and General Sarris’s bug-like race as The Oppressors. In ¡Three Amigos!, we have Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Chevy Chase as the Three Amigos, the villagers of Santa Poco as The Oppressed, and “El Guapo” and his men as The Oppressors. Finally, in A Bug’s Life, we have the ant colony as The Oppressed, the circus bug troupe as The Actors, and the grasshoppers, led by Hopper, as The Oppressors.

Incidentally, did anyone notice the distinct similarity between the lead Oppressors in Galaxy Quest and A Bug’s Life? Big, green, angry, insectoid guys with one bad eye? Also, we were trying to think of other movies that fit into this sub-genre, but couldn’t think of any off the top of our heads. Any other ideas?