Huh?

Though loath to admit it, I have come to accept the fact that much modern poetry escapes my grasp. I also know penetrating "Finnegan's Wake" is not in my future. Even when forced to skim the more difficult sections of essays by Christopher Hitchens or David Foster Wallace, I remind myself that occasionally being out of my depth is good for me.

But being confused by a science fiction movie is deeply frustrating. Isn't this genre supposed to be mass entertainment? I'm not a modern poet, literary scholar or intellectual. But I'm fairly certain I am part of the "mass" that Hollywood is aiming to entertain with science fiction. Hell, I don't even care if a movie doesn't entertain, per se; I actually enjoyed "The Master" because I knew going in, based on the reviews, that movie wasn't supposed to necessarily add up. P.S. It also wasn't science fiction.

But in their own way, science fiction movies are supposed to at least add up, right? I'm ready to suspend my disbelief when that alien jumps out of a chest because I understand how it got there. I can throw logic out when HAL takes over or Richard Dreyfuss starts building a mud dome in his living room because later in those movies I don't feel dense.

Rocket scientists need not respond to offer any explanations for my current dilemma. Anyone else who saw "Prometheus", please do so discreetly. I'm feeling a bit insecure.