Has anybody else noticed how it has suddenly become terribly unfashionable to have an imagination?

It used to be a real point of pride among the terminally smug that they never enjoyed movies nearly as much as the books they were based on -

“because the books allow you to use your own imagination.”

If you were to read books like “To Kill a Mockingbird”, you’d discover the subtle joys of learning to walk a little in someone else’s shoes. You’d see how much both you and that other person might grow as a result, and how much richer the world might appear - not necessarily nicer, or easier, but undoubtedly a richer place for hearts and imaginations to roam.

The sequence at the end, where Scout discovers the strange, lost soul of Boo Radley, remains one of my favourite pieces of understated storytelling.

Where did that all go?

Sure, there are zombie-wasters and vampire-slayers aplenty in fiction. There are girls who can leap across tall buildings and scour the cosmic wastes for new worlds, pilot starfighters and face off alien invaders. Heck, we even have heroines who can mend themselves after being burned to a crisp. That kind of imagination is cool, and we get oodles of extra portions with each new movie, each new TV series - but remember that these are just stories. Watch them, enjoy them, but try to remember your place in the Universe when the real world floods back in.

Just lately, it seems to have become almost offensive to suggest we might be able to imagine ourselves in any clothes but the ones we were wearing… in any skin other than the one we were born with.

How dare we assume we could walk in another person’s shoes, or see through any eyes other than the ones our limited little life-experience would allow us?

I always used to baulk slightly when people described something as being “beyond imagination”. It always seemed, at least to me, to miss the point of actually having an imagination.

But just lately, such phrases appear to have become somewhat ubiquitous. We are told on a fairly regular basis about situations which most of us, apparently, “cannot even begin to imagine.” We are reminded that certain attitudes have been “hard wired” into us, and we are lectured about the fragility of our world view.

To lose all sense of meaning, we need simply to step beyond the comfort zone of our dominant cultural ideology - yes, that’s right, we don’t even have to leave the planet, let alone the star system.

Maybe it really is arrogant of us to defy the prevailing wisdom, to take the Atticus Finch route and show some faith in our ability to empathise with those souls who walk the other side of the street.

But what else is there?

Our world only becomes precious when we see beyond it, when we take it out of the test tube and spend some time with its textures - the way Jane Eyre would have done, when a woman’s heroism was defined by her ability to reach beyond herself, and the walls that others built around her.

Perhaps there’s a panel of experts disproving this even as I speak, calibrating the limits of our imagination to the nearest decimal point so that we can slip back safely into mediocrity, secure in the knowledge that those pesky spiritual aspirations were wrong all along, and our souls really are this small.

Resist them. The moment you let anybody other than yourself define the limits of your imagination, you will have lost the world in the test tube. You will have let small voices into your soul, where they have no right to be.

John is the writer behind Matterings where he writes about stuff.

Hermione Granger is a political activist. She is the girl that has her homework done on Friday night, when it is really due in two weeks. Not one to be intimated by peer pressure, she is always first to eagerly raise her hand in class. Unlike many high school students, she isn’t overly concerned with her appearance. She is the daughter of two dentists and realizes the value of the private school education she is receiving. She was invited to enroll in an exclusive school that specializes in her major study of interest, magic.

In an ordinary school, she would be an exceptional student and possibly class president. But she is not an ordinary student in an ordinary school. Hermione is a witch and she is enrolled in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The first day of class she was the only one who had read the history book, allowing her to know how the passageways work and who the ghosts were. Much to the dismay of her professor, Snape, she performs perfect potions. She has organized SPEW, the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare after seeing the working conditions of the house elves that live at Hogwarts. The house elves don’t really want her help, but that doesn’t stop her. She has found a cause and is determined.

Her determination has helped one of her best friends, Harry Potter many times. She gets offended if Harry assumes she does not want to come along on his quests. The first time Harry has to fight He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, Hermione proves instrumental. She makes the Polyjuice potion that allows Ron and Harry to pose as their enemies and gain information about the location of the Sorcerers’ Stone. Later, as the go through the labyrinth, Ron becomes entangled in a plant that Hermione correctly identifies and saves Ron’s life.

As the story progresses she becomes more and more instrumental to Harry. When the Ministry of Magic is trying to declare Harry Potter a liar and murderer, Hermione stands beside him. She never doubts him. She is one of the first students to say Voldemort’s name out loud. There is such fear of him that he has been referred to as ‘He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named’. Hermione dismisses this and states; ‘If Harry can fight him, I can at least be brave enough to say his name out loud.’

Realizing the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is a failure (again), Hermione decided to organize a group of students to practice spells outside of class. For a high school student this is not only organized, but very aware of social conditions within her world. Even after the school labels it illegal to have such an organization, she persists. Eventually that fact that her and her friends have practiced necessary defense spells saves their lives against the Death Eaters.

She is consistently an impressive heroine. She is the voice of reason, encouraging her friends to study and practice. And no Ron, Quidditch doesn’t count.

This is Karalea's first article on Pop Culture Heroines

Max Allan Collins’ novel Dark Angel: Before the dawn is a prequel to the television series Dark Angel.

It has been a number of years since I’ve seen Dark Angel and I didn’t watch a lot of the second season (something on my list to do). So a lot of the back story that Collins inserts into this novel is impossible for me to fault. Although there is one major part of the storyline involving Seth (one of the other X5s) that doesn’t quite sit well with me.

Apart from that this is an interesting look in Max Guevara’s past. We follow her escape from Manticore through to her life in Los Angeles where she uses her genetically enhanced skills to become a cat burglar without equal. When she catches a glimpse of one of her X5 siblings on a news report she leaves Los Angeles for the familiar setting of Seattle.

On her way she meets Original Cindy and we learn how Max came to work at Jam Pony and make a life for herself in Seattle.  We are also introduced to “Eyes Only” Lucas.  I was a little confused because I’m fairly certain he was in a wheelchair and in the novel he isn’t.

This novel is a nice companion piece to the series to give you some of the background that wasn’t able to be explored when the television show was cancelled in its second season.  Does this book make it as a standalone story?  Probably not, it’s written for fans of the show who are familiar with the source material as I noticed certain story points weren’t explained well enough for a newcomer to the Dark Angel world (or at least someone who hasn’t visited for a while!).

The novel does succeed though as a tasty morsel for starved fans!

Agree or disagree?  Leave us a comment.

Lee is a a huge popular culture freak, loves comic books, science fiction, soundtracks and writes for Quit Your Day Job.

*Spoilers ahead! You’ve been warned.*

Anne Hathaway is a gem isn’t she? There is something about her eyes and smile that pull me into anything she’s in, so it was mainly because she had the lead in The Devil Wears Prada that I paid good money to see it in the theater.

Anne plays Andy Sachs a young woman fresh out of college who aspires to be a great journalist. Its luck that she scores a highly coveted job at a very prestigious fashion magazine; trouble is she knows nothing about the fashion industry nor cares to. Of course that’s not the least of her worries and this is where our devil comes into the picture. Her boss Miranda Priestly (played perfectly by Meryl Streep) is a real nightmare to work for, assigning impossible task after impossible task while holding every employee to a nearly unobtainably high performance standard.

Time passes and Andy finds the more time she spends in the job, the more she comes to understand the industry and her co-workers’ obsession with it. She even grows to understand her boss Miranda who, as it turns out, is only human after all. This understanding comes at a cost. Spending all this time working causes trouble in her personal life; she loses her friends and even gets dumped by her boyfriend. Seemingly because they were jealous she would not drop her professional dreams to do what they ask of her instead. For Andy, however, this is not the end of the world, as she is given more responsibility at work, a sign she is doing well. Miranda even asks Andy to serve as her personal assistant at the biggest event in the industry: Fashion Week.

As with every job, politics come into play and Miranda is forced to cheat an old friend out of a coveted new job in order to keep her own. It’s a pretty rotten thing to do but the business world can be brutal and she had to do what it took to survive. I think this is a concept that most of us can relate to. We’ve all done things that maybe we thought we’d never have to, to help us succeed at our jobs. Anyone out there ever kiss up to that boss you hated, to get a promotion or better raise?

So, offended by Miranda’s strength of will, Andy chooses to quit. Her reason for leaving seems to be nothing more than not wanting to be perceived by the world as a bitch. Instead of choosing to be a strong, independent woman, willing to do what it takes to obtain success, she demurely backs down and runs home to all but ask permission of her ex-boyfriend to start her life over.

Overall it’s a great movie, with a good script and excellent performances on some well-rounded characters…until you get to the end, where the final message seems to be telling young women to take a step back from their personal strength, defer to your man for any decisions and most of all never, ever do anything that can cause you to be perceived as a bitch, because there is no greater sin in the female world. And that’s just so wrong. Strength can be one of a woman’s best qualities, and it just hurts my head that in this day and age anyone could hide such an insidious message in their movie.

Becca is the author of No Smoking in the Skull Cave a blog dedicated to pop culture, movies and more.