Centenary conversation …

… Ray Bradbury at 100: A Conversation Between Sam Weller and Dana Gioia - Los Angeles Review of Books. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

If you look at a similar list today, all but three of the top films — Titanic and two Fast and Furious sequels — are science fiction or fantasy. That is 94 percent of the hits. That means in a 70-year period, American popular culture (and to a great degree world popular culture) went from “realism” to fantasy and science fiction. The kids’ stuff became everybody’s stuff. How did that happen? There were many significant factors, but there is no doubt that Ray Bradbury was the most influential writer involved.