… a column just in time for the Academy Awards. I’m playing with the idea of fate, particularly as that notion is portrayed in two of the leading Best Picture contenders: Slumdog Millionaire and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Both are modern fables, both deal with Big Topics, including fate or destiny. There’s the interesting contrast, too, that comes from one being set in 20th century Western culture and the other in early 21st century Indian (Eastern) culture. Religion isn’t explicit, but it’s there in the cultural backgrounds, especially with SM. (What my friend Terry Mattingly calls a religion “ghost” in what seems to be a nonreligious story.)

Any thoughts?