A further thought on the aforegoing

[avevale_intelligencer]

I once imagined Dumbledore saying "It is regrettably true that most if not all of our problems stem from the pervasive misconception that the natural state of humanity is Muggle."

The first opening spiel of Torchwood had them "arming the human race against the future," because the twenty-first century's when everything changes and "you gotta be ready." I highlighted the glaring problem with that in my icon (attached to the previous entry) and in the second season it was duly changed to "fighting for the future on behalf of the human race" and "Torchwood is ready." (EDIT: I should perhaps make it clear on mature consideration that I don't actually believe they changed it because of my LJ icon. I'm sure somebody else must have noticed the disjunct, possibly even someone on the team.)

The first spiel had it right, though, as to what should be done. What Torchwood is fighting for, quite obviously, is to keep the human race insulated from the future, in ignorance of what's going on in the wider universe, in a state of innocence that is obviously untenable in the long term. What they're fighting for is the status quo. Just as the wizards in the Potter saga fight to keep magic hidden from the Muggles, on the grounds that they wouldn't be able to deal with it (unlike such paragons of wizarding virtue as, say, Lucius Malfoy or Peter Pettigrew), so Captain Jack and his team fight to keep humanity from lifting the curtain and looking out of the window at the world that is undeniably there, because they wouldn't be able to deal with it. The fact that, as long as they go on fighting, that state will never of itself change, seems to escape them. The future they are fighting for is one in which, eventually, the wider universe breaks in and finds a human race still completely unprepared.

The natural state of humanity is wizard. The natural state of humanity is awareness. Pretending the strange isn't there will not make it go away, and most humans (if we're honest with ourselves and eschew imagined superiority) know that. Keeping us in this somewhat cut-price garden of Eden will not prepare us for when the wrecking ball arrives.

Comments

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I like this. A lot.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I was only aware of Torchwood as a show that a lot of fans like, but you're making some interesting points. There could be a metaphor around childhood-- there are things that children (and I especially mean small children, not middle to late teenagers) are better off being insulated from if possible.

However, children grow up, and competent parents are raising them to be adults.

The only sf I can think of that's about people learning to become part of the larger world is some paranormal romance, I think.

[howeird]

Breaking the 4th wall, I think what's going on here is the authors are simply trying to justify the fact that most or none of their audience has ever seen magic, has ever seen life from other worlds. The other ploy would be the "you were there, and you were there" of Dorothy as she wakes from the dream that was Oz. I look at all these as writers' tricks to keep the audience in the dream for as long as the dream lasts, and to allow them to return to the dream each time they turn on the telly or buy a cinema ticket.

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

I see what you're saying, so let's assume that's the reason. That certainly works with an old-style series, where the reset button is pressed at the end of every episode and the format never changes. realWho, to some extent, got away with it on that basis; nobody expected the world of one story to be changed because of events in a previous one, and only a few fans even bothered about making the continuity consistent.

But audience expectations have changed, and the series writers are going with that. When you're going to some lengths to have an arc and continuous character development, to ground the show on a recognisable planet, then it's slipshod work not to do it properly and show the ongoing effects of the divergence from reality as we know it. That, after all, is what sf is supposed to be about; extrapolation of consequences. Logically, the world of nuWho and TW should by now be recognisably different from ours, if it's the same world that's undergone all these invasions and things. Let's face it, if any audience can imagine themselves into a different world, it would be this one.

But I don't think it is that. I think it's another case of the subtext I talked about in the previous post; a mistaken conception of "maturity" and "responsibility," defined as not allowing yourself to treat the fantasy elements of the story as real even in the context of the story itself. This is nothing new, of course. In my youth this was handled in kids' fantasy books by the wizard or whoever going away and casually wiping all the characters' memories as he did so, so that they could get on with the business of growing up and getting jobs and not imagine there was anything more to life than that. In the Potter books it's handled by the wizarding world hiding itself away in holes and corners and pretending it doesn't exist, rather than allowing the rest of the world to know what is actually going on and come to terms with it (and, yes, probably make a mess or two and have to learn some lessons, just as we have to with new technologies). And in Torchwood it's handled by--well, I've done that bit.

There are nine and sixty ways of betraying your story, of copping out as they used to say, of not facing the challenge of developing a genuinely consistent fantasy world. And every single one of them is wrong.

[howeird]

And every single one of them is wrong.
I'm not sure if I agree wholeheartedly. There's something to be said for the concept of "Secret Masters Of..." silently protecting the world from both threats and the knowledge of threats. I do agree that when a spaceship smashes Big Ben, it's probably time to make the world one in which everyone is aware of the existence of life on other planets/galaxies/universes.

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Yes, it does rather depend on whether the threats are the kind that can be concealed in the first place. Otherwise the Secret Masters just end up looking silly, or else having to resort to wholesale memory rape, which I think is both immoral and implausible (as I've said before).

I wonder if there is such a thing as a concealable threat in our connected age. Is there anywhere a spaceship could conceivably crash that wouldn't show up on Google Earth or somewhere?

[howeird]

I wonder if there is such a thing as a concealable threat in our connected age.
It depends on their technology. Cloaked ships are a staple of Star Trek from way back. If there really is such a thing, it's possible.

[dickgloucester.livejournal.com]

I seem to remember Hagrid saying early-ish in Philosopher's stone that the reason why wizards stay secret is that otherwise everyone would want 'easy' magical solutions to all their problems.

And it's always seemed that there might be some interesting thinking-fodder there. If I ever have the energy to think ever again.

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

You will.

[batyatoon]

I once put a speech in the mouth of a character in a roleplaying game about why you can't protect people through ignorance.

I'm considering hunting it up, if you'd be interested.

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, definitely.

Reply pt.1: the setup

[batyatoon]

Found it! Okay, the conversation is between a MiB agent from the universe of the Men in Black movies and a member of the Watchers' Council from the universe of Buffy the Vampire Slayer; mine's the latter.

MiB guy discourses as follows:

"See... we're an essentially young species. The rest of the Milky Way Galaxy, for the most part, is composed of highly developed adult civilizations and more than a few that've reached retirement age or gone senile. They do the kinds of things you and I can only dream of, and some things neither of us have the slightest ability to comprehend, although we try. They're amazing. They're everything that little kids think grownups are, when they're still young enough to believe that grown-ups can do whatever they want and get things right on the first try....

"I found out about a lot of what was out there that day.... Since then, I've seen worse things. I've gone toe to toe with what's out there, and, well-" He gestures to himself. "Still here. But what's out there is still out there too. And there's a whole planet of people who don't know about it, who'd never, ever sleep again if they knew, really knew...

"I want everybody on Earth to understand what it really means to have that kind of wonder, like I did that day. But not at the cost of the nightmares for the rest of their lives. And not at the cost of having the things from their nightmares come after them. Humanity isn't ready for that. We're still a bunch of little kids who could grow up into anything at all.

"I just want to make sure we do grow up. There'll be time to learn about the nightmares when we're old enough to handle them."

Sounds familiar, yesno?

Re: Reply pt.1: the setup

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Oh yes.

Reply pt.1: the smackdown

[batyatoon]

The Watcher's reply went as follows:

"There's ... in my world, you know, there's -- we've got supernatural. All over the world, but heavier in some places. More concentrated. And there's, well, there're demons. Some of them a lot like the aliens in your world, except they come from different dimensions instead of different planets. And there's people who know they exist, but the vast majority don't. And, yeah -- it's probably better that way, 'cause most people can't cope with knowing stuff like that.

"The thing is ... you know the thing your people do with the neuralyzers? In my world, people kind of ... do that to themselves. People who can't cope with knowing ... they just decide not to know. They explain it away. They edit what they remember. It works well enough, I guess. They go on. They cope. They have normal lives.

"The people who can handle knowing about it, though? They remember. Maybe they start asking questions. Maybe they run into people who know stuff. And they cope, too. And some of them settle into their own normal lives. Just, you know, the kind of normal where you know how to spot the vampire before he eats you."

I think, says the MiB, I see your point.

"Two points, really. One: you can't grow up if all the grownups keep trying to protect you from knowing about the scary real world. Two: what you don't know about the scary real world can kill you ten kinds of dead before you get a chance to grow up.

"And you can neuralyze the survivors, but that doesn't help the dead."

Re: Reply pt.1: the smackdown

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Yes, definitely. I do tend to think that the "deciding not to know" that people are supposed to do is another writer's device that only happens in books, because the people I've heard of who have had that kind of experience all fall into the second group. But then, that would follow, because the others, if they existed, wouldn't talk about it.

But the points made; yes, I absolutely agree.

[jahura.livejournal.com]

"How are things on the other side of the spiral?"

"Seems they snuck out of their crib and left their toys on their satellite. They've built several flying eyes and we can expect to see one of them in about sixty million years, give or take."

"Anything else of note?"

"Not really. Wait - says here a micro black hole was just generated."

"Hmm. Okay, launch strain 426B into the northern hemisphere. That will keep them busy for about ten revolutions."

"Roger that."