All writers take something of
their lives into their work. I use my fascination with science as my starting
point. Others I have known use their own experiences as the basis. Cheever’s
stories definitely draw on this method; whilst Dickenson’s poems often mention
an individual she calls the “master”, whom she may have been infatuated with.
When writers deal with their own
experiences, the “unreliable narrator” becomes an issue. How much is truth and
how much is fiction? Is there room for truth in writing?
This leads me to an argument I once
had with a friend. How important is the science in sci-fi?
There is an instinct among
inexperienced (≡ crap) sci-fi writers to oversimplify the details of space
travel. Star Trek was particularly guilty
of this. It was about life in space, but didn’t once deal with the difficulties
involved.
To explain why realism is more
entertaining, I will tell you a story of the Apollo missions. It involves
toilets.
 |
| You're lucky if you get one of these! |
Urination was easy to deal with.
All they needed was a tube,
fitted with a condom. It wasn’t too bad, either—unless
the astronaut opened the valve too early and unwittingly vacuum-sealed his
penis to the tube.
Solid waste was a different
matter. Before the space toilet, they were forced to use bags: special bags,
with adhesive rim and a finger-shaped pocket. The astronaut had to stick them
to their buttocks, and since nothing falls in microgravity… that was what the finger-pocket
was for.
The next task facing the astronaut
was to open a capsule of germicide, seal it into the bag, and knead the
contents to make sure they were fully mixed.
The command module was a confined space.
So when someone needed to use the “Waste Management System," the others had to avert their gaze, and try to ignore the smell.
You can’t make this stuff up.
On another note, there was a small
debate about “gun ≡ metaphorical representation of Dickenson”. I have this
final point to make:
“It's bad to kill. Guns kill. And you don't have to be a gun. You are
what you choose to be. You choose. Choose.”
—The
Iron Giant (1999)
The point we made in today's lecture was more that a gun could represent more than just a gun, but anyway. I do know one piece of media that gets the details of space travel down to a "T": an anime called Planetes. The creators did all possible research - space is silent (of course), the astronaut protagonists suffer known space illnesses like decompression sickness and brittle bones, and they also wear diapers. That sounds ridiculous, but it's common wear amongst astronauts as a way of dealing with bodily waste. This is appropriate since Planetes is that kind of show; the main characters are basically "blue collar" workers, or interstellar dustbin men.
ReplyDeleteI can't say for sure how much place realism has in entertainment. Video games can do with less of it, both as a stylistic choice and as a gameplay mechanic because games are meant to be fun, and hard reality usually isn't. I'd say with other mediums, it's like a sprinkling of cinnamon; adds a bit of needed flavour, but too much of it can just overpower the story, and not necessarily for the better.
Quite why I didn't predict that this blog assignment would one day lead to an online discussion of toilet movements in space I'll never know...
ReplyDeleteYou have to take delight in the tangents!