Interesting Links for 14-03-2012

[andrewducker]

• 3D-Printer with Nano-Precision - the picture blew me away
  (tags: 3dprinting technology nanotechnology awesome )
• Solar panel made with ion cannon is cheap enough to challenge fossil fuels
  (tags: solarpower energy electricity )
• Fukushima was no disaster, no matter how you spin it
  (tags: nuclearpower electricity japan )
• ARM produces design

Comments

[bart_calendar]

Don't really think of it as a spoiler but will do so.

Anywhere here is a spoiler free version of my comment:

1. People brainstorming stories come up with all sorts of bad ideas. Since it didn't make it into the script clearly someone realized it was a bad idea.

2. Her comment that a "15 year old can not consent" is sort of disingenuous. While that's true under most circumstances in most U.S. states today, it wasn't true across the United States in the 1930s when the story takes place - and since both Indiana and Marian were world travelers they could have likely been in any number of nations (including most of Europe) where she was legally able to consent. For must of the early 20th Century 15 year old girls marrying guys in their 20s was not particularly uncommon.

3. Is she going to write a similar argument over A Song Of Ice And Fire? Danny is 14 and Drogo is in his late 20s, early 30s. And later there is a sympathetic character who is at least 15 to 20 years older than a very young girl he is expected to have sex with and this character is not looked at as being a bad person (or, well, any worse of a person then anyone else in the books.)

[nancylebov]

The thing that gave me the creeps was the idea that if she's sixteen, it isn't interesting. However, this is about the guys talking, not about the character.

[bart_calendar]

Guys say incredibly stupid shit all the time. Particularly at long brainstorming meetings. It doesn't mean they particularly endorse the idea or are behind it. It could just mean they were looking for a way to give Indy some "Bad Boy" cred. And it's clearly an idea that was tossed out. One of the points of creative brainstorming is to throw out whatever random idea pops in your head (and face it, shitty, random ideas pop into all of our heads from time to time.)

And, who knows, maybe it would have made it more interesting. I think that in Game Of Thrones Danny is much more interesting because she's only 14, but ends up becoming so bad ass so quickly and because of the way she takes over the sexual dynamic with Drogo who is far older than her. It would have been less interesting if Danny and Drogo were the same age - and if she wasn't so young.

So, there might of been a way to run with the idea of Marian being much younger than Indy when they first hooked up and her becoming a total bad ass later on.

[nancylebov]

I'm inclined to think that the age of consent is set somewhat too high.

Nonetheless, if I think something is creepy, I might have legitimate reasons for doing so.

Part of Scarlett O'Hara's "bad girl cred" was that she was heartless with men who she attracted early in the book. If you find this a less-than-delightful trait in her character, I can live with it.

[bart_calendar]

Oh, I agree it can be considered creepy. No doubt about that. I just think that people say dump and potentially creepy things all the time when they are talking off the top of their head and to take them to task for it 25 years later is a bit silly.

[nancylebov]

And I forgot to mention that I've only read the Game of Thrones books, but I was disappointed when I heard that Danerys was older in the tv show. Part of what made Westeros a different place was that people got all sorts of responsibility much younger than they do here.