Comfortable versus realistic in fiction
I just finished watching The Legend of Korra. In short, I like the original series more, but I think part of that is that it had three seasons to build up a plot and characters. And this one had 12 episodes.
It brought up something interesting, though. (no, I'm not spoiling anything. Don't panic.) The first series was set in a world that was clearly pre-industrial. Well, right on the brink of industrial, as it had the fire-powered ships of the Fire Nation, and the air ships, and submarines... there was advanced tech there, but it wasn't widespread yet.
In this series, it has to be about 50 years since the first series ended. Figuring that Aang was 13 at the end of that series, and his son is probably in his 40s. So, doing the math, I can assume it's been at least 50 years.
Which means, the world's technology went, in 50 years, from rare indoor plumbing, first designs of advance tech used by the military, to widespread-use of tech by civilians, electricity and indoor plumbing (it got to be big).
I've heard complaints that's too fast. And that was my first reaction too! That the timeline was progressing just too fast, and these advances just wouldn't have taken off that quickly. But then I actually thought about it. The style is reminiscent of the 1920s. Fifty years before that would be 1870. Time for History You Probably Already Know!
1850 is really when technological advances started really gaining momentum with the advent of steam-power, and the internal combustion engine. So okay, maybe The Legend of Korra was trending a little fast, but not that much.
Also, things were totally peaceful, before it all started going pear-shaped 50 years later and the world is again brought to the brink of war by the actions of a madman. (This is the plot of almost everything, ever, so again, really no spoilers here.) So, gee, I'm sure that hasn't happened ... oh wait, yes it has. It's been a full two generations. Societies can totally go from being at peace to being at war within one generation. It can often happen several times in a generation. So, once again, the timing checks out.
And this got me thinking: why? Why does it feel like it's too fast when if we use our own world as a guide, it's not. I honestly think I'm going to blame Tolkien for this, and his "thousands of years passed between this original event, and these new events, and no one remembers what went down. Except the elves, and they're largely useless, so just ignore them."
Well, actually, Tolkien knew what he was doing. It's later authors who developed a penchant for imitating the form without understanding the formation. Tolkien created a timeline of millennia. He also had people that lived for millennia. So that makes a certain amount of sense. And every fantasy author that came after decided that they needed dynasties and countries that lasted for thousands upon thousands of years too. Because that's how it's done, right? At this point it is so ingrained in our collective consciousness that dragging it to something shorter seems just ... wrong.
But it's not. Society can barely remember what happened in the last presidential election, and that was only four years ago. Writers of the world! You can cast off the chains of centureis and millennia! Embrace the decade! It's really a more sensible time of measurement, when your species can easily plot its lifespan that way.
It brought up something interesting, though. (no, I'm not spoiling anything. Don't panic.) The first series was set in a world that was clearly pre-industrial. Well, right on the brink of industrial, as it had the fire-powered ships of the Fire Nation, and the air ships, and submarines... there was advanced tech there, but it wasn't widespread yet.
In this series, it has to be about 50 years since the first series ended. Figuring that Aang was 13 at the end of that series, and his son is probably in his 40s. So, doing the math, I can assume it's been at least 50 years.
Which means, the world's technology went, in 50 years, from rare indoor plumbing, first designs of advance tech used by the military, to widespread-use of tech by civilians, electricity and indoor plumbing (it got to be big).
I've heard complaints that's too fast. And that was my first reaction too! That the timeline was progressing just too fast, and these advances just wouldn't have taken off that quickly. But then I actually thought about it. The style is reminiscent of the 1920s. Fifty years before that would be 1870. Time for History You Probably Already Know!
1850 is really when technological advances started really gaining momentum with the advent of steam-power, and the internal combustion engine. So okay, maybe The Legend of Korra was trending a little fast, but not that much.
Also, things were totally peaceful, before it all started going pear-shaped 50 years later and the world is again brought to the brink of war by the actions of a madman. (This is the plot of almost everything, ever, so again, really no spoilers here.) So, gee, I'm sure that hasn't happened ... oh wait, yes it has. It's been a full two generations. Societies can totally go from being at peace to being at war within one generation. It can often happen several times in a generation. So, once again, the timing checks out.
And this got me thinking: why? Why does it feel like it's too fast when if we use our own world as a guide, it's not. I honestly think I'm going to blame Tolkien for this, and his "thousands of years passed between this original event, and these new events, and no one remembers what went down. Except the elves, and they're largely useless, so just ignore them."
Well, actually, Tolkien knew what he was doing. It's later authors who developed a penchant for imitating the form without understanding the formation. Tolkien created a timeline of millennia. He also had people that lived for millennia. So that makes a certain amount of sense. And every fantasy author that came after decided that they needed dynasties and countries that lasted for thousands upon thousands of years too. Because that's how it's done, right? At this point it is so ingrained in our collective consciousness that dragging it to something shorter seems just ... wrong.
But it's not. Society can barely remember what happened in the last presidential election, and that was only four years ago. Writers of the world! You can cast off the chains of centureis and millennia! Embrace the decade! It's really a more sensible time of measurement, when your species can easily plot its lifespan that way.