yet another '(insert controversial item) in SF/F...' post.
now, as just people, we have our political beliefs. it's another aspect to how we think, like our attitudes towards sex and religion. as writers, we'll often equate our version of how things should work into a fictional society's ideal system. we certainly don't disagree with a political (or economic) system and try to twist that into our way of 'making it work' as a basis or sub-plot of our stories when we've, ahem, 'already gots it all figgered out.'
now, i'm not trying to stir a political debate here, because i'll tell you right now i'm right and you're wrong so there's no reason to debate that now, but what kind of political system do you use to govern your society? indeed, a character's politics often govern their actions, even without the writer sometimes consciously knowing it. do you even consider it important? maybe not for a short story, but for a novel?
with a novel, particularly fantasy involving princesses and kings and knights, do you give it any thought, or is it left up to the reader to say, 'oh, it's a monarchy. i already know all about *those* because i'm, like, totally smart and i've got a friend who lives in england or britain or something like that. england, britain, u.k., they all mean the same thing. lol. lol. lol. lol.
' mention 'peerage' to most americans and you get a blank stare, which is probably just as well because it doesn't have any bearing on us. assuming you're trying to give some depth to your world, however, and things like that might be good to know for a writer. (not only that, but 'peerage,' i reckon, has an american equivalent which could be good to know for better understanding our own society, eh?)
are these things important to your story? are they interesting to read in other people's stories?
from a demographic standpoint, do you think it more likely that your accidentally pro-democrat (liberal) space captain (which doesn't even sound right to begin with) would sell better in california than here in ohio?
and is worth thinking about your captain's political orientation? i mean, we all have our interpretations backed up by generalizations, cliches, and observations of what a conserative and liberal are, be they correct or not, which are pretty intrinsic to our philosophy. seeing as how the military as a whole leans towards conservatives, and that a space captain is very likely to be conservative (a lot of time when you've got a bunch of ignorant people to supervise, many of those lofty ideals are at least temporarily and conveniently abandonned once you reach a certain point), would you try to or subconsciously impart a set of ideals he's not likely to have, especially given his job responsibilities and actions his character has already taken?
should the likelihood of a character's political affiliation affect the character at all? for example, i'm currently re-working an old, old star wars fanfic about an outpost the day after the empire falls. after the officers abandon the place, one trooper is left in charge, and a lot of his decisions are based around the notion that 'i'm an empire man.' of course, this only applies to stories where it, uhm, applies to further the plot.
i do see a lot of stories where the king doesn't ring true. maybe it's because generally we don't have a concept of what kind of power and pressures a king has. i see more off-the-wall speculation than educated guesses, though, and that really detracts from the story. (if i read one more story where the princess escapes/is thrown out of the castle and has to grow up on her own and eventually returns to take back the throne, i'll cry. please, for gawd's sake, the world does NOT need another one of these stories.)
i tend to like fantasy more than sci-fi because at the heroes i typically used to find (not saying this is true anymore or that it even was necessarily the case then, just from *my* experience) in fantasy seemed more liberally-based. while i don't necessarily subscribe to that ideology, if nothing else the characters seemed truer. what was aggravating was the villian had a whole lot of attributes easily acreditted to conservatives. while not especially liking the formulatic aspect of the characters, that seemed more realistic. at least they were who they were supposed to be.
in sci-fi, on the other hand, i find more the reverse is true. soldiers and starship captains, who i believe *in general* would necessarily *be* conservative by nature, i found a lot idea/ideals presented over their character's behaviour and practices that are blatantly liberal. that's what makes me wonder about this whole thing: it's always been said, or at least heavily implied by those without the balls to say it for fear of 'offending' someone or, worse, being wrong, that artists usually are liberal. i'd say that's probably true, but i'm not sure of the percentages and if there's a noticable difference between art forms, like writers and actors. i wonder if that's because artists not only reflect life but attempt to make or hope for its ideal. all that's fine and dandy. but then i come across a cap't picard-type and i just don't buy it. the resolutions seem twisted to make a situation come out a certain way, as were there a hidden political agenda involved in the story. these characters often sermonize, i think that can be a dead giveaway.
am i right, wrong? comments, opinions?
by the way, i'm starting a viable third party called 'the american freedom party.' join now. donations encouraged. my party's symbol is the turkey.
now, as just people, we have our political beliefs. it's another aspect to how we think, like our attitudes towards sex and religion. as writers, we'll often equate our version of how things should work into a fictional society's ideal system. we certainly don't disagree with a political (or economic) system and try to twist that into our way of 'making it work' as a basis or sub-plot of our stories when we've, ahem, 'already gots it all figgered out.'
now, i'm not trying to stir a political debate here, because i'll tell you right now i'm right and you're wrong so there's no reason to debate that now, but what kind of political system do you use to govern your society? indeed, a character's politics often govern their actions, even without the writer sometimes consciously knowing it. do you even consider it important? maybe not for a short story, but for a novel?
with a novel, particularly fantasy involving princesses and kings and knights, do you give it any thought, or is it left up to the reader to say, 'oh, it's a monarchy. i already know all about *those* because i'm, like, totally smart and i've got a friend who lives in england or britain or something like that. england, britain, u.k., they all mean the same thing. lol. lol. lol. lol.
' mention 'peerage' to most americans and you get a blank stare, which is probably just as well because it doesn't have any bearing on us. assuming you're trying to give some depth to your world, however, and things like that might be good to know for a writer. (not only that, but 'peerage,' i reckon, has an american equivalent which could be good to know for better understanding our own society, eh?)are these things important to your story? are they interesting to read in other people's stories?
from a demographic standpoint, do you think it more likely that your accidentally pro-democrat (liberal) space captain (which doesn't even sound right to begin with) would sell better in california than here in ohio?
and is worth thinking about your captain's political orientation? i mean, we all have our interpretations backed up by generalizations, cliches, and observations of what a conserative and liberal are, be they correct or not, which are pretty intrinsic to our philosophy. seeing as how the military as a whole leans towards conservatives, and that a space captain is very likely to be conservative (a lot of time when you've got a bunch of ignorant people to supervise, many of those lofty ideals are at least temporarily and conveniently abandonned once you reach a certain point), would you try to or subconsciously impart a set of ideals he's not likely to have, especially given his job responsibilities and actions his character has already taken?
should the likelihood of a character's political affiliation affect the character at all? for example, i'm currently re-working an old, old star wars fanfic about an outpost the day after the empire falls. after the officers abandon the place, one trooper is left in charge, and a lot of his decisions are based around the notion that 'i'm an empire man.' of course, this only applies to stories where it, uhm, applies to further the plot.
i do see a lot of stories where the king doesn't ring true. maybe it's because generally we don't have a concept of what kind of power and pressures a king has. i see more off-the-wall speculation than educated guesses, though, and that really detracts from the story. (if i read one more story where the princess escapes/is thrown out of the castle and has to grow up on her own and eventually returns to take back the throne, i'll cry. please, for gawd's sake, the world does NOT need another one of these stories.)
i tend to like fantasy more than sci-fi because at the heroes i typically used to find (not saying this is true anymore or that it even was necessarily the case then, just from *my* experience) in fantasy seemed more liberally-based. while i don't necessarily subscribe to that ideology, if nothing else the characters seemed truer. what was aggravating was the villian had a whole lot of attributes easily acreditted to conservatives. while not especially liking the formulatic aspect of the characters, that seemed more realistic. at least they were who they were supposed to be.
in sci-fi, on the other hand, i find more the reverse is true. soldiers and starship captains, who i believe *in general* would necessarily *be* conservative by nature, i found a lot idea/ideals presented over their character's behaviour and practices that are blatantly liberal. that's what makes me wonder about this whole thing: it's always been said, or at least heavily implied by those without the balls to say it for fear of 'offending' someone or, worse, being wrong, that artists usually are liberal. i'd say that's probably true, but i'm not sure of the percentages and if there's a noticable difference between art forms, like writers and actors. i wonder if that's because artists not only reflect life but attempt to make or hope for its ideal. all that's fine and dandy. but then i come across a cap't picard-type and i just don't buy it. the resolutions seem twisted to make a situation come out a certain way, as were there a hidden political agenda involved in the story. these characters often sermonize, i think that can be a dead giveaway.
am i right, wrong? comments, opinions?
by the way, i'm starting a viable third party called 'the american freedom party.' join now. donations encouraged. my party's symbol is the turkey.
