Via my friend Fred (who had a blog, but I don’t know if he does any more), comes a great discussion of the geek’s love for continuity, written by Todd Seavey, Director of Publications at the American Council on Science and Health.
Metaphilm - Star Wars: The Science of Consistency
For you see, any story must have a certain amount of internal coherence if we are to achieve suspension of disbelief. And we must achieve suspension of disbelief. For most people, that just means that a given fictional universe must hold together for the space of two hours: if the main character in a conventional romantic comedy, possibly some movie for girls featuring Meg Ryan or someone like that, says at the beginning that she is an only child, she should not have a sister present at her wedding at the end of the movie. Stories like that—about boring, conventional people with their petty love affairs and their tawdry sex antics, people whom one could not trust when the chips were down and an Imperial Battle Droid were attacking your spaceship!—are relatively easy to keep consistent. It is only the grandeur and majesty of a fictional universe the size and complexity of one like the Star Wars universe, the Star Trek universe, the DC Comics universe, or the Marvel Comics universe (and perhaps soap operas) that is truly difficult to maintain.
June 2nd, 2005 at 7:39 am
Hey! I didn’t know you were blogging again. At least this way I’ll be able to keep up with what you’re reading, and see the occasional picture post. Things look great around here…
[and, sadly, I’m no longer blogging. Maybe someday I’ll pick up the freddyboy banner again, but not quite yet. Want to be ox [at] freddyboy [dawt] com?]