At 11:18 3-2-01 +0000, Neil Faulkner wrote:
Now that is odd, because the version I read of (written by Asimov himself) - or maybe this is another incident altogether - has Isaac A attending a lecture on one of his own stories (he didn't say which one).
That'll teach me to write something up from a memory that's several years old. Especially on this list. I'm pretty sure you've got it right. The point I was trying to make is still the same, though.
Anyhow, the bloke what wrote the script becomes just another viewer after the script has been put on tape. His opinions and prejudices count for no more than my own.
By that rationale a murderer becomes just another witness after the crime's been comitted. Try pulling that one in court.
Easy, m'lud. If said murder causes someone else to get a heart attack, which is a direct result that the murderer couldn't have foreseen, he isn't considered guilty of causing that heart attack (well, at least not in Holland, I've no idea how other judicial systems feel about this.) In the same way one can say that if Terry Nation rushed to deliver a sloppy script that he didn't intentionally put any sexism or whatever in, then you can't blame him for it if *you* happen to see that sexism in it. Terry's not responsible for your interpretation of his story. Only for the sloppiness of the script.
Stop looking at the characters and consider the episode in terms of its ideological topography. It's a bloody great mountain of Victorian
bourgeois
complacency.
Nope, I'm too busy admiring the characters. I like admiring the
characters.
Looking at societal implications is boooooring.
Is it? Why? Since you presumably have some idea why the characters are more interesting or engaging than something that impacts on your every thought and word and deed, perhaps you might care to enlighten me.
If you can.
Also easy: I have a low stress tolerance, so I'm lazy by nature. I handle my own life as best I can, donate a little to charity to get the feeling that I also do something for those who aren't as lucky as me and otherwise leave others alone as long as they leave me alone. That means that I yell at those who discriminate against me, personally. In all other cases I only lift a hand if the victim is obviously incapable of doing it for him/herself and I happen to be in a position to do something. If I'm not, I try not to think about it too much. Which is instrumental in keeping my blood pressure down and enables me to actually have a life. If I didn't do that, I'd spend most of my days in bed with the most godawful headaches. This isn't me exaggerating, I really have that kind of annoying constitution.
Anyway, to get back to the topic at hand, I have the same approach to TV shows. If too much about them bugs me, I stop watching. If I like the show, I sit back and enjoy the fun. Watching TV is relax time, not getting wound up time. So I concentrate on what I like, such as fun character interaction and good looks. Thinking about what the series says about society and getting worked up about it makes me tired and leads to headaches. I guess I was being somewhat flippant with the "booooring" bit, but that's what I was trying to say with it.
So, did this explain it for you, or do I have to bring in the penguins?
Jacqueline