Recently, something came up in my mind that I decided to ask about here:
How would Fen and their general antics be depicted in in-universe fiction? For example, would there be a sitcom/soap opera inspired by actual Fen adventures?
And then there are plots where handwavium tech and Fentech in general could have an influence. For example, the disaster film 2012, which came out in 2009 (which was after the handwavium POD): A major part of the OTL plot involves the construction of arks for humanity to survive the cataclysms. With Fentech being basically a background thing ITTL, could the plot be modified to include scenes involving Fen trying to evacuate as many people from Earth as they could before everything goes to hell?
And how would Fen typically be depicted in fiction? I'm imagining that the overall image would be basically a mixed bag (some depictions are positive, some are negative, and some are basically neutral). Would that description of the depictions be correct?
Well, the copout answer would be "it depends." So there's that.
A more fleshed out answer, the depiction of Fen in non-Fen media is going to depend on the genre, the time and place it's produced and any number of a hundred different variables. A show like
Criminal Minds isn't going to show the Fen in any sort of positive light, because that's just not
done with non-majority cultures in an American cop show. On the other hand, something like
The Big Bang Theory (which is in the exact lightning-strikes place to become the premier Fen sitcom) will have an equally-stereotypical but but far less frightening portrayal of Fen in general. Likewise a show produced in 2008 at the height of wave panic is going to be than a show ten years later when wave products are becoming commonplace in the non-Fen markets.
As for handwavium influencing storytelling, I think it would but probably not right off the bat. It's like horror movies: a lot of what used to be staple tropes don't work anymore because the world's changed from the 70 and 80s when that kind of movie was king. Clearly space operas or realistic space movies are going to change--
Gravity would be a very different production ITTL--but that's going to wait on the concepts to filter down and take root.
Concerning
2012 in particular, that movie started pre-production well before the wave, so it's unlikely that even with a 2009 release it'd be much different from OTL's version. However, the Soviet cable channel Kandor 3 ("We Make Cinema
Better.") airs
2012: The Super-Special How It Should've Ended Cut where John Cusak and the arks full of entitled first-worlders are seized by a bunch of pissed African survivors. Also Woody Harrelson is there because he's the only interesting fucking character in the entire goddamn movie holy shit.
Mr. Fnord
interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
It's a topic definitely worth exploring more, although we do have some material in the Fenwiki
here.
(Edit: I have no idea why that glitched up. Fixed now.)
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Oh lord, I'm imagining CSI doing a Fenspace episode.
Top Gear doing a Fenspace episode would be hilarious, although I suspect it might end with Clarkson having to outrun an angry mob. (Which would just make it funnier, frankly.)
Matrix Dragon Wrote:Oh lord, I'm imagining CSI doing a Fenspace episode.
We talked about that way back at the beginning, can't remember the thread. IIRC we decided that a CSI episode about the Fen would be about as good as The Furry Episode, but
maybe a touch less judgmental.
(Of course, this was when CSI Classic was still on. I have to admit I'd dearly love to see
CSI:Cyber take on Fenspace. That would be a hoot and a
half.)
JakeGrey Wrote:Top Gear doing a Fenspace episode would be hilarious, although I suspect it might end with Clarkson having to outrun an angry mob. (Which would just make it funnier, frankly.)
We actually did that one! Turned out a lot better than expected, all things considered.
Mr. Fnord
interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
Heh. MIght've known.
And come to think of it, the timely intervention of Ninjaburger might have prevented Clarkson putting his producer in the hospital in a fit of rage and thus saved his career.
JakeGrey Wrote:Heh. MIght've known.
And come to think of it, the timely intervention of Ninjaburger might have prevented Clarkson putting his producer in the hospital in a fit of rage and thus saved his career.
Uh, one it was a percautionary visit (barely split the lip).
Two, the guy was suffering from Dilbert+ grade pointy hair bad boss at the time, on top of being stressed out from a potential cancer diagnosis and ludicrous hours.
Three, while an ass, he's not a violent one (seriously, the only time he's ever really gone after someone was the time that someone went after his wife, and a singular weak punch thrown while drunk off his ass doesn't count).
Fourth, even his abrasiveness is a calculated stage persona. Mostly. Yeah, he can be a bit of a racist ass sometimes, but give him credit for realizing that what he was taught in his youth was wrong and trying to keep it from going public.
This whole stomp on Clarkson thing got tumblr-silly a month or two back. Besides, now he has an excuse to do another fen episode now that he has a new show with Netflix. I could see them just moving the whole shebang up to the test track on mars.
There's also that annoying reali-documentary genre Discovery has that could pick up a Space Miner show or something.
Quote:Threepony wrote:
Quote:JakeGrey wrote:
Heh. MIght've known.
And come to think of it, the timely intervention of Ninjaburger might have prevented Clarkson putting his producer in the hospital in a fit of rage and thus saved his career.
Uh, one it was a percautionary visit (barely split the lip).
Two, the guy was suffering from Dilbert+ grade pointy hair bad boss at the time, on top of being stressed out from a potential cancer diagnosis and ludicrous hours.
Three, while an ass, he's not a violent one (seriously, the only time he's ever really gone after someone was the time that someone went after his wife, and a singular weak punch thrown while drunk off his ass doesn't count).
Fourth, even his abrasiveness is a calculated stage persona. Mostly. Yeah, he can be a bit of a racist ass sometimes, but give him credit for realizing that what he was taught in his youth was wrong and trying to keep it from going public.
This whole stomp on Clarkson thing got tumblr-silly a month or two back. Besides, now he has an excuse to do another fen episode now that he has a new show with Netflix. I could see them just moving the whole shebang up to the test track on mars.
There's also that annoying reali-documentary genre Discovery has that could pick up a Space Miner show or something.
Agreed, and people keep forgetting that Clarkson reported himself to the BBC for the incident. The producer he hit didn't report anything.
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Characters
Sabre Fang
Dakota
Anyway, back on topic: A big thing might be a major burst of supers-related fiction, thanks to having actual supers to work with.
M Fnord Wrote:As for handwavium influencing storytelling, I think it would but probably not right off the bat. It's like horror movies: a lot of what used to be staple tropes don't work anymore because the world's changed from the 70 and 80s when that kind of movie was king. Clearly space operas or realistic space movies are going to change--Gravity would be a very different production ITTL--but that's going to wait on the concepts to filter down and take root.
I'm willing to bet that handwavium will be at least as much of a game-changer in special effects as computer-generated imagery was.
M Fnord Wrote:Concerning 2012 in particular, that movie started pre-production well before the wave, so it's unlikely that even with a 2009 release it'd be much different from OTL's version. However, the Soviet cable channel Kandor 3 ("We Make Cinema Better.") airs 2012: The Super-Special How It Should've Ended Cut where John Cusak and the arks full of entitled first-worlders are seized by a bunch of pissed African survivors. Also Woody Harrelson is there because he's the only interesting fucking character in the entire goddamn movie holy shit.
Well, that film was one that was an immediate example for me to use, since I'd figured that, assuming that the Fen still became a thing in the
2012-verse, their capabilities could've added an entire dimension to the plot. And yeah, Woody's character (conspiracy theorist/talk radio host Charlie Frost) has to be one of the more "Crazy Awesome" characters in fiction!
Tennie Wrote:I'm willing to bet that handwavium will be at least as much of a game-changer in special effects as computer-generated imagery was.
Practical effects will certainly get a boost as handwavium redefines "practical." Of course that may bring other, less welcome changes...
("What do you
mean, the droids all joined SAG?!")
Mr. Fnord
interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
M Fnord Wrote:Practical effects will certainly get a boost as handwavium redefines "practical." Of course that may bring other, less welcome changes...
("What do you mean, the droids all joined SAG?!")
My next Fenspace story is going to be dealing with that sort of thing as a major plot point.
Well, another thing I can think of would be the NLR propagandizing through documentaries on fenspace and sponsoring programming trying to win a PR blitz in the danelaw/trying to recruit by showing the economic possibilities compared to the semi-stagnant job market in danelaw countries. Well, once R-Celestia takes over and starts trying to correct her predecessor's PR faux pas.
We learned that the Boskone War was a real war when Sabaton added a song about it on their 2014 album Heroes - Known but to the Stars.
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
Quote:M Fnord wrote:
Practical effects will certainly get a boost as handwavium redefines "practical."
Speaking of which, the page I linked to above mentions a catgirl character on
One Life to Live, played by an unmodded human using prosthetics made by Vulpine Fury's shop.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Much to the justifiable annoyance of the Catgirl-American community, I dare say.
Not so much to their annoyance, since most of them are Up, anyway.
Nah, it really torks off the catgirl-kin bloggers on tumblr for the sheer cultural appropriation and patriarchal misailurogyny.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll
Huh. I thought the US had a notable ethnic biomod community once the initial panic had died down.
I suspect that stories about what happened to Shuko got around, and many victims of the Catgirling Machine decided to stay in space rather than risk the same happening to them.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Shuko's dad came off as the kind of narrow-minded dick who'd flip out similarly if she told him she was a lesbian, so he's not necessarily representative. Things have apparently settled down some by 2014 anyway, at least according to "Curiosity Biomodded the Rhett".
Given social revolutions in the US like the sea-change in support for gay marriage over the past 5 years, an about-face on biomods (outside of government, at least) seems very likely.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Foxboy Wrote:Nah, it really torks off the catgirl-kin bloggers on tumblr for the sheer cultural appropriation and patriarchal misailurogyny.
And speaking of Tumblr, I gotta wonder what Tumblrites would make of Fen demographics...
Bob Schroeck Wrote:Given social revolutions in the US like the sea-change in support for gay marriage over the past 5 years, an about-face on biomods (outside of government, at least) seems very likely.
Hmm. True, but wasn't the social revolution due to a PR push on the part of several major gay rights organizations? I know part of it IRL is that social media made it harder to ignore, but from the summary of the political alt-history in fenspace, it might not be as done of a deal. After all, why fight the hate on Earth when people offer to take you in, no questions asked? Add in a greater republican influence thanks to their presidency, and several of the defacto legislation repeals that helped along gay rights in our timeline might not happen as early as they did. We might only see DADT repealed in 2012/2013, for instance, and the same with the DOMA.