"I don't like stuff that's not real."

Cafe Society
1

This is almost a rant, and might have ben better served in the Pit, but I don’t think it’s vitriolic enough for the Pit and since it’s about TV and stuff, CS is my pick.

Anyway, I’m talking to my niece about TV. I ask her if she’s watched any of the new Battlestar Galactica. She says no, she hasn’t, as it wouldn’t interest her since she doesn’t believe in stuff that isn’t “real.”

Some background: my niece is scary smart. National Honor Society in High School, full-ride academic scholarship to college, going for her Doctorate in Public Health. She an “environmental Compliance Manager” for the local office of a major chemical company.

She’s also a big-time Star Trek: The Next generation Fan, as well as Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise, Stargate, and Buffy. She also dearly loves (or did) Anne Rice. And anything Star Wars (especially the prequels).

She has every season of all of these shows on DVD (some of those are “second copies” as she originally bought them on VHS), and she fully intends to get everything all over again on Blu-Ray as it becomes available.

But she refuses to watch either Firefly or Battlestar Galactica. And why?

“They’re not real.”

I tried to draw her out and get her to explain exactly what she means by that, and I even tried to compare/contrast the “not real” with all of the rest of the shows she’s dearly, deeply in love with.

The best she can articulate is this: “I don’t like stuff that’s not real, and from what I’ve heard other people say of Firefely and BSG, I won’t like them because they’re not real, because they can’t really happen.”

“And Buffy can?” I asked.

“No, but it could be, if you accept the existence of vampires.”

“So, you can accept the existence of vampires, and extragalactic Empires and Jedis, but not ‘The Alliance’ of Firefly, or Battlestar Galactica?”

“No, I can’t. They can’t really happen.”

Her husband saw my head swelling, and to avoid “Asploded Head Syndrome,” changed the subject.

Can anyone even begin to offer up a theory on my niece’s line of reasoning?

2

No idea but I once had a guy who owned a book shop tell me that, since he left school, he has never read any fiction because, “what’s the point of reading stuff that’s just made up?”

3

I may not particulalry understand that, but it is consistent, which I do understand.

4

Even smart people can have internally inconsistent logic.
Odesio

5

I can only tell you my own weird reasoning.

I love Stephen King. I can get behind virus epidemics like The Stand. I can believe a “power” like John Coffey’s in The Green Mile. I can believe in telepathy (Carrie) and pyrokinesis (Firestarter.)

I can’t believe in werewolves. I can’t believe in vampires. I don;t really believe in ghosts, even though my sister-in-law is quite convincing of the fact that she’s seen them. 'Cause they’re not real. I’ll still read or watch it, and may be scared by it, but I know it could never happen.

Alternate universes, time-travel, space travel - all possible. But no werewolves and no vampires and no ghosts. (I’ll make an exception for Wolf in The Talisman. I loved him.)

I realize it’s not really rational. :smiley:

6

My father, a very learned man, used to have a similar opinion. He read the odd bits and pieces of fiction but the lion’s share of his vast library was factual books.

ETA: He owned a bookshop too.

7

It’s weird because Battlestar Galactica and Firefly are largely presented as more “realistic” than Star Trek or Star Wars or Stargate which are mostly fantasy.
Myabe she’s been sniffing her own chemicals. Either way, I find it best not to argue with people as to why they like or don’t like something.

8

At some point she stopped being able to suspend disbelief, but it was after she started liking the Star Trek, Buffy, etc.

9

I have this problem with the fantasy genre although I like myths and legends.

10

I don’t like things that aren’t “real” either, but I am consistent. You will not catch me watching any of the shows mentioned, or similar movies or books. I have before and never dug any of it. I do read fiction but it never deals with aliens or vampires etc. I think stories about people are interesting enough for me.

I will watch cartoons and stuff though. Nemo is the shit, and I also like other absurd stuff like Family Guy and Aquateen.

11

Anybody else thinking of the father-in-law in Sideways?

12

My father is the same way. He’s a university professor and for years and years, read/watched nothing but the news and things he could use for his research or to use in his classes. Slowly, gradually, he’s starting to branch out, but he still approaches “fun”/fictional films and TV as though they were research specimens (i.e., he’ll watch “Star Wars” just to see what the cultural fuss was about, not for the sheer enjoyment of it).

13

I’ve heard people say things like “I don’t like fiction” on this board, and it just makes my mouth fall open. To me it’s like saying “I don’t like to use my sense of touch or smell because there’s so much to hear.”

Your niece is definitely not being consistent, though. She likes what she likes, and she’s made up an explanation that doesn’t make any sense.

14

A very small part of my free time is spent partaking of any kind fiction. It’s not that I have some kind of a rule, or consider fiction inferior or “not real”.

I certainly read more fiction when I was younger. I also used to watch a lot of TV, but have fallen out of that habit. Exceptions to this are The Simpsons and The Office. I’m a musician, and I listen to a lot of music, and much of it is new to me. But it’s usually stuff I’ve sought out related to styles I’m trying to learn how to play.

I guess I just don’t have the patience to see if a work of fiction (whether it’s a movie, TV show or book) has a point of view or information that will interest me. If (like The Simpsons or The Office) my ‘faith’ is secured, then I will pay attention.

But there’s just so much fiction around that I find it easier to filter stuff out until I know it’s going to interest me. Such filtering is less necessary with factual subjects like history, science, etc.

I think it’s often a part of getting old (I’ll be 50 this year): there’s a Dennis the Menace cartoon where Dennis, Joey and Mr. Wilson are playing records. Dennis informs Joey that, “Mr. Wilson doesn’t listen to any song unless he’s heard it before”.

15

Perhaps your niece just isn’t cynical enough.

Even the darkest season of DS9 or Buffy was rather more optimistic than BSG (which is a pretty classic crapsack world) or Firefly (where the heroes (such as they are) are doomed to lose at every turn).

If you’re not of a cynical mindset, the BSG or Firefly’s ‘life sucks’ perspectives could easily seem ‘unreal’ compared to the stuff she likes.

16

ExTank, I think I understand her logic.

*Firefly *and BSG are set in the future but unlike SW and Trek, they aren’t all that “futuristic.” Their guns fire bullets, not laser beams. People there dress like people dress today or dressed in the past. Their dialog and motivations are modern. They’re neither utopian nor fantastic.

One of them’s the Old West in a spaceship, and the other’s modern day U.S. in a spaceship. And she can’t handle that. Because unlike the stuff she enjoys, they are neither a vision of the futur nor a complete fantasy; they have no place in her imagined timeline. So she rejects them.

In a way, BSG and Firefly are in the Uncanny Valley of SF: they’re too close to reality to be lovable.

17

Firefly has people on horses using six shooters. BSG has spirits and prophecy.

While presented more realistically, I would agree that they are less realistic in terms of creating a consistent and plausible future.

But I’d agree with Revtim, most likely the real reason is that she grew up before being introduced to these series.

18

F U Shakespeare also blames his advancing age…

Which is all way beyond me. I’m just turned 60–& I decided to finally get into Battlestar Galactica. Just before the end, I know! So I caught a marathon before the recent half-season started & have been using the 'net to retroactively spoil myself. The first two shows this season were interesting, then I caught The Oath. Wow! Glad I took the trouble; will definitely get the DVD’s & start at the beginning once the season ends.

By some standards, I was “too old” for the original BSG. Paw Cartwright in space? Nope. I liked the first Star Wars movies pretty much–for Space Opera. And I’ve enjoyed most of the Star Trek series, although I don’t own any of them on DVD. But I got into Whedon World despite my advanced age. And I “filter” even the factual stuff I read–or watch on The Hitler Channel.

Your niece is smart in some ways. (Does she read for fun?) But she refuses to try some series because they “can’t really happen” & still likes the Star Wars prequels!

Poor thing…

19

I enjoyed Firefly. While the science was bad, the actual stories were plausible. Take away the spaceships and you were left with people doing things real people do. Firefly is real. Your niece is missing out.

I tried to watch Buffy, but it was ridiculous. There are no vampires. I suppose I could have made some leap where the vampires really symbolized some group of people, but the show didn’t interest me enough to do that. Buffy is fake.

I haven’t seen Lord of the Rings (though I read the books when I was a kid), haven’t read Harry Potter or seen the movies, never got into Star Trek, stopped watching the Star Wars trilogy after The Empire Strikes Back. I just can’t get myself into a place where those things worked for me. It’s too far from reality for me to enjoy. At the risk of TMI, it’s the same when I have sexual fantasies - if I have no chance with a woman in real life, I can’t fantasize about screwing her.

When I can see a fictional character as a real person, I can enjoy the fiction. Edward Scissorhands would never exist but I enjoyed it anyway because his type exists. You could explain to me what type of person each vampire in Buffy maps to, but I don’t care. It just didn’t interest me.

I like real things. If I perceive something as fake (however I define that), I don’t enjoy it. It doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy fiction - almost everything I watch is fiction. But it needs to be rooted in something real.

20

De gustibus non disputatum.

Ancient Latin proverb “There’s no accounting for taste” (roughly translated). Usually, in my experience, that phrase is used as a put-down, but it’s true without any negative connotations. Other cognates “Different strokes for different folkes,” and “One man’s meat is another man’s poison.” Don’t think reasoning enters into it.