Ignorance and retcon
Nov. 13th, 2008 12:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethI went to bed early like a good sensible person.
I think I got about an hour's sleep. Or something like sleep. Dozing comfortably.
Then there was neighbour laundry and upstairs neighbour pipes making a noise like a FOGHORN really LOUD and then I was awake again.
That was a couple of hours ago.
So I'm awake. I have 6 hours to get 8 hours sleep. And while tired I've not been sleepy.
I been staring at the ceiling thinking Doctor Who thoughts.
Like: Why oh why is retcon the answer to everything even in other shows in the 'verse?
The Sarah Jane Adventures? They just made Clyde's mum forget?
The Doctor never mindwipes people just for knowing about aliens. That's bad guy behaviour.
But Torchwood and Sarah Jane both participate enthusiastically in the coverups, even if it means mind control.
It's so wrong. And weird. And couldn't they differentiate between the shows really well this way?
Sarah Jane Smith, reporter, getting the real facts out for her entire career, therefore considered crazy by everyone, but in a solidly principled reporterish way. With no lying. And no making up cover stories, which is another word for lying. And definitely no inserting lying into the news streams with clever computers. On the kids show tell kids to tell the truth.
The Doctor swans around ignoring the issue as per usual.
Torchwood mocks people for not knowing while busily making sure they don't know by using drugs, along the way demonstrating the dangers of ignorance and making themselves look stupid.
That way you can explore three different setups in the three different storytelling modes.
In the kids show you have a good moral and a good principle. The kids would tell their parents and not be keeping secrets because the strange lady they spend lots of time with doing things their parents might not approve of tells them secrets are better. Because that's a creepy and suck lesson. Really. Kids should not be taught to keep secrets like that. Tell things. If things are good to do they're good to tell about.
And then we get a demonstration of how humans don't believe what doesn't fit their paradigm, and nothing much changes, except among people who directly experience it, and even then not all of them.
In the adult show you push the line that some things only the authorities are safe to know, and then you demonstrate how thoroughly messed up that is. Maybe add in a few bits about how poisonous secrets are. Like that bit Tosh and the pendant overheard. Or in a different way the way Ed Morgan spent his whole life hiding. Secrets aren't simple. Play through both sides, like Adrift. But without the ending coming down so heavily on 'secrets are good'. Because secrets are poison. Ignorance is poison. It's Torchwood's job to make sure humans stay poisoned. Which is creepy.
Having the same attitude on both shows limits the stories they can tell. And limits the investment in the kid show if they're going to reset button everyone. And is really inconsistent given the way the series finales and xmas specials on Doctor Who keep changing the general knowledge of the 'verse anyway.
Is it really so very important to have DW 'verse people be stupid each and every time they meet aliens? How many people are particularly informed about dealing with familiar dangers? There's cluless newbies in every adventure. Do they have to live in a clueless newbie world? Does that really add so much to the story?
And is memory erase really necessary to keep people clueless enough?
It's not just that I want to play with interesting stories about first contact and how to get on with alien worlds. If DW doesn't want to play with that, fair enough. It's just I thoroughly object to the idea of making more ignorance and teaching children to hide what happens to them. Anyone to hide really. Together is strong, hiding is not-together, is not-strong. No good.
Okay, rant over. I go sleep now. I hope.
I think I got about an hour's sleep. Or something like sleep. Dozing comfortably.
Then there was neighbour laundry and upstairs neighbour pipes making a noise like a FOGHORN really LOUD and then I was awake again.
That was a couple of hours ago.
So I'm awake. I have 6 hours to get 8 hours sleep. And while tired I've not been sleepy.
I been staring at the ceiling thinking Doctor Who thoughts.
Like: Why oh why is retcon the answer to everything even in other shows in the 'verse?
The Sarah Jane Adventures? They just made Clyde's mum forget?
The Doctor never mindwipes people just for knowing about aliens. That's bad guy behaviour.
But Torchwood and Sarah Jane both participate enthusiastically in the coverups, even if it means mind control.
It's so wrong. And weird. And couldn't they differentiate between the shows really well this way?
Sarah Jane Smith, reporter, getting the real facts out for her entire career, therefore considered crazy by everyone, but in a solidly principled reporterish way. With no lying. And no making up cover stories, which is another word for lying. And definitely no inserting lying into the news streams with clever computers. On the kids show tell kids to tell the truth.
The Doctor swans around ignoring the issue as per usual.
Torchwood mocks people for not knowing while busily making sure they don't know by using drugs, along the way demonstrating the dangers of ignorance and making themselves look stupid.
That way you can explore three different setups in the three different storytelling modes.
In the kids show you have a good moral and a good principle. The kids would tell their parents and not be keeping secrets because the strange lady they spend lots of time with doing things their parents might not approve of tells them secrets are better. Because that's a creepy and suck lesson. Really. Kids should not be taught to keep secrets like that. Tell things. If things are good to do they're good to tell about.
And then we get a demonstration of how humans don't believe what doesn't fit their paradigm, and nothing much changes, except among people who directly experience it, and even then not all of them.
In the adult show you push the line that some things only the authorities are safe to know, and then you demonstrate how thoroughly messed up that is. Maybe add in a few bits about how poisonous secrets are. Like that bit Tosh and the pendant overheard. Or in a different way the way Ed Morgan spent his whole life hiding. Secrets aren't simple. Play through both sides, like Adrift. But without the ending coming down so heavily on 'secrets are good'. Because secrets are poison. Ignorance is poison. It's Torchwood's job to make sure humans stay poisoned. Which is creepy.
Having the same attitude on both shows limits the stories they can tell. And limits the investment in the kid show if they're going to reset button everyone. And is really inconsistent given the way the series finales and xmas specials on Doctor Who keep changing the general knowledge of the 'verse anyway.
Is it really so very important to have DW 'verse people be stupid each and every time they meet aliens? How many people are particularly informed about dealing with familiar dangers? There's cluless newbies in every adventure. Do they have to live in a clueless newbie world? Does that really add so much to the story?
And is memory erase really necessary to keep people clueless enough?
It's not just that I want to play with interesting stories about first contact and how to get on with alien worlds. If DW doesn't want to play with that, fair enough. It's just I thoroughly object to the idea of making more ignorance and teaching children to hide what happens to them. Anyone to hide really. Together is strong, hiding is not-together, is not-strong. No good.
Okay, rant over. I go sleep now. I hope.