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ST:TNG Data's Day
Oct. 23rd, 2010 03:07 pmI really like this one. Welcome to Aspie world. With themes of misinterpretation and emotion and rather ample demonstration of how Data does so have feelings just not in the same boxes as humans. And someone told him the wrong labels. And he's never sure enough of himself about feelings so he'll take their word for it when he shouldn't ought to.
Is a good story.
I liked the bit about dancing. I have a better answer for Data about what kinds of dancing go where though: Dancing is a very very social very very cultural form. There's dancing that is about moving your body in space. Bodies can do fun things. Is good. I can do that sort. But then there's dancing with more than one person involved, and then it's a conversation, only without the clearly defined words language uses. And when you think about all the room for misinterpretation even language leaves, dance is complicated. There are dances with fixed forms, but they're more like sonnets than sentences - same form but so many variations of meaning possible. Still, I'm better at those sorts, everyone does the same things in the same patterns, one can at least learn the patterns. But then there's dancing-with, and that has to respond to other people and be interactive and involves entire signal systems I can't barely read, let alone read in real time in the dark under disco lights. So on micro level, I don't exactly speak the language, but I like the sounds of it. On macro level, there's interesting to be found in what forms prevail in which societies or social sub groups. There's vast differences to experience and message in the kind of dancing where there's a huge mass of people all bouncing up and down but in their own individual ways compared to where there's pairs or squares or octets doing something complicated and fiddly and set in stone generations ago. And there's dances people made up in living memory, and dances they learned as kids, and different inflections on dances. So saying to someone 'I'd like to learn to dance' is kind of like saying 'I'd like to learn to speak', only in a different form, with fuzzier edges, and more hormones involved.
Wheelchair dancing is dancing, dancing with a stick is dancing, dancing with one of your arms stuck in a v shape is dancing, all the kinds of bodies+devices and all the dances are still dancing, but once they hit the 'social' level I think the translations go a bit wonk sometimes, and I no more understand why than I understand how they're even speaking in the first place. It's like body language poetry. With music and twirly bits.
... I think about dance quite a bit. It is at one and the same time plenty good fun and a bundled set of all the things I'm no good at. With flashy lights and colors and sparkles. Except for when it's not the sort of dancing with sparkles. Honestly, I don't so much see the point of dancing with no sparkles, but each to their own.
I like convention dances with silly gestures and everyone in a circle or in lines, or the ones where someone is in a chair in the middle, because as far as I can see all they're saying is 'we are at a science fiction convention doing science fiction convention things' and I can say that with confidence.
... until someone crunches into me and my feets get stomped, but that's a whole separate problem.
Okay, there was also a lot of the episode that wasn't about dancing, but the not understanding about dancing is like the crystalisation of how Data misses half the signal systems and interactions, and I have eventually noticed that, so it's a clever bit.
Also there was lots of funny, of the funny faces and feet getting stomped variety, which I always appreciate.
... complex verbal wit has its place, but there's also room for pie in the face.
Is a good story.
I liked the bit about dancing. I have a better answer for Data about what kinds of dancing go where though: Dancing is a very very social very very cultural form. There's dancing that is about moving your body in space. Bodies can do fun things. Is good. I can do that sort. But then there's dancing with more than one person involved, and then it's a conversation, only without the clearly defined words language uses. And when you think about all the room for misinterpretation even language leaves, dance is complicated. There are dances with fixed forms, but they're more like sonnets than sentences - same form but so many variations of meaning possible. Still, I'm better at those sorts, everyone does the same things in the same patterns, one can at least learn the patterns. But then there's dancing-with, and that has to respond to other people and be interactive and involves entire signal systems I can't barely read, let alone read in real time in the dark under disco lights. So on micro level, I don't exactly speak the language, but I like the sounds of it. On macro level, there's interesting to be found in what forms prevail in which societies or social sub groups. There's vast differences to experience and message in the kind of dancing where there's a huge mass of people all bouncing up and down but in their own individual ways compared to where there's pairs or squares or octets doing something complicated and fiddly and set in stone generations ago. And there's dances people made up in living memory, and dances they learned as kids, and different inflections on dances. So saying to someone 'I'd like to learn to dance' is kind of like saying 'I'd like to learn to speak', only in a different form, with fuzzier edges, and more hormones involved.
Wheelchair dancing is dancing, dancing with a stick is dancing, dancing with one of your arms stuck in a v shape is dancing, all the kinds of bodies+devices and all the dances are still dancing, but once they hit the 'social' level I think the translations go a bit wonk sometimes, and I no more understand why than I understand how they're even speaking in the first place. It's like body language poetry. With music and twirly bits.
... I think about dance quite a bit. It is at one and the same time plenty good fun and a bundled set of all the things I'm no good at. With flashy lights and colors and sparkles. Except for when it's not the sort of dancing with sparkles. Honestly, I don't so much see the point of dancing with no sparkles, but each to their own.
I like convention dances with silly gestures and everyone in a circle or in lines, or the ones where someone is in a chair in the middle, because as far as I can see all they're saying is 'we are at a science fiction convention doing science fiction convention things' and I can say that with confidence.
... until someone crunches into me and my feets get stomped, but that's a whole separate problem.
Okay, there was also a lot of the episode that wasn't about dancing, but the not understanding about dancing is like the crystalisation of how Data misses half the signal systems and interactions, and I have eventually noticed that, so it's a clever bit.
Also there was lots of funny, of the funny faces and feet getting stomped variety, which I always appreciate.
... complex verbal wit has its place, but there's also room for pie in the face.
