Why it works...
OK, this may not be the best-ever blog, but I just wrote a really good one and the computer swallowed it. L
During our discussion of why Heinlein’s Loonie society works, I was struck by someone’s comment (I think it was Steven’s) that “it works because Heinlein says it works.” That, I think, is the most vital statement of all.
Good fiction, in my opinion, has characters who act in ways that we could believe real people might act. Certain characteristics may be exaggerated for emphasis and the society and physical surroundings may be completely alien, but there is some element of the characters that make them plausible. The lack of such elements has led to the downfall of many books, and even whole genre’s, such as one’s about little over-pious children who die young, but happy to be able to become little cherubs and adorn the clouds.
A real example. Two of my friends decided the other day that Star Wars was infinitely superior to Star Trek. I mentioned that our class had been unable to universally agree on a genre-classification for Star Wars because of the relatively slight emphasis on technology and the lack of significant societal changes due to technology. He claimed that the “anxious liberals in space” (thanks Professor Jackson) side of Star Trek was precisely its flaw. The strength of Star Wars lay in that fact “it doesn’t assume that people change.” He felt that the presence of real, present day, characteristics, such as greed, violence, and jealousy, was what made Star Wars great. And, of course, sci. fi., but that’s another argument.
I am sure that some people will disagree with his assessment and claim that the assumption that great technological advances would have so little affect on human nature is absurd. I think that this debate gets at the fundamental question underlying the debate we had the other day about Heinlein. Heinlein bases his Loony society on certain physiological and technological assumptions, but there are also important assumptions about human psychology more deeply under the surface.
Heinlein’s society works because of the assumptions that he makes about human nature. It therefore works for those readers that agree, at least primarily, with his assumptions or find his conclusions logical based on their own assumptions. Some can never accept enough of his beliefs to buy his story at all, and some find their belief in it breaking down if they examine the entire society carefully. That is the root of our class’ dilemma. Would the Loonie society work? It depends on human nature, and, unless we’re going to try the experiment. We’ll each have to make the decision alone, based on our own assumptions.
posted by lennearb @ 12:45 PM
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