The truth of "reality" in fiction will always be about
creating a world with
a set of images, symbols, and icons that inform us that we
are in "reality."
These representational figures are alway winking though, we
know we are not
really in reality, but we suspend our disbelief
nonetheless.
David
______________________________
David A. Harvey
Freelance Columnist, Reviewer, Journalist&Editor
Exploring the meeting points of humanity&technology
1 Druim Moir Court 215/248-7469
Philadelphia, PA 917/767-6567 (cell/page)
19118
"Most people are awaiting Virtual Reality; I'm awaiting
virtuous
reality."
--Eli Khamarov , Lives of the Cognoscenti
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-rara-avis@icomm.ca [mailto:owner-rara-avis@icomm.ca]On
> Behalf Of Stephen Holden
> Sent: Thursday, August 13, 1998 3:10 PM
> To: rara-avis@icomm.ca
> Subject: RARA-AVIS: realism and reality
>
>
> Re the discussion about 'realism' changing over time,
I'd agree with
> that. I recently re-read some of Len Deighton's early
books and found
> them almost comic (like an episode of 'The Man from
UNCLE' in parts).
> But in their day they were considered dangerously
realistic - my 60's
> paperback of 'Horse Under Water' has a review on the
back along the
> lines of, 'I think I'm breaking the Official Secrets
Act every time I
> read Ln Deighton. I think what made people think
Deighton was being
> 'realistic' was that he changed the spy from a James
Bond
> superman to an
> 'ordinary' civil servant, worried about his pension
and complaining
> about his office furniture.
>
> On another tack, I think television cop shows figure
that if the
> background and atmosphere appear realsitic, then the
viewer
> will accept
> an 'unrealistic' plot. In 'The Bill' (a soap-style
police procedural
> that goes out three times a week in the UK) the
police station itself
> and all the props seem not so much realistic as
genuine. Some of the
> 'realism' is even boring, i.e. whenever anyone is
arrested the police
> read them their rights in full. This seems to
distract the
> viewer from
> whatever sleight-of-hand is going on in the
story.
>
> Similarly the dialogue is what the viewer accepts as
realistic, as
> everybody speaks in criminal/police/London slang. So
we get someone
> saying, 'Shall we give his drum a spin and see if we
turn up any moody
> gear?' instead of 'Shall we search his flat for
stolen property?'
>
> -Stephen-
> --
> #
> # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to
majordomo@icomm.ca.
> # The web pages for the list are at
> http://www.vex.net/~buff/rara-avis/.
>
#
# To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to
majordomo@icomm.ca.
# The web pages for the list are at http://www.vex.net/~buff/rara-avis/.