Hi. My name is, and I'm an addict. No, not alcohol. Fiction. Several times in my life I've been unable to tear myself away from one fictional world or another. A decade ago it was Star Wars; five years ago, Buffy; now Star Trek. (Yes, I am a sci-fi geek - a proud sci-fi geek). Although I'm beginning to suspect that some of the appeal of science fiction is for intelligent people to get their soap opera fix without having to watch soap operas. I guess it's just central to any good story - conflict, growth, love, loss.
Besides the fact that Spike (the network, not the vampire) shows five hours of various star treks a day (I've yet to get addicted to DS9 though, thank goodness), it's just an appealing universe. The life of a starfleet crewmember is exciting and meaningful. I mean, it's gotta be if each series can run seven seasons. But life, well, like ani says, "Life is a B movie it's stupid and it's strange - a directionless story and the dialogue is strained." Maybe I should just be an astronaut or a doctor or something that they write about. Although, again, as related as some things are to real life it's still fiction. And I don't want Britney-Spears-shaved-head-rehab kinda drama. I don't envy every story on tv. Just the well-written, compelling ones.
I'm probably not making much sense. It's 3am and I've been trying to sleep for hours. Perhaps it's time to stop escaping into fiction and start making my waking life someplace worth being. That's the crux of it anyway. One can't get swept away in fiction if the here and now monopolizes attention. Hmmm...maybe that's the real appeal of the internet. There are infinite paths to explore (and I'm not just talking about fanfic). I guess I understand the appeal of Second Life a bit more now. Though this isn't anything new. People have been getting lost in fiction as long as there have been stories. Or at least thinking that makes me feel better. Back in hunter-gatherer days I don't think they could afford to spend two hours hear the tale of Tom and B'Elanna.
On that note, why are certain classic storylines so compelling? The ladies man who finally falls for the strong-yet-underneath-it-all female character. How many times have we seen that? Scarlet and Rhett? Han and Leia? Pretty much any fairy-tale - Cinderella's prince might not be much of a ladies man, but all the maidens in the kingdom wanted some of that. So as you've probably caught on, it's not just the phasers and warp cores that I envy, but also the relationships. Not just romantic (though those certainly are compelling). The friendships and bonds on all of these damn shows are so strong. Maybe that comes from constantly being in life-threatening situations. But to put oneself in life-threatening situations, one needs to feel like something is worth dying for. Maybe that's why people have children - to feel that profound connection. But that's a whole other topic and the many tangents I've gone on makes it clear that it is waaaaaay past my bedtime. Now if I could only get this emotion into song form...
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