BSG Spoiler vs Wolfe

Son of Witz · 23 Mar 2009, 19:42 · from 2009-March.txt.gz

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From: sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org (Son of Witz)
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2009 19:42:54 +0000
Subject: (urth) BSG Spoiler vs Wolfe
Message-ID: <W3727422674113121237837374@webmail39>

I just want to point out that when I compared BSG to New Sun, it was not Moore to Wolfe, but "Some Themes & Plot in BSG" to "Some Themes & Plot in BotNS"
This thing does not have the subtlety of Wolfe. no one would or should expect that from a tv show.

~Witz

>-----Original Message-----
>From: James Wynn [mailto:crushtv at gmail.com]
>Sent: Monday, March 23, 2009 12:26 PM
>To: 'The Urth Mailing List'
>Subject: Re: (urth) BSG Spoiler vs Wolfe
>
>>Again, I may have forgotten a scene or two.
>>Did the Outsider have a page or two of exposition where
>>He explained why they were all in this giant rock traveling
>>to a planet of vampire-plants while worshiping a
>>two-headed nutcase?
>
>In the LS the Outsider is an actual character who goes on quite a bit about 
>his relationship to the Whorl gods and his intentions. That's what I was 
>referring to. He's almost as much a character as Aslan in, say, "The Horse 
>and His Boy" while manipulating the narrative less. He doesn't explain Pas 
>because he didn't invent Pas. He doesn't explain everything, because no 
>character ever does.  The Increate is not a character in NS, and if he 
>performs miracles, I'm not aware of it.
>
>>The God of BSG is more like the Increate than the Outsider.
>>Even the angels can only guess at what He wants.
>
>But He's much more inclined to perform miracles without much explanation for 
>why He's doing them...except that He likes cliff-hangers. That's very handy 
>for lazy serial writers.
>
>>If this seems cartoony then whole areas of religion,
>>particularly mysticism, must also seem cartoony.
>
>Not at all. The BSG god is a god as a-term-for-we-know-not-what. It can 
>quite literally mean whatever you want it to mean. It is an idea of God that 
>denies rationality. Baltar makes that quite clear. And despite all the 
>sermons by Baltar that we have heard over the last 2 years, I challenge you 
>to tell me what his followers believed about Him. Christian mystics 
>acknowledge that there is a lot about God that we don't understand, but you 
>can understand aspects of God they describe.
>
>That's alright with me. It is a frequent presentation of God in movies. The 
>problem is when such a god becomes the primary mover of the 
>narrative...which he did in BSG.
>
>>Why give him $50?  It was consensual sex between adults,
>>not a financial transaction.  She asked him to leave shortly afterwards
>
>I believe what she said was "You can show yourself out" meaning "It's time 
>for you to go _now_ and I mean _right_ now." Leno once asked Charlie Sheen 
>why he utilizes prostitutes when he could self-evidently get it for free. He 
>responded "I don't pay them for sex. I pay them to go home." If you're a big 
>enough jerk, you don't even have to pay for that. She couldn't have even 
>gone out for breakfast with the guy? Reverse the gender and you can see that 
>such a scene (ala in "Iron Man") could not be written except to degrade the 
>character being sent home.
>
>>In BSG people have (and don't have) sex for all sorts of
>>human reasons, and have all sorts of human reactions.
>>In Wolfe people apparently have sex to show what bad
>>people they are, and suffer for it later.
>
>That's ridiculous. Do you really intend to compare the writing of BSG to 
>Wolfe in favor of BSG? Incidentally, I thought the one other use of sex in 
>the Caprica arc that I have not addressed yet--a strip club-- was nothing 
>but exploitive.
>
>J 
>
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