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(Space) Politics in canon
Sep. 17th, 2014 11:45 amI went running today! Because in the morning I signed up for a hockey class that starts in November and I have to get in shape. People who know me IRL were laughing at me. It's going to be great.
What I thought about during running: Space politics!
One of my favorite things about the Vorkosigan books are the politics. Politics everywhere, annoying and exhausting and complicated and sometimes corrupt, but necessary and important.
Then I looked back and realized that politics were also a big part of the reason why I enjoyed Gundam Wing and Gundam Seed so much. Space politics! \o/
I was trying to think of other series/books/movies with politics and I realized that even though many contain politics of some kind, it often doesn't feel like it. Often politics are very far in the background and treated mostly like an external force, e.g. Harry Potter or SG-1. Or it's something the main characters explicitly have no interest in, e.g. many Discworld books. Or canon concentrates on who has the better claim to the throne (Lord of the Rings), or everything is framed as conspiracies and power struggles removed from any actual government (Tales of the Otori, Dresden Files.) Or the politicians are the bad guys in the background that the protagonist has to fight somehow (Hunger Games.)
I'm currently starting to watch Babylon 5: the entire premise is about interplanetary diplomacy and politics. Still, during the first few episodes it felt more like a conflict between the ambassadors than between their nations. I'm hoping that will change. I was excited about the hints that Earth politics might play a role later when they mentioned the elections. Looking forward to seeing how it develops.
So what does it take for me to feel like a canon is in some ways "about" politics, or that politics play a major role?
First I should probably define "politics": Wikipedia says it is "the practice and theory of influencing other people on a global, civic or individual level. More narrowly, it refers to achieving and exercising positions of governance — organized control over a human community, particularly a state. Furthermore, politics is the study or practice of the distribution of power and resources within a given community (a hierarchically organized population) as well as the interrelationship(s) between communities." I was mostly thinking of the second meaning.
Some thoughts:
a) Politics have a strong influence on events.
a.2) Events have a strong influence on politics.
b) Politics are the reason why characters act, not just the reason that characters are made/forced to act.
c) We get to see at least parts of the political process, and if necessary explanations why it works the way it does and the ideas behind it.
c.2) Some politicians are not-completely-minor characters.
d) The connection between politics and actual governing is shown.
d.2) Bureaucracy is a plus.
Examples:
Marvel's Civil War has a little of a and b, almost none of c, and has d. The storyline had the potential, but was mostly about the fight between two conflicting ideas and only cared about politics as the way to bring that about.
The X-Men movies have great potential, but also mostly fail at c. (And the argumentation is often simplistic and the politicians are shown as idiots.)
Star Wars I-III is an interesting case: they tried to include politics, but imo didn't do it very well, because the viewers' viewpoint characters were the Jedi, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan and Anakin. If it had been more centered on Padmé it would have been completely different, but they cut a lot of her scenes, so a lot of the politics seem like external events and most of the characters fail b. (Maybe that's even how to explain b, because I'm not sure it's clear: Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan don't go to Naboo because of the Trade Federation's blockade, they go to Naboo because the Jedi Order tells them to.)
In contrast, Gundam Wing meets all of the criteria, and from what I remember Gundam Seed does too. The Vorkosigan books too when taken as a whole, some more and some less.
(Btw, the one show that I remember watching that was about politics in this world, Borgen, unsurprisingly meets all the criteria, but I stopped because it was very realistic and therefore frustrating, and because I wasn't sure there'd be a happy ending and didn't want to watch anything sad.)
So: space politics! Or fantasy politics! Thoughts? Recs?
(I think after Babylon 5 I might try another Gundam series next, but I'm not yet sure which one.)
What I thought about during running: Space politics!
One of my favorite things about the Vorkosigan books are the politics. Politics everywhere, annoying and exhausting and complicated and sometimes corrupt, but necessary and important.
Then I looked back and realized that politics were also a big part of the reason why I enjoyed Gundam Wing and Gundam Seed so much. Space politics! \o/
I was trying to think of other series/books/movies with politics and I realized that even though many contain politics of some kind, it often doesn't feel like it. Often politics are very far in the background and treated mostly like an external force, e.g. Harry Potter or SG-1. Or it's something the main characters explicitly have no interest in, e.g. many Discworld books. Or canon concentrates on who has the better claim to the throne (Lord of the Rings), or everything is framed as conspiracies and power struggles removed from any actual government (Tales of the Otori, Dresden Files.) Or the politicians are the bad guys in the background that the protagonist has to fight somehow (Hunger Games.)
I'm currently starting to watch Babylon 5: the entire premise is about interplanetary diplomacy and politics. Still, during the first few episodes it felt more like a conflict between the ambassadors than between their nations. I'm hoping that will change. I was excited about the hints that Earth politics might play a role later when they mentioned the elections. Looking forward to seeing how it develops.
So what does it take for me to feel like a canon is in some ways "about" politics, or that politics play a major role?
First I should probably define "politics": Wikipedia says it is "the practice and theory of influencing other people on a global, civic or individual level. More narrowly, it refers to achieving and exercising positions of governance — organized control over a human community, particularly a state. Furthermore, politics is the study or practice of the distribution of power and resources within a given community (a hierarchically organized population) as well as the interrelationship(s) between communities." I was mostly thinking of the second meaning.
Some thoughts:
a) Politics have a strong influence on events.
a.2) Events have a strong influence on politics.
b) Politics are the reason why characters act, not just the reason that characters are made/forced to act.
c) We get to see at least parts of the political process, and if necessary explanations why it works the way it does and the ideas behind it.
c.2) Some politicians are not-completely-minor characters.
d) The connection between politics and actual governing is shown.
d.2) Bureaucracy is a plus.
Examples:
Marvel's Civil War has a little of a and b, almost none of c, and has d. The storyline had the potential, but was mostly about the fight between two conflicting ideas and only cared about politics as the way to bring that about.
The X-Men movies have great potential, but also mostly fail at c. (And the argumentation is often simplistic and the politicians are shown as idiots.)
Star Wars I-III is an interesting case: they tried to include politics, but imo didn't do it very well, because the viewers' viewpoint characters were the Jedi, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan and Anakin. If it had been more centered on Padmé it would have been completely different, but they cut a lot of her scenes, so a lot of the politics seem like external events and most of the characters fail b. (Maybe that's even how to explain b, because I'm not sure it's clear: Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan don't go to Naboo because of the Trade Federation's blockade, they go to Naboo because the Jedi Order tells them to.)
In contrast, Gundam Wing meets all of the criteria, and from what I remember Gundam Seed does too. The Vorkosigan books too when taken as a whole, some more and some less.
(Btw, the one show that I remember watching that was about politics in this world, Borgen, unsurprisingly meets all the criteria, but I stopped because it was very realistic and therefore frustrating, and because I wasn't sure there'd be a happy ending and didn't want to watch anything sad.)
So: space politics! Or fantasy politics! Thoughts? Recs?
(I think after Babylon 5 I might try another Gundam series next, but I'm not yet sure which one.)
