Talking of Unseen Academicals...
Jun. 2nd, 2011 01:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
The most common criticism I've seen of the book is that it breaks people's suspension of disbelief that foot-the-ball's been a huge spectator sport in Ankh-Morpork all the time, but has never been mentioned before.
Um, yeah. That was my reaction to the Cracker episode "To Be A Somebody". Suddenly there was this thing called Premier League Football, full of teams with names like "Liverpool FC" and "Manchester United", which was supposed to be a big deal, but had never been mentioned in the Crackerverse before. Sloppy worldbuilding, I call it.
The difference, of course, is that Cracker's set in the real world, and we therefore assume all the elements of the real world are there, waiting to be used. Discworld is a fantasy world, where we can't assume anything exists until we're told about it. But it's a mistake to slip from that to assuming it doesn't.
Um, yeah. That was my reaction to the Cracker episode "To Be A Somebody". Suddenly there was this thing called Premier League Football, full of teams with names like "Liverpool FC" and "Manchester United", which was supposed to be a big deal, but had never been mentioned in the Crackerverse before. Sloppy worldbuilding, I call it.
The difference, of course, is that Cracker's set in the real world, and we therefore assume all the elements of the real world are there, waiting to be used. Discworld is a fantasy world, where we can't assume anything exists until we're told about it. But it's a mistake to slip from that to assuming it doesn't.
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Date: 2011-06-02 12:54 pm (UTC)My criticism of UA is that it involves that it involves football, and then uses *that* phrase. You know the one, it is the same one the BBC feels constitutionally obliged to reference a minimum of once a week.
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Date: 2011-06-02 02:30 pm (UTC)From Mitch Benn's World Cup song:
This time,
Can we teach ourselves some brand new tricks,
And never mention '66
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Date: 2011-06-02 04:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-02 05:51 pm (UTC)"It is now!"
Sort of like "Japaner, japaner, japaner!" (http://youtu.be/0yZLBg1nyXY) but more modern and with winning and glory and pride and triumph and whatnot.
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Date: 2011-06-02 03:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-02 05:54 pm (UTC)But I re-read it not long ago, and liked much more than the first time.
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Date: 2011-06-02 06:42 pm (UTC)History Monks! Since eventually all those football matches blend together in the memory and popular imagination it must mean no one would notice if they nicked a couple from the future to patch a couple of holes in the past. They gave it their best shot ;o)
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Date: 2011-06-03 11:34 am (UTC)I would assume that this ball is okay for a kids' kickabout, but if used by serious foot-the-ball players, would usually end the match by exploding. It's also entirely possible it doesn't fly or go "gloing!" (Nutt compares the internal bladder of the football to a balloon. I've tried playing football with a balloon.) It's main advantage would seem to be that it deflates neatly to be stored in Carrot's backpack.
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Date: 2011-06-08 11:20 am (UTC)