On 2006-02-02, Meguey wrote:
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"An apparently tiny issue in the fiction may cause a huge contention among the players...The player-level is what matters" Yep. This is the reason it matters in movies, plays, books, and rpgs. All the set dressing, scenery and wardrobe have to make a working background for the drama. If we're going along happily in our US War for Independence drama, and suddenly a 1960's tank rolls on set, it yanks us right out of the flow. Example: my friend Bruce is an electrician. He saw Capote, and said a phone that figures prominently has a wire jack, which is utterly impossible for the era. I'm sure we all have examples of this from film, where the set-dresser or whoever just didn't know as much about X as we do. In fantasy, it's when things are too familiar that it gets jarring (like the water thing above). The one time I got yanked in the LotR series was when I saw a set of buttons I happen to own on a hobbit's vest. And Vincent tells a story about watching Dr. Who as a kid and recognizing the family glue-gun being used as a space ray-gun. |
Some maybe useful links: Complete Index of Entries Search for a Post or Comment Search the Forge Forums This makes... BR go "Never watch a movie about phones with Mo, or any historical drama with me." She works for Bell Canada. I have a degree in History. Even when we force ourselves to behave and just enjoy it, the obviously wrong bits will get under the skin. MSW go "TV props" I notice things sometimes that really jar me. Once long ago I met a woman who said she did the makeup for the original Battlestar Galactica, and commented that on the actors' utility belts they had gold-painted marks-a-lot markers. Sure enough... WMW go "Interesting. I have almost the opposite" response. I am simultaneously really, really aware of that sort of thing - noticing "how it was done" - and also pretty much immune to having it break my connection to the fiction. If anything, it adds value. What brings me up short is bad psychology and bad social science. BR go "DON'T GET ME STARTED ABOUT BAD PSYCHOLOGY" WMW go "Stop using my brain, Brand." |