Western World

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kailhofer
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Western World

Post by kailhofer »

As I read this one the upcoming Serenity movie was brought to mind. I'd recommend the Firefly boxed set to its author as a great example to emulate for future westerns.<br><br>This story is also reminiscent of Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven in that a retired gunfighter is dragged back into the illegal life by the appearance of a gunfighter, or two. (I love westerns. Especially an Eastwood or a John Wayne.)<br><br>This story and the aforementioned tales do certainly go to show that SF is a good place for westerns. Space is a frontier, and it's easy for one's brain to put the two together plausibly.<br><br><br>That being said, I had a few problems with the character development that I hope will read as constructive criticism, rather than just nitpicking. <br><br>Consider a recently postulated a generic plot of all stories:<br> "A sympathetic and engaging character (or an unsympathetic one who is engaging nevertheless), faced with some immensely difficult problem that it is necessary for him to solve, makes a series of attempts to overcome that problem, frequently encountering challenging sub-problems and undergoing considerable hardship and anguish, and eventually, at the darkest moment of all, calls on some insight that was not accessible to him at the beginning of the story and either succeeds in his efforts or fails in a dramatically interesting and revelatory way, thereby arriving at new knowledge of some significant kind."<br>-Robert Silverberg, Asimov’s SF Magazine, 2004.<br>(Thank you, "fair use" clauses of the copyright laws!)<br><br>Brogan did not seem to me to be a particularly engaging character. Will Money in Unforgiven was a changed man, a broken pig farmer trying to get a better start for his children. This was a noble enough proposition to allow the anti-hero aspects of his character to be ignored by a willing audience. Brogan was just hiding out. True, we see his regrets as he thought about his dangerous past, but this is later in the story, after small minds like mine have already made preconceptions. <br><br>If there had been a better way to make Brogan a tragic figure, I think this would have been a much stronger story for the effort.<br><br>I didn't see the critical point, the moment of judgement or clarity at the climax. He didn't have to do something he hated, like shoot through Madigan to get the guy behind him. He didn't make the choice, for the good or for the evil side from that point on. He just shot the guys & ran. He didn't figure something out that made him a better man. Sure, he saved his friend and I think that stands for something, but it could have been stronger.<br><br>Obviously, this evaluation depends if one agrees with Silverberg's plot outline or not. I haven't been able to shoot any holes in it (to follow the western theme), so it works for me until someone can come up with something better.<br><br><br>I hope this hasn't come off as too negative, as it was not intended to be so. I'd like to encourage people to write SF westerns. I think it is an excellent outlet for the genre. But I think if one chooses to do it, please bear in mind that the western genre requires a strong hero (or anti-hero) to pull it off, and the audience has to feel for him, or her, or the story falls flat.<br><br>Nate
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Robert_Moriyama
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Re: Western World

Post by Robert_Moriyama »

Once upon a time, it was noted that a good many so-called science fiction movies and stories were really just Westerns (or noir crime stories, or whatever) in disguise. Change Colt revolvers into blasters; change horses to slizzards or hoverbikes; change Indians into aliens -- etc.<br><br>This story kinda falls into that category. There really isn't anything in it that would preclude it from being a straight Western if the substitutions noted above were reversed. Even the garbage scow spaceship could have been a riverboat or stagecoach or train if access to these things was very expensive or controlled by a ruthless sheriff or rancher. (One would have to assume that the town was so isolated that simply leaving on a hoverbike (horse) was impractical ...) The presence of the volcano-dwelling nihilist cult was the only non-Western element, but we could substitute say, Mormons ;) ...<br><br>By contrast, the Firefly series had River's strange abilities (unleashed by ruthless medical experiments), which seem to encompass telepathy and/or precognition and/or clairvoyance; the Reavers, who were murderous insanity personified and given just enough skill to operate spacecraft (although their maintenance was spotty at best); the Companions (who had a status above that of even the most reknowned Geishas) ...<br><br>So ... Western World (or Westworld, as the headings say if you print the story) should really be judged as a straight Western. As such, it's pretty engaging; Brogan isn't a particularly likable character, but it is clear that he feels genuine affection for Madigan and is saddened when he learns that Madigan's wife has died. He even regrets the loss of Baker and the young gunslinger -- but his survival, and the survival of his one true friend, take precedence over heroic gestures. I sympathized with his desire to simply be left alone after a too-eventful life.<br><br>Maybe Nate K. would have been happier if Brogan had experienced a moment of epiphany when Madigan died, but that would not have been consistent with the pragmatism Brogan had shown throughout the story.<br><br>Robert M.
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kailhofer
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Re: Western World

Post by kailhofer »

By contrast, the Firefly series had River's strange abilities (unleashed by ruthless medical experiments), which seem to encompass telepathy and/or precognition and/or clairvoyance; the Reavers, who were murderous insanity personified and given just enough skill to operate spacecraft (although their maintenance was spotty at best); the Companions (who had a status above that of even the most reknowned Geishas) ...
<br>I'll grant River was a true SF aspect. However, how would Reavers be different than the personnification of Native Americans as bloodthirsty savages that was so prevalent in the early Western genre? As far as Geishas, I'm sure parallels can be drawn to the one special Dance Hall girl in the saloon (read, 'whorehouse') that the hero falls for in so many movies. <br><br>
Maybe Nate K. would have been happier if Brogan had experienced a moment of epiphany when Madigan died...
Robert M.
<br>That's right. I'm a hard sell. ;)<br><br>Actually, Brogan doesn't strike me as a great example of pragmatism. Pulling his pistols on the two gunfighters because he lost his temper, leading to his killing of the sheriff and having to flee his home, doesn't appear very straightforward or practical. Taking his mortally wounded pal with him on the ship without begging for a doctor or a medic didn't seem like clear thinking either. I think a true pragmatist would have just left Madigan there.<br><br>What I was trying to say was that without the "epiphany", the climactic moment wasn't all that climactic. The character doesn't develop in a way that makes the story stronger.<br><br>I'm not saying it's bad. It's not. I'm saying it could have had a better story arc for that character.<br><br>Nate
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