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| alternate_history:surviving_culture_as_a_wholesale_stereotype [2021/09/04 11:42] – created petike | alternate_history:surviving_culture_as_a_wholesale_stereotype [2023/02/10 06:30] (current) – [Ways to avoid this cliché] petike |
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| ====== Surviving culture as a wholesale stereotype ====== | ====== Surviving culture as a wholesale stereotype ====== |
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| You know the old chestnut, one of the enduring allures of alternate history fiction as a genre: "Hey, what if the Roman Empire survived ?", "Hey, what if the Incan Empire survived ?", "Hey, what if Anglo-Saxon England never had any Norman influence after 1066 ?", and so on. | You know the old chestnut, one of the enduring allures of alternate history fiction as a genre: "Hey, what if the Roman Empire survived ?", "Hey, what if the Incan Empire survived ?", "Hey, what if Anglo-Saxon England never had any Norman influence after 1066 ?", "Hey, what if the Byzantines survived 1453 ?", "Hey, what if France or China were still monarchies ?", and so on. |
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| More often that not, overly casual or amateur/inexperienced writers of alternate history works seem to assume that if some OTL country or culture that ceased to exist at an earlier point in history survives in an ATL, the basics of their culture, clothing, attitudes, language, etc., will forever remain static and largelly unchanging. Worse yet, many such authors assume that the best way to show it is to have these surviving cultures from older periods wear stereotypical clothing associated with the culture, use stereotypical architectural styles associated with the culture, and have stereotypical customs and behaviour associated with both facts and clichés about their culture. All of this well into the Space Age, even if the divergence occured in the Bronze Age or whenever. | More often that not, overly casual or amateur/inexperienced writers of alternate history works seem to assume that if some [[OTL]] country or culture that ceased to exist at an earlier point in history survives in an [[ATL]], the basics of their culture, clothing, attitudes, language, etc., will forever remain static and largelly unchanging. Worse yet, many such authors assume that the best way to show it is to have these surviving cultures from older periods wear stereotypical clothing associated with the culture, use stereotypical architectural styles associated with the culture, and have stereotypical customs and behaviour associated with both facts and clichés about their culture. All of this well into the Space Age, even if the divergence occured in the Bronze Age or whenever. |
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| Also called the "//Civilization// effect" or "Alternate History as a Computer Game Effect". | Also called the "//Civilization// effect" or "Alternate History as a Computer Game Effect". |
| ==== Ways to avoid this cliché ==== | ==== Ways to avoid this cliché ==== |
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| **1.) Doing your research** - not relying on popular but often completely inaccurate stereotypes and shorthands. | **1.) Doing your research** - not relying on popular but often completely inaccurate stereotypes and shorthands.\\ |
| **2.) Respecting causality** - thinking logically about the repercussions of your changed historical events and paying attention to the butterfly effect. | **2.) Respecting causality** - thinking logically about the repercussions of your changed historical events and paying attention to the butterfly effect.\\ |
| **3.) Keeping the outcomes reasonable but original** - an alternate version of a culture, including a surviving one, might have features unusual from an OTL point of view, but reasonably, logically established ones, instead of predictable visual clichés or other lazy stereotypes. | **3.) Keeping the outcomes reasonable but original** - an alternate version of a culture, including a surviving one, might have features unusual from an OTL point of view, but reasonably, logically established ones, instead of predictable visual clichés or other lazy stereotypes.\\ |
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| No, if Ancient Egypt - really, which ancient Egypt ? Old Kingdom ? New Kingdom ? Ptolemaic ? - never fell and continued to the present day, it's doubtful people would still be building pyramids or tombs in the Valley of Kings with slave labour, all the while using smartphones, riding around in electric cars, holding democratic elections, and wearing casual sportswear with a few token ancient Egyptian stylings. If an ancient Egyptian society survived to the present day, it would likely still evolve in ways as to be eventually uncrecognizable to what it was like 2000 or 3000 years ago. Various new nations and powers and religions, as well as commercial changes and technological advances, will pose challenges to a surviving ancient Egypt, as preserving its "stereotypical" nature straight out of antiquity will not help it as a country surrounded by continuously advancing neighbours. Egyptians are unlikely to be flying into space, while still using horse-drawn chariots and bows in battle, rather than tanks and rifles. It is likely that if there was a more direct continuity in the alternate timeline, it is still likely the resulting Egypt would be closer to modern day Egypt in timeline, in terms of society, tech, culture, religion, economy, not closer to what ancient Egypt was like 2000 years ago. | No, if Ancient Egypt - really, which ancient Egypt ? Old Kingdom ? New Kingdom ? Ptolemaic ? - never fell and continued to the present day, it's doubtful people would still be building pyramids or tombs in the Valley of Kings with slave labour, all the while using smartphones, riding around in electric cars, holding democratic elections, and wearing casual sportswear with a few token ancient Egyptian stylings. If an ancient Egyptian society survived to the present day, it would likely still evolve in ways as to be eventually uncrecognizable to what it was like 2000 or 3000 years ago. Various new nations and powers and religions, as well as commercial changes and technological advances, will pose challenges to a surviving ancient Egypt, as preserving its "stereotypical" nature straight out of antiquity will not help it as a country surrounded by continuously advancing neighbours. Egyptians are unlikely to be flying into space, while still using horse-drawn chariots and bows in battle, rather than tanks and rifles. It is likely that if there was a more direct continuity in the alternate timeline, it is still likely the resulting Egypt would be closer to the modern day Egypt of our timeline, in terms of society, tech, culture, religion, economy, not closer to what ancient Egypt was like 2000 years ago. |
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| **[[Wank]]** - The tendency for black-and-white thinking in storytelling and worldbuilding, having everything or nearly everything go well for a particular historical culture, nation or group, all the while coupled with heaping nothing but endless misfortune and misery on other cultures (especially the supposed "rivals" of the "favourite" culture). | **[[Wank]]** - The tendency for black-and-white thinking in storytelling and worldbuilding, having everything or nearly everything go well for a particular historical culture, nation or group, all the while coupled with heaping nothing but endless misfortune and misery on other cultures (especially the supposed "rivals" of the "favourite" culture). |
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| **[[Ridiculously overpowered Ireland]]**, **[[Pre-modern Japan as a great power]]** - Examples of wanks. | **[[Ridiculously overpowered Ireland]]**, **[[Premodern Japan as a great power]]** - Examples of wanks. |
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