# Are you as sick as I am of Star Wars?



## Ralphy1 (Dec 17, 2015)

All of the hype and the merchandising is just too much and shows how shallow we have finally become.  Surely seniors should avoid involving themselves in this childish outpouring of interest...


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## Shalimar (Dec 17, 2015)

May the force be with you! Love star wars. Love star trek also.


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## Ralphy1 (Dec 17, 2015)

I might have known.  Anything far out seems to be your cup of tea...


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## ronaldj (Dec 17, 2015)

as I sit and type this I have my Boba Fett t=shirt on.....


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## Shalimar (Dec 17, 2015)

Ron, love Boba Fett.


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## Ralphy1 (Dec 17, 2015)

Here we go! Off to a galaxy far away...


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## Bobw235 (Dec 17, 2015)

One of our morning news stations here in Boston had their lead story about an all day Star Wars marathon going on right now from one of the local theaters.  Sent their weatherman out there to cover it.


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## QuickSilver (Dec 17, 2015)

I have no idea who Boba Fett is.... except my son said...  "I'm all set like Boba Fett.."   to me a few weeks ago.   That was the first I ever heard that name..   So.. the answer to the OP... is I've never gotten into it.


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## Warrigal (Dec 17, 2015)

I will be seeing the film. I just ignore all the hype.


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## Ralphy1 (Dec 17, 2015)

Seeing the film are you?  You will be embarrassing yourself and the senior cause of not wanting to be seen as childsh...


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## Warrigal (Dec 17, 2015)

Should I only go to see films about geriatrics?  Borrrring.


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## Ralphy1 (Dec 17, 2015)

No, but perhaps those of a mature content, and occasionally one of an overly mature content...


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## Shalimar (Dec 17, 2015)

Hmm, anyone worried about seeming childish would do well to avoid this thread.


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## Shalimar (Dec 17, 2015)

Ralphy, as a self-identified hedonist, you should revel in seniors exploring all aspects of indulgence, including mature content.


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## Ralphy1 (Dec 17, 2015)

layful:There is mature content with an R rating that I have no poroblem with seniors enjoying...


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## SifuPhil (Dec 17, 2015)

I have no problem being childish - it keeps me young. I'll watch _Hamlet_ then go see _Kung Fu Panda._ It's all good.
Never a huge fan of Star Wars - more of a Trekkie - but I see no problem with the latest release.

The marketing - eh, that happens with everything these days. Even in the past, some movie premieres were larger than life.



Sorry, Ralphy - not this time.


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## tnthomas (Dec 17, 2015)

Ralphy1 said:


> All of the hype and the merchandising is just too much and shows how shallow we have finally become.  Surely seniors should avoid involving themselves in this childish outpouring of interest...



That's called "situation normal", everything  is hyped and merchandised these days...can't stand to even watch a network news program- most of it makes you gag(focus on entertainment clowns) or makes you reaching for your psyche meds(shootings, bombings, political atrocities).


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## QuickSilver (Dec 17, 2015)

I'm looking forward to playing the game "Googly Eyes" with my grandkids on Christmas....  No idea what that has to do with this thread... except it's childish.. and I love it..  hahahahaha


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## Ralphy1 (Dec 17, 2015)

Don't try to get cute on this serious topic or you might be considered a furriner...


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## QuickSilver (Dec 17, 2015)

Ralphy1 said:


> Don't try to get cute on this serious topic or you might be considered a furriner...



Ralphy.....  I don't have to TRY to be cute...


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## Ralphy1 (Dec 17, 2015)

You going off topic again.  Try to stay on course...


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## QuickSilver (Dec 17, 2015)

It's difficult around here.


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## The Inspector (Dec 17, 2015)

I never though of Star wars a kids movie. It's just any action sci-fi. It's not the smurfs or something.


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## Shalimar (Dec 17, 2015)

Why worry about entering a second childhood, when clearly none of us has left the first? Yaaaaay! Let's plaaaay! Lolololol. I think I am getting caught up in the spirit of Xmas, or else drunk from lack of sleep. Whatever, it's all good.


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## Shalimar (Dec 17, 2015)

Mmmm. Now I want to do a Monty Pythonesque Sci-fi smurfs movie. That would be deeply childish!


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## Ralphy1 (Dec 17, 2015)

This is becoming a senior version of the Children's Hour...


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## Shalimar (Dec 17, 2015)

Isn't it great Ralphy? Fasten your Depends and jump right in!


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## fureverywhere (Dec 17, 2015)

I saw it once. Maybe not even all the way through...meh. My cousin probably has every toy ever connected with it...I personally don't understand the fascination.


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## Shalimar (Dec 17, 2015)

Ralphy, perhaps you could teach the smurfs to play chess?


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## Shalimar (Dec 17, 2015)

Star Wars often grabs the attention of people who love  fantasy as well. People who love The Hobbit can gravitate to Star Wars and Star Trek. Different type of morality play.


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## Ralphy1 (Dec 17, 2015)

I have enough trouble trying to play "good" chess myself...


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## WhatInThe (Dec 17, 2015)

Ralphy1 said:


> All of the hype and the merchandising is just too much and shows how shallow we have finally become.  Surely seniors should avoid involving themselves in this childish outpouring of interest...



Stars Wars. The first chapter in the do not play with your toys book. Leave in the original package, stare at it while it ages then resell a decade or two later for a new Mercedes.

Pop culture madness at it's finest.


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## Cookie (Dec 17, 2015)

Star Wars is alive and well.  Lets do it!


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## Davey Jones (Dec 17, 2015)

Warrigal said:


> I will be seeing the film. I just ignore all the hype.



Ill see the film when Netflix comes out with it....Wonder how much the theaters charge to see this (ahem)n special movie.


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## WhatInThe (Dec 17, 2015)

Ralphy1 said:


> layful:There is mature content with an R rating that I have no poroblem with seniors enjoying...



Like Carrie Fisher's cocaine nail visible in the early films? 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...own-coke-nail--notorious-quick-sniff-fix.html


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## Butterfly (Dec 17, 2015)

I got subjected to the first Star Wars flick ad nauseum several years ago when my grandsons played it over and over and over and over and over.  I got to where I could recite the dialogue.   Star Wars just isn't my cup of tea, tho my sister loves that stuff.


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## Warrigal (Dec 17, 2015)

Ralphy1 said:


> No, but perhaps those of a mature content, and occasionally one of an overly mature content...



The Star Wars stories are not immature, unless you regard stories/legends like Camelot and Robin Hood to also be immature. The themes are timeless and for a while the first SW trilogy was one of the literary choices in NSW senior English studies. They studied the films using the same critical techniques that  we  used to read Shakespeare. 

I've used a bible study series with some very intelligent junior high school boys that used themes from Star Wars to link to the same values in the bible.


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## Warrigal (Dec 17, 2015)

Shalimar said:


> Star Wars often grabs the attention of people who love  fantasy as well. People who love The Hobbit can gravitate to Star Wars and Star Trek. Different type of morality play.


Exactly. You forgot about Lord of the Rings which is a lot deeper than The Hobbitt.


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## AprilT (Dec 17, 2015)

Ralphy, I'm with you, I am ready to scream at every person who's seems giddy about it because it's everywhere even eclipsing Christmas, which wouldn't be a bad thing if it were something I had an interest in say SpongeBob.  




fureverywhere said:


> I saw it once. Maybe not even all the way through...meh. My cousin probably has every toy ever connected with it...I personally don't understand the fascination.




I went to see the first one because, well, my boyfriend of the time wanted to see it, though I was fascinated by the creativity, I couldn't wait for the movie to be over.  Silly me though, when Billy D Williams stared in one of the later ones, he at the time was someone I had grown up with a crush on, I couldn't resist going to see that other SW whatever # it was.  Disliked that version even more.




Shalimar said:


> Star Wars often grabs the attention of people who love  fantasy as well. People who love The Hobbit can gravitate to Star Wars and Star Trek. Different type of morality play.



I really do get it that some people love SW movies and the whole fantasy theme, but, sometimes emotions of liking it doesn't work to spread over to some of those who also like other fantasy themed movies. I thoroughly enjoyed the first LOR  and went to see the second as well  with great anticipation I loss interest with the third, but, I've mildly enjoyed watching the others on dvd and I've definitely enjoyed some of the later Star Trek movies as well.  I just can't get into Star Wars, I like Dark Vader's earlier character and the storm troopers, but most everything else about the characters and the movie annoyed me.

I don't disrespect the people who love Star Wars movie, I can geek out for other sci-fi fantasy movies just as much as the next person, as well some already are aware,  but, the SW hype is driving me bonkers even more so than I already am.  Though I would like to cuddle r2-d2 or whatever the newest version is called it's the cutest little bot.


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## SifuPhil (Dec 17, 2015)

Shalimar said:


> Mmmm. Now I want to do a Monty Pythonesque Sci-fi smurfs movie. That would be deeply childish!



That would be _awesome_!

*whips out his screenwriting pad*


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## SifuPhil (Dec 17, 2015)

I'm a huge Sherlock Holmes fan. As a result I've read the books (over and over at one point), seen the 1939-1946 American movie series with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, a lot of other movie versions and the latest version, _Sherlock_, with Benedict Cumberbatch (fantastic series!).

You could call me a fan boy.

Thing is, I take it personally when a version comes out that I don't like, like the "updated" American TV version _Elementary_ where Holmes is a recovering drug addict, and Watson is a female.

No. 

It goes against the Code. 

I know it's all fantasy, that I was being childish when I was a married man, with kids, and had what amounted to a shrine to Holmes in the basement. 

Next to the model trains. And the bar.

Being childlike is different than being childish. I think we all need to recapture the magic of childhood at some point, and if a movie like Star Wars can do it for some people, all the better.


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## Warrigal (Dec 17, 2015)

> Being childlike is different than being childish. I think we all need to recapture the magic of childhood at some point, and if a movie like Star Wars can do it for some people, all the better.



Couldn't agree more. The ability to see the world through the eyes of your inner child, while still retaining your adult perspective is a wonderful gift.


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## Manatee (Dec 17, 2015)

I have ignored Star Wars since day one.


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## AprilT (Dec 17, 2015)

fureverywhere said:


> I saw it once. Maybe not even all the way through...meh. My cousin probably has every toy ever connected with it...I personally don't understand the fascination.





SifuPhil said:


> I'm a huge Sherlock Holmes fan. As a result I've read the books (over and over at one point), seen the 1939-1946 American movie series with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, a lot of other movie versions and the latest version, _Sherlock_, with Benedict Cumberbatch (fantastic series!).
> 
> You could call me a fan boy.
> 
> ...




I feel your pain on the Holmes matter, The latest American TV version has killed it for me, but, I'd still go see the Movie versions whenever they put them out, I was a fan from school days too, the books were part of our reading collection in my classes and I loved me some Sherlock stories.   

And as I said, I don't fault the Star Wars fans, but, I'm still sick of hearing all the fan far as anyone would be of something they don't much care to hear hype about any other subject matter.  Does one want to hear all the hype about the newest insert other hyped thing people want to glorify that any one of us may not be into and I bet someone will want to stick a pin in the fun of others.  They do it to me all the time.  Like SW fans, I pay the spoil sports no mind as should the 40 -70 y/o men who will be sporting SW attire to the showing of these movies.


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## Warrigal (Dec 17, 2015)

There will be a Doctor Who Christmas special for those who want an antidote to the Star Wars hype.

I plan a double indulgence this year.


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## SifuPhil (Dec 17, 2015)

Well, one example that I can think of off hand is professional - or even amateur - sports.

Things like the Super Bowl or the World Cup - they are hyped beyond belief and bring in millions of dollars. People arrange their lives around sporting events such as these, waiting all year, planning their days off from work, traveling across the country, paying hundreds of dollars for tickets (not to mention the hats, mugs, T-shirts, etc.), going ballistic with their cheering ... 

Sound familiar?

But when you get down to it, what's the harm? Sure, I don't like sports, but I wouldn't deny the opportunity to someone else to enjoy them.


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## Falcon (Dec 17, 2015)

Sick of it ?   Hell no.   Never watched it.    layful:


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## Shalimar (Dec 17, 2015)

Obviously my pathetic attempt at Satire bombed,hopefully due to sleep deprivation.Lol. No I don't see Star Trek, Star Wars, Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, or Narnia, as childish. Imagination and a sense of wonder can keep one's mind supple and engaged.
childlike, I hope so.


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## SifuPhil (Dec 17, 2015)

Shalimar said:


> Obviously my pathetic attempt at Satire bombed,hopefully due to sleep deprivation.Lol.



Oh, you know me - I could write an entire universe from your idea.

I wouldn't be on this forum much longer, though.


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## AprilT (Dec 17, 2015)

SifuPhil said:


> Well, one example that I can think of off hand is professional - or even amateur - sports.
> 
> Things like the Super Bowl or the World Cup - they are hyped beyond belief and bring in millions of dollars. People arrange their lives around sporting events such as these, waiting all year, planning their days off from work, traveling across the country, paying hundreds of dollars for tickets (not to mention the hats, mugs, T-shirts, etc.), going ballistic with their cheering ...
> 
> ...




Somehow, you must not be understanding, no one is saying there is harm, quite the opposite, saying I understand, doesn't mean I have want to hear and enjoy the hype, I can be annoyed and still understand and let people have their moment of joy, not trying to stop them, just wish it would stop already so it isn't the main story on every news programming, even my mainstay like nightline which I often tune into for more interesting and often serious news stories, but, has now become more focused on pop-culture each night when it was more often in the past hard hitting news.

Again, no one is saying people shouldn't have fun with Star Wars, I've said it time and time again there's nothing wrong with having fun seeing these types of movies and being into it..


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## SifuPhil (Dec 17, 2015)

AprilT said:


> Somehow, you must not be understanding,



That happens often as I get older.



> no one is saying there is harm,



Ralphy with his OP seemed to be. 



> quite the opposite, saying I understand, doesn't mean I have want to hear and enjoy the hype, I can be annoyed and still understand and let people have their moment of joy, not trying to stop them, just wish it would stop already so it isn't the main story on every news programming, even my mainstay like nightline which I often tune into for more interesting and often serious news stories, but, has now become more focused on pop-culture each night when it was more often in the past hard hitting news.



My apologies - I didn't realize that I gave the impression I was trying to stop them - just equating the brouhaha over the movie - Ralphy's OP - with that of professional sprots. 



> Again, no one is saying people shouldn't have fun with Star Wars, I've said it time and time again there's nothing wrong with having fun seeing these types of movies and being into it..



And again, that was Ralphy's OP, unless I totally misunderstood it. You KNOW how he likes to bait the bears ...


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## Cookie (Dec 17, 2015)

I so remember lining up to see the first Star Wars with my then young son and my then partner, it was fun and exciting for all of us.  Same went for the next couple of movies.

Nowadays I couldn't care less, but I'm glad that these movies are still thrilling and exciting people --- May the force be with you, too.


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## AprilT (Dec 17, 2015)

SifuPhil said:


> That happens often as I get older.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Oh sorry, I tend not to hear all of what Dear Ralphy says, I guess I didn't read all of his post, thought your were responding to my posts.


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## SifuPhil (Dec 17, 2015)

AprilT said:


> Oh sorry,* I tend not to hear all of what Dear Ralphy says,* I guess I didn't read all of his post, thought your were responding to my posts.



I try not to as well. 

JUST KIDDING, RALPHY!


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## AprilT (Dec 17, 2015)

Cookie said:


> I so remember lining up to see the first Star Wars with my then young son and my then partner, it was fun and exciting for all of us.  Same went for the next couple of movies.
> 
> Nowadays I couldn't care less, but I'm glad that these movies are still thrilling and exciting people --- May the force be with you, too.
> View attachment 24687



Cool pic, there are moments even I get a kick out of some of this silliness.    case in point, I enjoyed watching the following clip; I thought how good spirited everyone was how they obliged and played along.  I do have a sense of humor about it all, just can be annoying some times, like when I get ready for my main news programs and such fair turn out to be top bill.


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## AprilT (Dec 17, 2015)

SifuPhil said:


> I try not to as well.
> 
> *JUST KIDDING*, RALPHY!



Yeah me too.  k:


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## SifuPhil (Dec 17, 2015)

AprilT said:


> ...  case in point, I enjoyed watching the following clip; ...



His footwork is terrible, he has no defense -

...

... oh, sorry - doing a technical analysis - old habit.


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## Pookie (Dec 17, 2015)

Not so much a Star Wars fan, but definitely a Star Trek fan. 

We named our tiny little adult cat, who still weighs only 4.5 pounds at 11 years old, Saavik.

'Saavik' in Vulcan, means "little cat."

Remember Lieutenant Saavik in the Star Trek movies?


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## RadishRose (Dec 17, 2015)

error


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## AprilT (Dec 17, 2015)

SifuPhil said:


> His footwork is terrible, he has no defense -
> 
> ...
> 
> ... oh, sorry - doing a technical analysis - old habit.



LOL!  Well, I would keep the conversation going, but, I picked up a copy of The SpongeBob move titled Sponge out of Water and I'm hoping maybe I'll get around to watching it, though, I might watch The Grand Budapest Hotel first or one of the other six movies I picked up.  Toss up I have several books to get to as well.  Sigh, so little time before the next Star Wars commercial interruption


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## SifuPhil (Dec 17, 2015)

Talk about advertising - I recall a few weeks ago there were a slew of commercials for some new _Peanuts_ movie, and the whole ad was crafted around Tide detergent ...


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## Warrigal (Dec 17, 2015)

Just learned a new word. Apparently Star Wars is an example of a shared paracosm. Another example is Tolkien's Middle Earth and  more recently Pandora (Avatar).



> A *paracosm* is a detailed imaginary world created inside one's mind. This fantasy world may involve humans, animals, and things that exist in reality; or it may also contain entities that are entirely imaginary, alien, and otherworldly. Commonly having its own geography, history, and languages, the experience of such a paracosm is often developed during childhood and continues over a long period of time: months or even years.


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## Cookie (Dec 17, 2015)

Interesting word Warri, and seems very apt in the case of Star Wars which has become a cultural phenomenon.


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## Warrigal (Dec 17, 2015)

As a toddler I lived in a world of adults and I never came across other children to interact with. I  created a paracosm inhabited by farm and other imaginary animals.
It faded away when we moved to a new home but I still have the ability to create my own private paracosms when I have the psychological need to do so.


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## Victor (Dec 17, 2015)

Yes sick of it.


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## SifuPhil (Dec 17, 2015)

Warrigal said:


> Just learned a new word. Apparently Star Wars is an example of a shared paracosm. Another example is Tolkien's Middle Earth and  more recently Pandora (Avatar).



So in other words, every fiction and novel writer creates paracosms ... interesting ...


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## Warrigal (Dec 17, 2015)

Not really Phil. There is a big difference between Robinson Crusoe, Huckleberry Finn and Lorna Doone on the one hand and Gulliver's Travels, Star Trek and Harry Potter on the other.

However, like all things, I suspect that there is a continuum of paracosmicity. 

And I just made up a new word. I claim copyright.


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## Shalimar (Dec 17, 2015)

Warri, I can do that too! I called it, Sanctuary,my secret garden. All the children's stories I created for my kids originated there:ie Sebastien le Spider with his beret and fabulous moustache, and Charlotte D. Elifint, who packed up her trunk and ran off into the jungle looking for friends. I had forgotten. Thank you so much for jogging my memory!


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## SifuPhil (Dec 17, 2015)

Warrigal said:


> Not really Phil. There is a big difference between Robinson Crusoe, Huckleberry Finn and Lorna Doone on the one hand and Gulliver's Travels, Star Trek and Harry Potter on the other.



But isn't the "big" difference merely length? Or are you talking complexity? 



> However, like all things, I suspect that there is a continuum of paracosmicity.
> 
> And I just made up a new word. I claim copyright.



Nice. :encouragement:


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## Butterfly (Dec 17, 2015)

SifuPhil said:


> I'm a huge Sherlock Holmes fan. As a result I've read the books (over and over at one point), seen the 1939-1946 American movie series with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, a lot of other movie versions and the latest version, _Sherlock_, with Benedict Cumberbatch (fantastic series!).
> 
> You could call me a fan boy.
> 
> ...



I love Sherlock, too!  But, like  you, I think the idea of a female Sherlock is heresy.  Sherlock was a male in the books, and movie/TV stuff about him should be at least minimally true to the books.  

My favorite portrayer of Sherlock is Jeremy Brett.


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## Warrigal (Dec 17, 2015)

No. I'm talking whether or not the world depicted is largely a product of the author's imagination or whether it is based on his/her reality. Robinson Crusoe was based on the story of Alexander Selkirk who was really shipwrecked, Huckleberry Finn is set against the realities of living in the South before emancipation of the slaves and Lorna Doone is firmly set in a particular location in England at a particular historical period. The characters and the plot may be products of the author's imagination but not the world that they interact with. None of the characters are fantastic. All are recognisably human.

On the other hand Gulliver's adventures take place in a wildly imaginary world that includes the lands of Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg and Glubbdubdrib. Miniature people, giants and Yahoos that are part horse feature in these lands. It is a prose satire and these worlds are constructed to allow him to satirise powerful people safely. Star Trek and Harry Potter we all know about and each has it's own paracosm governed by unique certain laws and principles and each is inhabited by wonderfully imaginative and unique creatures.


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## SifuPhil (Dec 18, 2015)

Ah, okay - the difference then is setting and level of reality.

Still - isn't that the domain of many fiction / novel writers? It doesn't belong exclusively to sci-fi tales ... not that you said it did. I'm just trying to get a firm handle on exactly what the differences are.


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## Karen99 (Dec 18, 2015)

Okay..I'm more sick of drug ads on tv than the Star Trek hype. I'm happy for people being happy about whatever rings their chimes.  May da force be wit ya...  :darth:


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## Warrigal (Dec 18, 2015)

SifuPhil said:


> Ah, okay - the difference then is setting and level of reality.
> 
> Still - isn't that the domain of many fiction / novel writers? It doesn't belong exclusively to sci-fi tales ... not that you said it did. I'm just trying to get a firm handle on exactly what the differences are.



No, sci-fi doesn't have a monopoly in this. Given that I've only just heard the word paracosm for the first time today and my only research is to read a bit of Wiki, I can't speak with any kind of expertise but I would venture to say that a children we did this all the time in our imaginative play/role playing games. Regardless of our real settings, we could transport ourselves into fantastic settings where the normal rules of physics and common sense held no sway.

When I was teaching I would sometimes get students to develop a concept by exploring examples and non examples.

Paracosm might be a literary genre that is essentially different to other genres such as historical adventure (Dumas), detective fiction (Agatha Christie), romance (Pretty woman), fairy stories (Red Riding Hood) etc but we need to remember that there is no perfect system of classification for any set of objects or creatures. Books and literature are no different. Overlap is inevitable.


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## SifuPhil (Dec 18, 2015)

Here's a not-so-great source (Psychology Today), and a bit long, but it was interesting to see them refer to paracosms as "worldplay". That for me clarifies it a bit more. They claim that children that DO do this develop into smarter, more creative adults.

I must have never done it.


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## Ralphy1 (Dec 18, 2015)

What about funny books?  They were the extent of my childhood reading...


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