Artistic License Geography: Difference between revisions

[[File:world.jpg|frame|[[Blatant Lies|Mars, accurately drawn to scale.]] [http://bigthink.com/ideas/21162 (source)] ]]

 

 

A writer may want to set a story in a location, but that doesn't mean they want or need to be accurate- or even see it. This form of [[Artistic License]] can happen in a number of ways. The most common seems to be setting a story in a particular city without consulting a map, thus placing locations that are nowhere near one another quite close by, underestimating the time it would take to get from one to another, and sometimes transplanting whole landmarks from somewhere else entirely.

 

{{examples}}

== General ==

* The idea that the Great Wall of China is visible from space is incorrect, even at the closest point that could be considered space. The variations for being visible from the space shuttle or the moon are even more so; from the moon, only massive cloud systems, continents, and the oceans are distinguishable with the naked eye. If you ever want to try, consider trying to pick out the highway systems of Russia in the same view, as they are wider and longer- but it's ''still'' too small.

 

== Anime and Manga ==

** Then the show redeems itself only a little, relying mostly on [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief]]. The scene suddenly jumps from Southampton to London, which means a distance of eighty miles. Kenny has previously mentioned that they have no money, and it's not said whether they walked, hitchiked or anything else. However their arrival on foot does suggest that they walked. Yet the sky is still bright when they get there, and the only thing to suggest that Southampton is not [[Britain Is Only London|right next door to London]] is Kenny's (vague)comment that seeing Big Ben reminds him of how much time they've lost.

* ''[[Blood Plus]]'' went for the climate. At one point in the series, when Red Shield ship came to Vladivostok, the heroes transfered to a train. Among them only [[Token Minority|Lewis]] wore a hat. In the middle of the winter. Apparently, nobody told the authors that the winds at the time could lift an adult man off the ground, and temperatures routinely reached -25C (-13F) with precipitation of 400mm or 32 inches. You'd be lucky if you end up with ''only'' frostbitten ears in such conditions.

 

 

* The first edition of ''[[Tintin/Recap/Land of Black Gold|Land of Black Gold]]'' took place in British Mandate Palestine, and Bab El-Ehr is a local insurgent against British rule rather than fighting directly with the Emir of Khemed (a name not heard until the revamped edition). As Tintin is led away into the desert, he eventually meets the oil-rich Emir Ben Kalish Ezab. Israel/Palestine famously has no oil in it. And Emir of what, anyway? Later editions have the story take place in a fictional country called Khemed.

** "[[Tintin/Recap/Tintin in the Congo|Tintin in the Congo]]" also fell victim to huge controversy. The continent is depicted as if all black people are lazy, stupid or in general big children. Of course, the album was originally drawn in 1930 when creator Hergé worked for a Catholic newspaper without doing any kind of research for his albums. In those days Tintin actually visited Belgian Congo, not "Africa" as a whole. Later, when he did start doing research before drawing an album, Hergé felt regret for "Tintin in the Congo", even though it was drawn in a time when European colonialism was still vivid and many Europeans shared the same stereotypically ideas about Africa.

 

 

* In a case of failing canonical geography, ''[[Legolas By Laura|legolas by laura]]'' has Mirkwood, Mordor, and Rivendell about five minutes' walk away from each other, as opposed to the hundreds of miles separating all three in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' canon. Then again, [[Rouge Angles of Satin|Mirkwood and Mordor are persistently called "Milkwood" and "Mondor"]], which may be entirely different places that are closer together.

* A lot of fanfic writers think that California is sunny all year long, when the weather from September to mid/late May is completely unpredictable. Winters on the coast are also extremely rainy, windy, and cold.

** To clarify, in canon the train trip from London to Hogwarts begins at 10am and ends just before dinner time. This is not geographically possible unless a) Hogwarts is in northern Scotland, b) the train travels at approximately walking pace, c) the train was traveling in circles, or d) at some point the train crossed the Atlantic Ocean without noticing. The island isn't really that large, y'know.

* ''[[Hogwarts Exposed]]'' has one scene in which Hermione watches the Sun set at 4 pm on the 1st September. If there's ''anywhere'' in the northern hemisphere where this is possible, it certainly isn't in Scotland. For the record, it's ''over four hours'' too early. An earlier scene had it still dark at 5:50 am in August.

** The author butchers London (hell, all of Great Britain) just as badly. The Channel Tunnel goes directly to London, from which you can catch the Tube to "whales", home to cliffs from which you can jump into Loch Ness.