Sliding Scale of Realistic Versus Fantastic: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 18:32, 20 July 2018

Just as the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism determines the 'mood' of a series, this scale determines how much a particular series is unlike reality in relation to the natural laws, general conditions, and probabilities of Real Life. Stories also vary greatly in their realism concerning human behavior, but that trope has yet to be created.

There are cases where the writers believe in something which most of the audience consider unrealistic; these should be judged according to the audience' standards, for no one knows exactly what a writer believes. There are cases of Did Not Do the Research. If it's obviously deliberate laziness, the work deserves a place at the fantastic end, even if it's unintended.

There are also stories in which the precise cause of things is never delineated: both a naturalistic (positivist) and a supernatural explanation is possible.

Not to be confused with Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness - a time-travel story with rigorous rules can be fairly Hard but decidedly Fantastic, for example. Sliding Scale of Like Reality Unless Noted charts the degree to which a work of fiction set in what is ostensibly a "modern", Earthly environment departs from Real Life.

A story's way of dealing with Back from the Dead can be a good indicator:

  • Mundane: Death is final. No one comes back from the dead.
  • Unrealistic: If anyone comes back, it's from Not Quite Dead or from improbably surviving events that should have killed them (but, of course, they Never Found the Body).
  • Unusual: People can outright come Back from the Dead, but it's a rare occurrence.
  • Fantastic: It's difficult and has certain requirements.
  • Surreal: The afterlife has a revolving door.

Some series can rank one or two steps up or down this basic scale.

Examples of Sliding Scale of Realistic Versus Fantastic include:

Mundane

There is nothing that cannot be explained by contemporary science and nothing ever happens that could not conceivably occur in Real Life as we know it. About the most 'fantastic' thing that happens here is a Contrived Coincidence or two designed to bring as much bad luck (or good luck) to the characters as possible.

Unrealistic

The trappings of realism are there. The technology and the settings depicted do have their counterparts in, or are based on, Real Life as we know it, but the presentation is over-the-top. On very, very, rare occasions there may happen what would reasonably seem to be supernatural events, but we are never given a full explanation of what actually did transpire. Depending on the genre, expect either lots of crazy stunts and polished dialogue, and the notion of realism will almost certainly take a back seat to the Rule of Cool, Rule of Funny, or the Rule of Sexy. American Soap Operas also fit, because reality makes a lot of exceptions for the Rule of Drama.

Unusual

The world is mostly semi-realistic, but it does contain more than just a few minor fantastic hiccups. It may be Twenty Minutes Into the Future or contain some Applied Phlebotinum which doesn't quite fit into conventional science. Supernatural events may occasionally happen, though they may fall under Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane. Some 'hard' science fiction shows that are based on extrapolations of existing technology may fit on the upper end of this.

    • Examples: Horror, Magic Realism, "Hard" Science Fiction.
      • Armored Trooper VOTOMS
      • Doctor Who is probably between Unusual and Fantastic on the definition, because while some stuff is semi-realistic in a few episodes, the effects of half the alien technology and generally setting may as well be magic as explained by Techno Babble.
      • Grave of the Fireflies, narrated by a dead character. Take out the narrator, and the film would have been in the Mundane territory instead.
      • Gundam
      • Indiana Jones, semi-realistic with the addition of some supernatural elements.
      • Metal Gear
      • Neon Genesis Evangelion. Twenty Minutes Into the Future plus forty meter tall Eldritch Abomination clones disguised as Humongous Mecha fit this category rather snugly. End of Evangelion and Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0 however take it to the next level at minimum.
      • Orion's Arm borders unusual and fantastic. Everything in it is possible though, albeit just, within known physics.
      • Pippi Longstocking, only the title character (save her father to a lesser extent) does possess any fantastic abilities while the rest of the characters and the world in which they inhabit seem to be rather mundane.
      • Pushing Daisies may fit here since aside from the protagonist's power to bring people Back from the Dead, the world is generally realistic.
      • Power Rangers RPM, unlike the original Go Onger below, falls between fantastic and unusual while bordering more on the unusual side.
      • Red Dead Redemption, aside from the DLC Undead Nightmare, which moves straight into fantastic, is realistic enough storyline-wise (Unless you think there's no possible way so much crap can happen in one guy's life.) Dead-Eye may be explained away as John Marston just being a damn good shot, but what can't be explained are such things that are optional encounters, like carrying a rabbit's paw to increase the amount of loot gotten off of killed enemies, a possible blessed object reducing the chance of enemies shooting at you, and of course The Strange Man, who only responds to questions with answers that provide more questions.
      • The Suite Life On Deck: Was Mundane to start with, but then you get plotlines like sentient robots who created themselves trying to take over the ship, having to travel into the future to prevent the ship from an alien invasion, and having to fend off an ancient curse put on you by a dead queen's crown.

Fantastic

The rules of the real world no longer apply. Divine intervention, magic or superscience are the prevailing paradigms by which the world functions. These paradigms do have a certain internal consistency, though. Creatures exist that shouldn't exist in Real Life, and the setting might not take place on Earth at all.

Surreal

The world has (almost) no rules or internal logic whatsoever. Anything can (and frequently does) happen, often with little or no explanation. Expect things to run on nonsensoleum. Anything set on afterlife falls to this category.

Anime and Manga

Film

Literature

Live-Action TV

Radio

Video Games

Web Comics

Western Animation

UNSORTED

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