Contrasts

All fiction reflects reality but in different ways. We enjoy works of fiction set in heroic pasts and fantastic futures. On this blog, we have discussed, e.g.:

Poul Anderson's heroic fantasies and future histories;
SM Stirling's Nantucket Trilogy set in the past of an alternative timeline;
the Smallville TV series set in a superhero universe;
James Bond novels which reflect their period but through the lens of "...high-flown and romanticized caricatures..." (see here).

Because the focus of the blog remains Poul Anderson, the other works are usually discussed by comparing or contrasting them with appropriate stories or novels by Anderson. This is easy to do because Anderson's range is so vast.

By contrast, another kind of drama reflects reality more directly. Ken Loach directs films that sound like documentaries. The dialogue seems to have been tape recorded rather than enacted from a script. This is neither heroic past nor fantastic future but our present. Having just seen I, Daniel Blake, I mention Loach and his films purely for contrast and will return to more familiar themes in the next post.