Is our love of built worlds in fiction making us too passive and disengaged?
It’s not difficult to understand the appeal of intricate artificial worlds in works of fiction. They don’t just give us a new narrative to digest, but an entirely new universe with its own logic, laws and rules, and we – the audience – are invited to become participants. But should great works of fiction demand more from readers and viewers than merely assisting in worldbuilding? Incisively written by the US blogger Evan Puschak (also known as The Nerdwriter), The Perils of Worldbulding is a shrewd take on the appeal of imagined worlds, and their potential pitfalls.
Video by The Nerdwriter
videoFilm and visual culture
Space and time expand, contract and combust in this propulsive animation
5 minutes
videoMaking
On the Norwegian coast, a tree is transformed into a boat the old-fashioned way
6 minutes
videoBiology
Butterflies become unrecognisable landscapes when viewed under electron microscopes
4 minutes
videoNature and landscape
California’s landscapes provide endless inspiration for a woodcut printmaker
10 minutes
videoStories and literature
Two variants of a Hindu myth come alive in an animated ode to Indian storytelling
14 minutes
videoGender
A filmmaker responds to Lars von Trier’s call for a new muse with a unique application
16 minutes
videoFilm and visual culture
Our world has very different contours when a millimetre is blown up to a full screen
8 minutes
videoHistory of technology
Replicating Shakespearean-era printing brings its own dramas and comedy
19 minutes
videoTechnology and the self
A haunting scene from ‘Minority Report’ inspires a voyage into time and memory
7 minutes