Kobold King Posted September 19, 2014 Report Share Posted September 19, 2014 I have stuffy sinuses from a cold right now, so I ended up staying up all night re-reading Steelheart. In addition to other things which I might go into later, this part from Chapter 32 intrigues me. I'm putting this in spoilers just in case there are people viewing this who haven't read the book. For context, this is from when Steelheart sends a message to "Limelight" saying 'PICK A TIME AND LOCATION. I WILL COME." "This," Cody said, "is all people can see on any of the one hundred entertainment channels in Steelheart's network." It makes sense considering the infrastructure we see in Newcago, but it still strikes me as odd--and potentially humorous--that citizens of Newcago have access to a hundred different TV channels dedicated to their amusement. What precisely is shown on these channels? Sitcoms? Soap operas? Mostly reruns of pre-Calamity programs? I mean, if Steelheart was still producing new episodes of Doctor Who, then maybe Megan was right and bringing him down was a bad idea. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwiLyghtSansSparkles Posted September 19, 2014 Report Share Posted September 19, 2014 (edited) I have stuffy sinuses from a cold right now, so I ended up staying up all night re-reading Steelheart. In addition to other things which I might go into later, this part from Chapter 32 intrigues me. I'm putting this in spoilers just in case there are people viewing this who haven't read the book. For context, this is from when Steelheart sends a message to "Limelight" saying 'PICK A TIME AND LOCATION. I WILL COME." It makes sense considering the infrastructure we see in Newcago, but it still strikes me as odd--and potentially humorous--that citizens of Newcago have access to a hundred different TV channels dedicated to their amusement. What precisely is shown on these channels? Sitcoms? Soap operas? Mostly reruns of pre-Calamity programs? I mean, if Steelheart was still producing new episodes of Doctor Who, then maybe Megan was right and bringing him down was a bad idea. Steelheart was written as a Complete Monster, so I think it's safe to say he did not bring back Firefly. When I read that, I thought having one hundred entertainment channels was a brilliant move on Steelheart's part. I would imagine they showed mostly sitcoms, cartoons, soaps, sports, etc., all produced in the city under the watchful eye of Steelheart's regime, and probably a few reruns of pre Calamity shows. Those programs were most likely innocuous, entertaining but carefully sanitized of any dangerous themes like rebellion or self-rule. (In other words, all episodes of Doctor Who where the Doctor frees a planet from a superpowered tyrant were strictly verboten, but those where the Doctor fails, acts more like a stereotypical Epic, or never quite learns what's going on, were welcome.) The other shows were probably designed to placate the masses, keep them entertained enough to not think about rebellion. (This was probably taken from number 100 on the Evil Overlord List: "To ensure all my prisoners are too distracted to think about escape, I will provide them with free high-speed Internet access 24 hours a day.") Edited September 19, 2014 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kobold King Posted September 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2014 Steelheart was written as a Complete Monster, so I think it's safe to say he did not bring back Firefly. When I read that, I thought having one hundred entertainment channels was a brilliant move on Steelheart's part. I would imagine they showed mostly sitcoms, cartoons, soaps, sports, etc., all produced in the city under the watchful eye of Steelheart's regime, and probably a few reruns of pre Calamity shows. Those programs were most likely innocuous, entertaining but carefully sanitized of any dangerous themes like rebellion or self-rule. (In other words, all episodes of Doctor Who where the Doctor frees a planet from a superpowered tyrant were strictly verboten, but those where the Doctor fails, acts more like a stereotypical Epic, or never quite learns what's going on, were welcome.) The other shows were probably designed to placate the masses, keep them entertained enough to not think about rebellion. (This was probably taken from number 100 on the Evil Overlord List: "To ensure all my prisoners are too distracted to think about escape, I will provide them with free high-speed Internet access 24 hours a day.") But fortunately Joss Whedon became a powerful High Epic and took the main actors hostage, relaunching the series from an undisclosed location on the west coast. It does show off the fact that Steelheart was a clever dictator above and beyond the likes of Deathpoint. He understood that there was more to keeping an empire than just fear--keeping the populace occupied is also essential. "Bread and circuses," as the Romans would say. I do tend to wonder how much propaganda was flushed into the average program. Was there a branch of Steelheart's bureaucracy devoted to writing sitcom and soap opera scripts? Was there a death penalty attached to any scriptwriter who poked fun at Epics in his story lines? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king of nowhere Posted September 19, 2014 Report Share Posted September 19, 2014 well, considering that any epic had the "right" to kill any non-epic with impuity, I'd say that censorship wasn't needed, a scriptwriter had better not joke at epics if he cared for his life. As for entertainment, not sure. he had a branch of burocracy devoted to making sure he'd be feared, but i have no idea if they were also producing soap operas. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kobold King Posted September 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2014 well, considering that any epic had the "right" to kill any non-epic with impuity, I'd say that censorship wasn't needed, a scriptwriter had better not joke at epics if he cared for his life. As for entertainment, not sure. he had a branch of burocracy devoted to making sure he'd be feared, but i have no idea if they were also producing soap operas. I like to imagine that a particularly popular series would be "honored" with a surprise cameo from Steelheart in the final episode. Steelheart would swoop down, briefly chat with the main protagonist, and then brutally massacre the entire cast. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwiLyghtSansSparkles Posted September 19, 2014 Report Share Posted September 19, 2014 But fortunately Joss Whedon became a powerful High Epic and took the main actors hostage, relaunching the series from an undisclosed location on the west coast. It does show off the fact that Steelheart was a clever dictator above and beyond the likes of Deathpoint. He understood that there was more to keeping an empire than just fear--keeping the populace occupied is also essential. "Bread and circuses," as the Romans would say. I do tend to wonder how much propaganda was flushed into the average program. Was there a branch of Steelheart's bureaucracy devoted to writing sitcom and soap opera scripts? Was there a death penalty attached to any scriptwriter who poked fun at Epics in his story lines? ….is this a "You monster" moment or a "bow before your genius" moment? David said that the intelligent people were given the highest-level jobs, so I'd imagine that some very clever people were chosen to write those programs. There's a fine line between just enough message and too much message, and it takes a skilled writer to keep from crossing it. Take WWII propaganda cartoons, for instance. I recall watching one in high school where Adolf Hitler, depicted as the Big Bad Wolf, faced down America, Britain, and the Soviet Union, depicted as the Three Little Pigs. At one point, it appears as though the Wolf will win, but at the last possible moment, a volley of bullets and bombs labeled "War Bonds" blows him quite literally to where Satan lives. That cartoon is propaganda in its highest form, but it is well-written, engaging, and quite funny. On the other end of the spectrum, you have North Korean propaganda cartoons. One features a boy who doesn't like doing math. He falls asleep during his homework, and has a dream where a fleet of American warships attacks, and they can only be stopped by correct mathematical calculations. The boy wakes up and does his homework happily. The cartoon is poorly written, poorly done, and not engaging in the slightest. The lackluster delivery makes its message all the more obvious, and causes the viewer to reject it. I think Steelheart knew enough to hire clever writers for his shows, writers who knew how to toe the line between a message and propaganda, or at least knew enough to make propaganda entertaining. And, yes, I also think there was always the danger of a "cameo" to keep them in line. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgedancer Posted September 20, 2014 Report Share Posted September 20, 2014 (edited) Now I can´t help but wonder if there was a difference between "normal" Tv and the programm aimed at Epics. What kind of series would an Epic want to watch anyway, you can only have that many blood-sport competitions a week. Edited September 20, 2014 by Edgedancer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwiLyghtSansSparkles Posted September 20, 2014 Report Share Posted September 20, 2014 Now I can´t help but wonder if there was a difference between "normal" Tv and the programm aimed at Epics. What kind of series would an Epic want to watch anyway, you can only have that many blood-sport competitions a week. I'm just wondering if Newcago even bothered to have weather reports. "Today we have a high of 40 with no chance of sunshine….and tomorrow we have a high of 35 with no chance of sunshine, and….oh, forget it. It's gonna be cold. It's gonna be dark. And it's gonna last for the rest of your life." 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgedancer Posted September 21, 2014 Report Share Posted September 21, 2014 I'm just wondering if Newcago even bothered to have weather reports. "Today we have a high of 40 with no chance of sunshine….and tomorrow we have a high of 35 with no chance of sunshine, and….oh, forget it. It's gonna be cold. It's gonna be dark. And it's gonna last for the rest of your life." Rain and snow would have been unaffected by Nightwielder, wouldn´t it? Although depending on how strong Steelheat´s wind control was he might have been able to push clouds around to manipulate the weather. Today emperor Steelheart decided to show his divine anger by flooding out all of the little rats in the sewer for a week. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Star Posted September 21, 2014 Report Share Posted September 21, 2014 The monster... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwiLyghtSansSparkles Posted September 21, 2014 Report Share Posted September 21, 2014 The monster... I think Steelheart reserved that show for torture purposes. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Star Posted November 5, 2014 Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 I think Steelheart reserved that show for torture purposes. Nobody should be subjected to that kind of cruelty... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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