I don’t think portraying a snapshot rather than a steady-state society would be much of a problem: media like Avatar almost always captures the societies it portrays at unusually tumultuous times anyway, which is actually the main thing that makes the lack of curiosity and so forth conspicuous to me.
If the movie was about some kind of anthropologist-cum-method-actor trying to blend seamlessly into a stable culture that had never heard of a starship or a Hellfire missile, less inventive behavior on its citizens’ parts wouldn’t be so surprising. But it’s not; it’s about a contact scenario with a technologically superior species, and so the same behavior looks more like borderline-insane traditionalism or sentimentality.
If the movie was about some kind of anthropologist-cum-method-actor trying to blend seamlessly into a stable culture that had never heard of a starship or a Hellfire missile
I’m pretty sure there have been Star Trek episodes with that premise. Of course, everything usually goes to hell around the time of the second commercial break.
I don’t think portraying a snapshot rather than a steady-state society would be much of a problem: media like Avatar almost always captures the societies it portrays at unusually tumultuous times anyway, which is actually the main thing that makes the lack of curiosity and so forth conspicuous to me.
If the movie was about some kind of anthropologist-cum-method-actor trying to blend seamlessly into a stable culture that had never heard of a starship or a Hellfire missile, less inventive behavior on its citizens’ parts wouldn’t be so surprising. But it’s not; it’s about a contact scenario with a technologically superior species, and so the same behavior looks more like borderline-insane traditionalism or sentimentality.
I’d watch that movie.
I’m pretty sure there have been Star Trek episodes with that premise. Of course, everything usually goes to hell around the time of the second commercial break.