That's an interesting thing to think about...off the top of my head I'd say that Spock wouldn't be like a person with a specific condition like Asperpergers. Maybe that seems wrong to me because it's...hmm...I guess it's a question of whether you would see that person as relating differently to the world or having a disability. I remember having a weird discussion once with somebody who thought they should have cast little people as the hobbits in LotR, and I was trying to explain that there's a big difference between a person with a genetic condition that's caused them to be below average height and a being whose natural height is just smaller than a human.
I was definitely thinking the same thing with vampires--there part of the whole issue is that these are ex-humans. The combination of the familiar and the strange is right there. That combination's always a fascinating for people. It's like with robots studies show that people find robots cute, but if they become too human-looking they are disturbing. So, like Threepio is fine, we can appreciate the parts of him that look human, but if he looked like a human with machine eyes or whatever he would be disturbing. Anyway, characters like spot sort of exist in that same spot. Human, but extreme. Close enough to human to be one, but not. And for Spock, probably never really crossing over into the disturbing place the way another character would.
It's interesting you would say that you lose a lot of the story if Kirk and Spock are just college students--I think Clio actually mapped on the extraordinary really well in the story (I know you haven't read it so you might be imagining something a little different). It follows them throughout their lives, with Kirk being a superstar in Soviet relations, for instance, and Spock becoming famous for his work in scientific ethics. So I'd say that story does look at it the same way you do, that part of the fun is seeing them show their same personality in a different setting that offers different ways to be extraordinary.
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Date: 2009-11-19 04:44 pm (UTC)I was definitely thinking the same thing with vampires--there part of the whole issue is that these are ex-humans. The combination of the familiar and the strange is right there. That combination's always a fascinating for people. It's like with robots studies show that people find robots cute, but if they become too human-looking they are disturbing. So, like Threepio is fine, we can appreciate the parts of him that look human, but if he looked like a human with machine eyes or whatever he would be disturbing. Anyway, characters like spot sort of exist in that same spot. Human, but extreme. Close enough to human to be one, but not. And for Spock, probably never really crossing over into the disturbing place the way another character would.
It's interesting you would say that you lose a lot of the story if Kirk and Spock are just college students--I think Clio actually mapped on the extraordinary really well in the story (I know you haven't read it so you might be imagining something a little different). It follows them throughout their lives, with Kirk being a superstar in Soviet relations, for instance, and Spock becoming famous for his work in scientific ethics. So I'd say that story does look at it the same way you do, that part of the fun is seeing them show their same personality in a different setting that offers different ways to be extraordinary.