The level of realism

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The level of realism

Postby Cheb » Fri Aug 14, 2009 9:55 am

The idea hit me after I came from work after forgetting to close my window in the morning...


The real life is full of crap
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In the anime,
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they leave a lot of it out.
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Is that a bad thing?
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While many a beginning fanfic authors rush to "fix" things as they feel their favorite anime portraits certain things unrealistically.

P.S. They even crapped on my brand new scanner, the ingrates! :evil:
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Re: The level of realism

Postby Crescent Pulsar » Fri Aug 14, 2009 12:49 pm

But those are white birds. Completely innocent. :P

Beyond that, it's probably less about portraying things unrealistically and more about discarding unwanted distractions. For instance, we know there are automobile accidents, even if we don't see any in any given series at all. You'll usually only see one happen when it's a part of the plot; it'd be a waste of time if one happened for no reason at all, since a character will most likely have to spend time on it in reaction, which could be better spent on other things. Kind of like if Ami had seen a bunch of poop, we'd see her grimace instead of smile, and then get to work cleaning up the poop. Not exactly appealing. Sometimes the services of realism just aren't required.
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Re: The level of realism

Postby Cheb » Fri Aug 14, 2009 1:44 pm

Sometimes the services of realism just aren't required.

That's exactly my point :D
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Re: The level of realism

Postby Neko- » Fri Aug 14, 2009 2:10 pm

Realism sucks... that's why there is anime :D It's a primary reason for the stuf of fantasy to be around :D
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Re: The level of realism

Postby Crescent Pulsar » Fri Aug 14, 2009 3:35 pm

Cheb wrote:That's exactly my point :D

Nuh-uh! You asked if it was a bad thing. You didn't state any point. XD

I mean, of course, it will depend. But, really, you'll have to deal more with suspension of disbelief more often than realism, since most anime/manga are unreal to begin with (aside from fantasy and sci-fi, even realistic settings often don't follow real-world physics to the letter, and you'll see characters displaying strength that would otherwise be impossible in reality).
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Re: The level of realism

Postby Sunshine Temple » Fri Aug 14, 2009 4:40 pm

The balance between fictional convenience and realism depends greatly on the scenario and the tone.

For example a slice of life story that doesn't have action, supernatural, and is set in essentially the present can be fairly realistic.

Though even then things are edited for space and content. Rarely do stories detail every second of what a character is doing. And a complete "realistic" description of just say the scene is essentially impossible, given space requirements.

Brevity is key to good story flow, instead of spending several pages describing a room, for example.

Alternatively, if you have a fantasy, scifi, or some such story, one where magic, might-as-well be magic technology, or movie-magic style action happens you need some realism, even if the story has very oddball characters and a bizarre absurdest tone.

This is because some anchor, some connection that the reader can relate in is required.

Without that you'll be writing gibberish.


Also using realism in the right places, fits in with internal consistency and proper use of details can add considerable verisimilitude.
This is useful in raising believability. Which is not exactly realism.
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