MSP134 [] No Selfies in Sci-Fi: No One Sees You Scream

Do you remember that time Rey and Chewie bumped into Thor at brunch? No? It’s on Gamora’s Insta. Our feeds are full of omakase, dalgona coffee and selfies. But where are the selfies in sci-fi? Welcome to the Real Housewives of Space.

Hosted by Matt Armitage & Richard Bradbury

Produced by Richard Bradbury for BFM89.9

EPISODE EXCERPT

Do you remember that scene in The Last Jedi where Luke and Rey stand near the edge of a cliff on Ahch-To, arms around each other and staring wide-eyed and grinning into the camera as they point at the puffin-like Porgs? Me neither. MSP’s Matt Armitage has had a revelation: there are no selfies in Sci-Fi.

• So, I originally talked about this on a recent episode of BFM’s A Bit of Culture.
• But it’s been gnawing away at me.
• This difference between what we see on our screen and our actual behaviour.
• Which is nothing new - we call it fiction for a reason.

That no one goes to the bathroom on TV shows?

• And there’s good reason for that.
• When we’re hanging out with friends and someone heads off to the loo everyone else is just kind of hanging around waiting.
• Very often you end up having these kind of filler conversations.
• And TV is full of moments like these.
• The coffee shop where the characters get their order in seconds.
• How is that even possible?
• It takes your heavily pomaded barista five minutes to decide what methodology to use to make your coffee.
• There’s growing scientific evidence that coffee may increase your lifespan.
• It needs to, just to offset the time you spend waiting for it.

Are there any behaviours that work the other way around?

• Of course. This is one that I do myself.
• Most people, when they get in their car, it takes them a few minutes to put their seatbelt on, get the car started, put it in gear, take off the handbrake and move off.
• On TV, people get in the car and drive off in seconds.
• They do it by starting the car in gear, with the handbrake off or ready to be released, so you can zoom straight off.
• Being an impatient type - I started to copy that years ago.
• A more annoying one is the loudspeaker phone thing.

Using the speaker instead of holding it to your ear?

• Yes. It drives me insane.
• It’s like the early days of mobile phones when idiots would bark ‘yeah, the line’s bad, I’m on my mobile’ at the top of their voice in some public space.
• The loudspeaker thing - we’ve learned it from reality TV.
• From the Kardashians to those can’t pay take it away type shows.
• Everyone in those shows uses phones on speaker mode because the camera crew need to record the conversation.
• But suddenly, everyone thinks that’s how you use a phone.
• One good thing - It’s really useful for overhearing people’s bank details and listening to them lie to their bosses.
• Possibly not the best use of the tech.