10 April 2009

History through Battletech

Fraggmented has an interesting interpretation of the Battletech storyline, as a reinterpretation of modern civilization.

I'm not saying anything particularly new when I say that science fiction is rarely about the actual future. It's really more about the present, translated into an allegorical form, and the venerable "Battletech" franchise is no exception. It doesn't even really disguise it, with the various Great Houses of the Inner Sphere being clear analogies of various Earth nations--it doesn't really make much sense when you sit down and analyze it that these lines of sheer demarcation between a Japanese monoculture, a Chinese monoculture, et cetera would actually translate across hundreds of light years and centuries into the future, but it makes emotional sense to us because it's a recognizable allegory for our world.

The big surprise is when the historically familiar Houses are attacked by the unknown Clans, which quite literally set the Battletech universe on it's ear ... but I'll let John Seavey finish the story.

1 comment:

Magellan said...

Wow i think it is great that some one is blogging about Battletech. great info.