Life After People
Nov. 30th, 2008 09:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stephbgDisaster TV is frequently a great source of amusement to me (see Shark Swarm and that London flood thing), but what makes a great disaster script are the people.
Last week's TV docco Life After People modelled the effects of the sudden disappearance of the human race, conveniently sidestepping cause or body disposal. They're dead. And gone. Nuff said. And that's fine, because we were left with a series of really interesting engineering failure models for houses, cars, buildings and infrastructure. There were no people to clog up the science. No tearful separations of loved ones. No sobbing children. No mad scientists. No stilted speeches about environmental responsibility. And I was more than happy.
I couldn't comment on the accuracy of the models, but I was glad to see the Sydney Harbour Bridge last quite a while. I was reminded again of why I really need to get around to sorting some of the drainage issues about my place. And maybe remember that external paint is there for more than decorative purposes. And pull some of that ivy away from the garden walls. Hello entropy. Meet home maintenance.
Clearly the show had a US-centric focus, but I could live with that. And a dog focus, which was less forgiveable. No-one talks about the post-apocalyptic kittens.
Last week's TV docco Life After People modelled the effects of the sudden disappearance of the human race, conveniently sidestepping cause or body disposal. They're dead. And gone. Nuff said. And that's fine, because we were left with a series of really interesting engineering failure models for houses, cars, buildings and infrastructure. There were no people to clog up the science. No tearful separations of loved ones. No sobbing children. No mad scientists. No stilted speeches about environmental responsibility. And I was more than happy.
I couldn't comment on the accuracy of the models, but I was glad to see the Sydney Harbour Bridge last quite a while. I was reminded again of why I really need to get around to sorting some of the drainage issues about my place. And maybe remember that external paint is there for more than decorative purposes. And pull some of that ivy away from the garden walls. Hello entropy. Meet home maintenance.
Clearly the show had a US-centric focus, but I could live with that. And a dog focus, which was less forgiveable. No-one talks about the post-apocalyptic kittens.
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Date: 2008-11-30 01:28 pm (UTC)Anyway, from the ad I got the impression that it was pretty obviously inspired by The World Without Us by Alan Wiesman. A very interesting read and not completely U.S.-centric. I would like to see the more realistic scenario where you have a pile of dead human bodies to break down somehow.
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Date: 2008-11-30 02:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-01 05:58 am (UTC)