Author: Eneasz

SPOILERS for the current chapter! (Part 4: Interlude With The Confessor)

One of the roles in this story was offered to a friend who initially accepted, but then turned it down after reading the story. She felt that Eliezer was portraying rape in a manner that implied there was nothing wrong with it, and didn’t want anything to with the project. This was my reply to her (slightly edited).

I don’t want you to have the wrong idea about Eliezer, so to pass along his explanation in brief – he once wrote that if our ancestors from even a few hundred years ago had been able to see what their children had wrought, they would be horrified. What we call Civil Rights they would call destroying the social order – allowing the vote to the lowest classes of humanity and thereby reducing governance to pandering to the lowest common denominator. We’ve allowed jews to take over large parts of our entertainment and financial sectors, and allowed a member of the slave race to become president! Sexual depravity is rampant, with everyone indulging their carnal desires with no regard for any decent morality. And perhaps worst of all, we’ve abandoned God and consigned our souls to hell and our time on earth to a living hell of satanic evil. (On a personal note, my mother locked herself in her room and wouldn’t come out for three days after I told her I was an atheist, so that one hit kinda close to home).
He conjectured that it’s entirely likely that if our ancestors had been able to see what we would become, they could decide it would be better for the human race to be wiped out than for such a disgusting travesty be allowed to take place. When writing 3WC he wanted to find a way to convey that feeling to his audience, that sort of disgust and repulsion. This was what he came up with. It’s not an endorsement of rape any more than Dexter is an endorsement of methodical, clinical murder.
I do understand your position though. I was unable to continue watching Dexter past the second episode, and I wouldn’t want to actively participate in it either.

I decided to put the credits at the front for this episode (and will for several others as well) to serve as a reminder of which voice is associated with which role. In HPMoR there are a number of distinct voices that reappear constantly, and after 100+ episodes I no longer tag every line with the speaker (McGonagall, Snape, Draco, Dumbledore, etc). I’m not sure that 3WC has been going long enough to cement actor’s voices with specific characters… but maybe? On the one hand, I have no trouble telling them apart, and I don’t want to cut up the dialog too much with unnecessary “said the pilot” tags. On the other hand, I know almost all of these people personally so I’m very familiar with their voices already, plus I’m the one who picked them for the role so the link is very strong in my mind. I think I make a particularly terrible judge of how much tagging is needed. So I introduced the Dramatis Personae. Hopefully that will help.

Speaking of which, I was appalled by how that’s pronounced. I’d always thought it ended with a “-nye” sound, not a “-nee” sound. I’m glad I looked it up, but man does it grate on my ears. :/ I’ve been surprised by a few pronunciations in the past, but they never hurt before.

In next episode’s news (no spoiler) – it looks like there isn’t an accepted pronunciation of “anti-agathics” yet. So I get to use the one I think sounds best, and try to sway history to my side. The power!!! ;)

I had a lot of trouble with Akon’s voice. I kept reverting to Harry’s voice (which is close to my natural tone anyway), but that didn’t feel right. Akon has a hundred years of command experience behind him! He shouldn’t sound quite so much like a charmingly precocious wunderkind. I always base my voices on some character in fiction I feel they resemble, so I went with someone from command in TNG. I didn’t feel I could possibly pull off the stately manner and understated gravitas of Picard, but I figured I could do a pretty decent Riker. Unfortunately the character just didn’t line up.

From my observations, much of leadership is assuming a confident and commanding demeanor. Acting assured (and being assuring) even when you aren’t, and doing so convincingly. Akon, through his described actions, his choice of words and phrasing, and his internal monologue, just doesn’t convey that. Every time I got on a good “Riker taking over while Picard is away and issuing orders” roll, I’d be hit with some action or line that made it obvious that I was clearly way out of character for Akon! And the whole thing would fall apart.

As a result, I’m afraid you’ll find that my Akon voice varies a bit more than it should from scene to scene.

I finally came to the conclusion that Akon is simply a bad captain. He’s too open and honest about his insecurities. His openness is probably a major asset for a research and exploration vessel, but it’s not inspirational or guiding in a high-stress crisis. I wish I had realized this several weeks earlier than I did. I’m also a bit crestfallen to have come to this conclusion – I identify very strongly with Akon, and I was delighted to see someone like myself in a leadership position. The realization that he isn’t a great leader, and that it’s therefore very likely that I am not a good leader for similar reasons, was disappointing.

It’s interesting the things you learn when stretching your boundaries.