Thoughts on Caprica

For a long time I ignored Caprica, because everyone was talking about how horrible Caprica was. Then suddenly everyone was talking about how awesome Caprica was. By “everyone” I mean, of course,  the People Who Live In The Internet. So even though I, like the People Who Live In The Internet, had been stunned and appalled by the end of Battlestar Galactica, I decided to give Caprica a chance. And lo, it was not that bad (not even the pilot) but it was also afflicted by some Problems. Such as:

1.  One of the things I found most intriguing about Battlestar Galactica was its complex portrayal of religion. It got right to the heart of what makes religion attractive, dangerous, lasting, a comfort. You could both understand and question its characters’ religious faith. They lived in a universe very much palpably powered by mysticism. As a religious person, I found that compelling — but was also glad that the show didn’t let religion off the hook.

Caprica purports to be as interested in religion. After all, its primary act is one of religiously motivated terrorism. Yet its depiction of religion feels flat and mystifying rather than mystical. Why were Zoe and Lacey devout enough monotheists to plan on leaving their families? What exactly do they believe? Why does Sister Clarice believe strongly enough to devote her life to religious terrorism? The answer seems to believe that they believe in One God because they are characters who believe in One God. But that kind of tautology is dissatisfying. Real-life fundamentalists are fascinating, and far more comprehensible. They believe because they’ve had intense experiences of conversion, or because religion provides them with a profound and satisfying sense of purpose in their lives. Their beliefs are immediate, specific, and very real to them. They don’t just sort of vaguely decide that there’s one god instead of twelve, and they’re going to give up their lives for him. We saw this on Battlestar Galactica: the monotheist movement there, with its obvious parallels to early Christianity, drew its popularity from a sense that the complex rituals of the twelve gods had, in the atmosphere of crisis on board the Fleet, become empty and meaningless. The new message preached… “preached”… by Baltar was one of immediacy, intense mystical experience, and radical salvation. It was easy to understand the attraction of these ideas, especially in that context. By contrast, on Caprica we have no idea of why these fundamentalist monotheist ideas have such apparent power for people. As a result, the idea that someone as headstrong, savvy, and clever as Zoe Graystone would give her life to them is almost ludicrous.

2. Caprica, please stop torturing me with the Tauron “language.” I am all in favor of inventing and/or demuertifying languages for science fiction/fantasy worlds. In fact, I find ConLangs fascinating. And I have, at one time or another, however briefly, studied both Latin and Greek. However, I have also spent enough time seriously studying living languages to know what a living language sounds like. A living language does not sound like the Others on Lost speaking Latin*; it does not sound like two guys reciting syllables of more-or-less Ancient Greek. Living languages have their own rhythms: stressed syllables, vowel reductions, elision. They’re fast and fluid. They sound like people talking. It’s easy to tell when people are actually speaking a language and when they’re reciting syllables. The latter is torturous for anyone with a linguistic ear.

3. It seems to me that Caprica is in some ways ignoring its own centrally interesting issues. Really this ought to be a show about — on some level — a world searching for authenticity: a world in which people escape to virtual reality, or else to a religious fundamentalism that promises them meaning and purpose. It also ought to be a show about what makes us human: is a data reconstruction of Zoe Graystone still Zoe Graystone? If implanted into a body, so that this body possesses all Zoe Graystone’s memories and mental abilities, does that body “become” Zoe? What does it mean to be a human being in the technological world? These are huge and resonant themes, much more interesting than the simplistic wheel-spinning taking place with Sister Clarice (who is, btw, totally boring) or Caprican talk shows.

I don’t know. I’ll keep watching for now, because I’m mildly entertained. The show has so much promise — it would be a shame if it failed to make good…

*Except for Richard Alpert, because Nestor Carbonell speaks Latin like it’s Spanish — resulting in a natural feel to the language.

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