@eemusings I misread the title of this post and thought you were dissing time travel
— Stephanie (@StephTheBlogger) July 18, 2014
With the TV series Outlander - based on Diana Gabaldon’s series – starting this month, I thought it was prime time to talk about time travel (as inspired by Steph on Twitter)!
The foundation of the story is that protagonist Claire accidentally falls back through time and finds herself in 1700s Jacobite Scotland. Not the most peaceful of times to be alive – but on the upside, there’s a strapping Scottish lad by her side.
(Minor spoilers follow)
It later turns out that Claire is one of a small group of people who can travel back and forth between their own time and certain periods in the past. They have to be at specific locations in order to do so, and the process is both painful and dangerous; there’s no guarantee it will go well. Yet after managing to return to her own, safer time period, she later decides to risk traveling back to the 1700s to look for Jamie.
(End spoilers)
So, specifically within the Outlander context – would I do the same if I faced the same choice today?
I’m kind of leaning towards no. Love is hunky dory, but I am a realist. I’d be unspeakably miserable in a more primitive time.
I love food. I’m also a rather picky eater. Potatoes may be my favorite single food item, but variety is the spice of life. No offence, Scotland of the past, but I would never willingly choose to subsist on your cuisine.
I do not like to rough it. I like indoor plumbing. Motorised vehicles. Modern communications technology.
I enjoy the miracles of modern medicine. Birth control. Painkillers. Healthcare.
I like gender equality – we’re not there yet but things have certainly been a lot worse in the past. I like voting and wearing what I want and cursing and working.
While modern society has its fair share of problems, the one thing I do appreciate is the rise of professional work. I was not made to do physical labor. I am great at sitting at a desk and doing things on the internet, and very little else. No way would I have done well even 100 years ago.
That aside, I’m looking forward to seeing how the TV series unfolds. I suspect the voiceover is going to drive me up the wall, but we’ll see…