Wednesday, November 27, 2024

Fairy Tale Spotlight: How Interesting: A Tiny Man

[I spoil this entire story.]

"How Interesting: A Tiny Man" is a short science fiction story written by Harlan Ellison. It was published in 2010. This one had some promise.

The idea here is simple. Someone creates a tiny human being. For a little while the little human is perceived as a curiosity, and he even is famous for a time. But as time goes on, someone calls the little guy out as an act against God's plan. All of the sudden the world gets swarmed by group-think, and everyone suddenly goes from loving the tiny man to hating him.

Unfortunately, this is one of those stories that tries hard to paint the Christian point of view as one of the major holdbacks to progress due to superstition. I've seen this in science fiction before. It's really annoying. He does not even seem to understand Christians in this story, because the accusation made is not even an accurate one. However, the phenomenon that is presented in the book is actually real. It is just pitched from an atheist/liberal perspective.

People actually are like this. They have trouble thinking for themselves. If a celebrity goes on the air and says something, people will often listen to what they have to say and forego their own ability to think for themselves.

One other thing that is very odd about this story is that the author includes two different endings. Neither one is very good. I suppose he just could not think of only one way to conclude it. In one ending, the protagonist kills the little man. In the other, the tiny man becomes God and kills the one who created him. Both are ridiculous. All said, however, I don't really recommend this one. I mean you could do worse, but there are better Harlan Ellison stories out there that don't get so toxic with Christianity.

This blog was written on August 25, 2024.

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3 comments:

  1. Yeah, I am always disappointed by tantrums ranted through fiction. They never convince me of their... "argument." On the contrary: I associate their cause with annoyance and automatically loose interest at the very hint of it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just entertain people without pushing your angry agenda.

      Delete
  2. An agenda can ruin the best story. The enjoyment is often blunted by the author's perspective. Some people write when they would rather preach.

    ReplyDelete