Realism in Fiction

            One of the interesting things about writing fiction, and admittedly there are quite a few, is that there has to be something real about the stories or characters.  That doesn’t mean that everything has to operate according to the natural laws of the real world, but there has to be some sort of order to how things operate in the fictional world.  And then there are some things, like math and numbers that exist outside the realm of fictionalization.  Let me explain, what I mean. 

            I really like “The How to Train Your Dragon” movies.  I think they’re a lot of fun.  I love the music and the humor and the artwork.  But recently, while I was re-watching the first and second films, and anticipating the upcoming release of the third, it occurred to me that the Vikings of Berk have a serious problem, and it has nothing to do with people trying to steal or kill their dragons.

            Their problem has to do with math. Specifically, their problem is that in the two films, while we see several hundred adult Vikings, we are shown less than ten children.  And I’m including the six main teenage characters of Hiccup, Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut in that count.  Have these Vikings forgotten the importance of having children?!  Do they not realize that their civilization will die out due to the lack of a substantial next generation?  Or have they been living on that stupid rock for so long and become so inbred that most of them are sterile?! (Those are serious questions!)

            Another film that I have a similar issue with is “Frozen”.  Arendelle just had a massive, out of season, snowstorm.  Even if the country’s economy doesn’t rely heavily on the export of foodstuffs, they are living a pre-industrialization lifestyle.  That means that about ninety percent of the citizens rely on food they grow in their own fields to survive the winter months. Guess what just happened to all the crops? Yep. Elsa killed them. And the people probably won’t have time to replant, and nothing to replant with even if there was time, as most people stored seeds from the previous year’s harvest to use.  

And then there’s the matter of livestock and wild animals.  Firstly, the livestock would have been out to graze during the summer months.  There would have been no time to get them from distant pastures.  Furthermore, even those animals that weren’t sheered in the spring still shed their winter coats for the warm months.  The same is true of wild animals.  Fortunately, Elsa didn’t manage to freeze the fjord all the way to its bottom or they’d also have no fish.  As it is though, they’ll now over-fish their waters in order to compensate for the loss of their other food sources.

So now Arendelle has no crops, no livestock, no wild animals to use as an emergency food source, a future with no fish, and practically no goods to trade with other countries.  The only plus side of the situation is that with Elsa’s power, they could have all the animal carcasses frozen and eat them later, though honestly, I’m not sure that’s much of a plus.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that there has to be a level of practicality to everything, even fiction.  Otherwise, people like me will stay up nights, being annoyed by the writers who have sloppily condemned entire fictional civilizations to dwindle into non-existence.