Rose-colored glasses?

[Lara Croft]

Ok, everyone is romanced by one point in history or another. You know, that whole feeling of "Wow, I wished I lived back then *le sigh*". It hits you when you least expect it, that transportation back to some era with a completely different lifestyle.

I was thinking just the other day about all this--because, d'uh, this is what I *do*--and I determined that I am thoroughly, completely in infatuated with the medieval times. Of course, not the whole disease/lack-of-hygene thing, but the *concept*.

So here's my question: If you lived in the days of knights and legend, what role do you see yourself playing?

And, what other eras do you find appealing?

To answer my own first question (oo; Do I sound psycho or what?), I think I'd be best suited to play a courtisan of noble blood. I'm a stickler for politics, and being caught up in the less tangled and more elegant schemes and scandals would suit me to the nines. To be able to insult by a lack of a glance or a flick of a fan? *grins* Coolas, definitely. I'd like to still have concepts to play with and not have the entire world organized into neat little packages. ADVENTURE, my dears!

I also find the pre-civil war era of the southern U.S great, too. It's basically feudal europe Americanized, if you think about it. Added to that, I'm a southern belle at heart, so I find myself wistful at the descriptions of life on a plantation. ^^ Come to think of it, I might like this era just as much, or more, than medieval Europe. Oo;

*grins and passes the pen*

 

[Andy Newer]

I wouldn't like to live in the Medieval period, personally, even nobility bathe rarely then.

As for other eras I have several in mind.

Europe in the Enlightenment Era - 18th Century, that would have been great. The person I would be is the memeber of the rising Bourgeosie class (not neccessarily in France, however, Romanticism got the best of rational thought). I may prefer Britain or The Austro-Hungarian Empire. The most creative thinkers between Greece and now lived in that time, Locke, Voltaire, Jefferson, Pope, Swift, Burke, Franklin, etc. Political thought is so diverse, and I would be reading their material from the periodicals of the time. Being in the middle is always fun.

or perhaps America in the Space Age - 1955-1970? I was fascinated for a time about the era of great wonders and changes. Plus, with the youth generation of that time now entering seniority, I find the wholesome irony of how they have changed since their naive and shattered times they have lived. I could be anything there, except for maybe a hippie or a beatnik. Those two products of their era freak the hell out of me.

or even Ancient China but I don't know much about that.

When writing about ancient times, however, I don't try to find every nagging accurate detail of each speck of dirt on the walls nor do I take the rosy-glasses path of nostalgia. Both are extremes of the realm of description bordering on the ultra-realistic to the hyper-fantasy.

I am attempting to write about a previous age (like just before the Renaissance) in the form of a realistic fantasy (I've told some about this idea already), but I am definitely not going for the accuracy or the nostalgia, but make it my interpretation. But that means that I will probably miss certain points and rife the period with appropriate anachronism (such as language and possible occurences).

 

[Legend of Didesy]

I'd love to live in this kind of time: Where everyone is still pitting against each other. No cheap or easy way out, and things ar still done manually. Machinery? Unless yuo're clever enough to use it, nope. The world is all virgin and there's no such thing as pollution as it is now. I'd like to be one of those people living in a nice secluded area, with a very great personality and having previously come out and done a lot for other people, but living in "retirement" for now. Waiting for things to happen. Akin to Sirius Black in HP, except not wanted by the authorities. And it'd be great to live up on a mountain and still ahve wolve and stuff.

Now you fit that with whatever time it is. My history sucks

I think living in the 1960s (apart from the drugs and hippies and freaky stuff like that) would be great, too. Everything was snug and things were happy and it was the era of great music too, I mean come on Beach Boys!!

Uhm. Anyway. I'd also looooove to live in Ancient China/Japan. Such days of the graceful and culture and all of that... I wish I were one of those guys in Hero Have you watched that film? I tell you GO AND WATCH IT NOW OR RENT IT AS SOON AS IT COMES OUT. GREAT film. I'd love to be someone like Flying Snow.

 

[Adam]

I dunno to be honest, I love technology and the like too much to actually want to live in an earlier time, however, I guess that it would be interesting to see what it was like in ancient Rome or Athens when (Western) philosophy and the like were virtually being written. To be honest, the place I would most like to live is the future - it is one of my profound regrets that, not being immortal, I won't get to see whether humanity will actually make it - whether we will ever become a Star Trek-like utopian society or else eradicate ourselves - though admittedly there is a chancce I will get to see the latter.

 

[Barb]

For me it's America in the 1960s. To see the dramatic changes in American culture: civil rights, feminism, the Beatles, Woodstock. The 60s began pretty much the way the 50s ended: everyone fairly happy, good economy. Then came the Cuban missile crisis of 1961; the civil rights movement of the 1960s; the assassinations of JFK in 1963, RFK in 1968, and Dr. King in 1968. With the deaths of these notable leaders, I felt that many people were thinking that too much change too soon was not a good thing. Also, one of the greatest technological achievements of all time came in July 1969: man walking on the moon. A decade of change, tumultous at times, again ending with the promise of hope.

 

[achooxp]

Ah the times in which I would have liked to have lived and the positions I would have liked to been in...

1920s America
All that jazz. :-D I find this era, especially in the New York and Chicago areas, extremely sexy in a way that I can't explain. I guess it's the birth of a whole new culture and there's this urban rottenness that seems so swell and literary and whatnot to me. And as for me, who would I like to be? I'd like to a one of the elite lawyers of Chicago *cough / Billy Flynn / uncough* or New York. Yeah, I think that's be swell.

18th/19th Century Europe
I dunno. It just resonates with me. I'd like to be a poorer lad, a somewhat Dickens character, working his way up. I'd also like to see the life of "The Five Little Peppers That Grew" and "Little Women" and "The Secret Garden" and whatnot. I guess I'm a somewhat prim and proper guy and this kind of lifestyle appeals to me too. So either a lad working his way up or a relatively refined gentleman.

Ancient East-Asia
I can't help it. It's in my blood. I find Japan, China, and Korea (mostly Korea ) to be extremely cool places. I'd like to be a monk or a a spiritual healer- something along those lines, in a pristine Korean environment, where the tigers are feared and revered, and ghosts abound, and yeah... I like the healing powers I could have and the mysticism and cleanliness of this age.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

I'd go for the 1980s. I think because it always seemed so cool to me when I was growing up...

 

[vanished]

Fwee!

Ancient Greece/Rome - I study there for Classics, and it'd be so unbelievable to see how everything worked out, the whole religion stuff too.

I'd like to be a Vestal virgin. ^^;

Tudor England - Probably not a good idea, seeing as I'm Catholic, but still... ^^ I'd like to see what my country's civil war was like, too.

Aztec/Mayan Mexico - because they were DUDES!

Japan - end of Tokugawa Shogunate, start of the Meiji era - I'm a current Kenshin obsessive, plus this was a major turning point for Japan, and I'd love to be there, either as a generic everyday random person, or part of the Samurai class.

1960's Liverpool - Cos my city was the FWEE in the 60s!

And I'd so be a hippychick. ^_^

 

[Transfinite]

For some reason I think it would be interesting to live in the times of Homo erectus or one of the Australopithecine (sp?) species, and teach them English and technology and mess with causality :-D