The teleological fallacy and Animorphs: a ramble

[primeideal]

"Things fall to Earth because of the law of gravity."

"What did we do before the law was passed?"

Hey everyone! This is Ember Nickel (primeideal), longtime fan and occasional author of fanfic. A few months ago, I completed a long series reread of Animorphs, jotting down things that caught my eye along the way. Starting around book 9 (and Megamorphs 1), I noticed a couple patterns of things I'd like to discuss further. Here, I'll be talking about more of the "science" side of "science fiction." So the intro-y stuff will be a biology refresher course, and then it'll be onto the fandom aspects! (Feel free to skim.)

For those of you who do know more about biology than me, I'm sorry if I've egregiously misrepresented any of the details. I'm also sorry if I'm quibbling about something that annoys me more than it annoys you, but I had to get this out there.

Read all the ramble on Dreamwidth.

Comments

[umi-mikazuki.livejournal.com]

I think something that's important to remember is that these books are written from the perspective of teenagers, and unfortunately, the US education system doesn't really... cover evolution as well as it could with that age group. I think it could be really fun to use popular media like this to engage teenagers, though, and bring up all the points that you did.

[primeideal (from livejournal.com)]

Yeah, awkward to remind myself that I'm not the target audience. :/ And that would make sense that Ax comes from a different perspective age as well as planet-wise.

If someone was trying to be engaging about this? I think it might work better if there were different characters actually talking to each other--Cassie sharing what she knows about nature, Marco making jokes that happen to explain things, Ax being like "well I was asleep in school, but..." Book nine, to its credit, actually does some of that!

Thanks for reading :)

[umi-mikazuki.livejournal.com]

I meant in the classroom setting; for example, a teacher bringing up some sort of popular media that all the kids are into at the time that gets evolution wrong, and using it as a springboard to discuss what evolution really is and how the media as a whole misunderstands it on a basic level.

[primeideal (from livejournal.com)]

Ooh, thanks, misunderstood that. Good point! :)

[anijen21.livejournal.com]

yeah, the books always struck me as having a very '90s understanding/paradigm of evolution, or at least that kind of middle school/high school understanding that went something like "DID YOU KNOW WE ONLY USE 10% OF OUR BRAIN??? IMAGINE IF WE TAPPED INTO THAT POTENTIAL." You do a good job of pointing out all of the little fallacies and misunderstandings that the books exploit, and as :/ as I am about what could ostensibly be a didactic piece getting the nitty gritties wrong, at the same time, there was a kind of thematic element of the series in making Mother Nature^TM a bona-fide CHARACTER, as if there is some will-driven force keeping Earth safe from invasion, keeping humanity safe from extinction, etc. It's a little too nihilistic in literature to present nature the way it actually is, at least in a story like Animorphs. To me anyway.

This is a long way of invoking Rule of Cool or whatever relevant TVTropes entry works. There was some unfactual but poetic discussions of NATURE and EVOLUTION in the series.

But ultimately I agree, I think Applegrant just don't have a super solid grasp on the specifics, as most authors save like Crichton don't. I think in one of the later gone books he called the placenta clear? Like he mixed it up with the amniotic sac or something?

also hey girl :)