|
Post by Very Funky Disco on Mar 26, 2009 4:57:31 GMT -5
I understood the "timeless", anachronistic feel of the series - but, if you were to pinpoint the events of the books to a particular decade, which would you pick?
It can't be any earlier than 1930 - since, in The Miserable Mill, Klaus specifically states that an event occurred "in the 1920s". It would strongly imply that it's not the 1920s, anymore. It also can't be any later than 1999, since that was when The Bad Beginning was published and released.
Personally, I'd go with the early 1980s.
|
|
|
Post by psychjuxtaposed on Mar 28, 2009 20:25:37 GMT -5
I don't think I could pinpoint a time period, considering I firmly believe that the Snicketverse is a completely differently reality from our own and so could, in that world, be just about any "decade" in their own history.
It's similar to Ancelstierre of the Abhorsen series in that it may "feel" like a certain decade (1920s for Ancelstierre), but it cannot be explicitly said that it takes place in the 1920s, since it's a completely different world and it may be any year in their history.
Obviously in Snicketverse there are more similarities to our world in history, and as you said, in that world it can't be any earlier than the 1920s, it does not mean that it can't be any point in time after that. We cannot be sure if maybe technology advanced faster in that society, or if old-fashioned things are very popular in a 22nd century world, or something in between.
|
|
|
Post by Mijahu on Mar 28, 2009 20:51:38 GMT -5
Like you said, it's very anachronistic, but if I had to throw it somewhere, I'd say between the 40's and 50's.
|
|
|
Post by Vanja on Jan 17, 2010 4:46:49 GMT -5
Well I'm pretty sure the series begin around 1956/7. For one, in the Hostile Hospital, Esme is wearing Stiletto heels and she clearly stated that they had just become in for the first time and the first time Stiletto heels become in are around 1957-1959. Also the schism probably occurs around 1913.
|
|
|
Post by Invisible on Jan 19, 2010 16:50:06 GMT -5
I personally think it's just before WW2. 1939, to be exact
|
|
|
Post by Tiago James Squalor on Jan 23, 2010 14:55:25 GMT -5
I refuse to set a 'decade' for the ASoUE to have taken place in. The series are clearly set in an anachronistic version of our world, and they seem more Victorian/Steampunk to me than anything from the 20th century. If you know steampunk, then you'll probably agree.
|
|
|
Post by Vanja on Jan 24, 2010 16:42:09 GMT -5
Yes, but if the series would have to have a date they occur is the point of this thread.
|
|
|
Post by Hermes on Jan 27, 2010 11:54:12 GMT -5
There are references in the series to quite recent writers, whcuh suggests it's happening quite close to the time of publication. I think the old-fashioned nature of some aspects of the world is not caused by its happening a long time ago, but by its being an alternative world where technology has developed less quickly, or at least not penetrated society so thoroughly. (And it's hard to set a technological date to it anyway - see the scene where the Baudelaires get lost at a station, and among the local tradesmen who look for them are a blacksmith and a computer technician.)
This fits in with Tiago's 'steampunk' idea - a lot of steampunk is set in alternative worlds of this kind. (Though often with airships. I'm always disappointed that Lemony has no airships.)
|
|
|
Post by Dante on Jan 27, 2010 12:17:57 GMT -5
This fits in with Tiago's 'steampunk' idea - a lot of steampunk is set in alternative worlds of this kind. (Though often with airships. I'm always disappointed that Lemony has no airships.) Hector's pioneering the trend with the self-sustaining hot-air mobile home. Just you wait, the new series will have airships aplenty dominating the skies.
|
|
|
Post by Christmas Chief on Jan 27, 2010 18:04:26 GMT -5
There might be airships we just don't hear about; there's plenty of oppertunities for one to fly by and the Baudelaires just don't notice it. Though that kind of defeats the purpose.
|
|
|
Post by Vanja on Jan 28, 2010 15:48:05 GMT -5
Or just didn't think it was worth mentioning because it was normal to them.
|
|
|
Post by Christmas Chief on Jan 28, 2010 16:20:08 GMT -5
A bit like how we don't get much mention of cars or traffic. If I remember correctly, the Baudelaire's transportation methods differ wildly. There's mention of Mr. Poe's car, Uncle Monty's jeep, the ambulance in TRR, the Volunteers Fighting Disease van, the caravan, Olaf's car, the train(s), the bus, the submarines (more specifically the Queequeg and the Carmelita), the taxi, and the Beatrice. It's interesting how these things can exist side by side in the series, yet the Baudelaire's don't travel in the air once (unless you count the brief minutes they're climbing the rope ladder to Hector's self-sustaining hot-air mobile home). I suppose Lemony didn't want to go through the trouble of creating a plane crash or a helicopter disaster (however fun that would be), or thought it would be easier to allow them to travel by land and water. Look at the construction of the Carmelita, for instance. The description is kind of inconsistent, so imagine how an aircraft, airplane, or helicopter might end up. And then you have to factor in time, speed, distance... it might end up being more trouble than it's worth.
|
|
|
Post by MyKindEditor on Jan 28, 2010 16:56:12 GMT -5
I think that Handler didn't want to date them too much so they can be enjoyed by more generations after ours, if you have planes and very advanced computers etc, you date them then you ruin it for 'our' kids and so on. I think he was very clever in that way.
|
|
|
Post by Dante on Jan 28, 2010 17:19:53 GMT -5
That's a good point. The intended feel may be what's known as "timeless."
|
|
|
Post by Sophie-Senpi on Jan 28, 2010 21:36:18 GMT -5
Well I'm pretty sure the series begin around 1956/7. For one, in the Hostile Hospital, Esme is wearing Stiletto heels and she clearly stated that they had just become in for the first time and the first time Stiletto heels become in are around 1957-1959. Also the schism probably occurs around 1913. Stiletto heels as in knifes she said were in. it had to be 1940-+ because beatrice senior played the theremin, which wasnt invented until the 1920's and beatrice had learned to play it before she was married
|
|