Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
How QC and webcomics generally relate to the real USA
jwhouk:
The one thing that most people who are not from the USA do not get about the country is its sheer size. I think our Aussie friends are about the only ones who can comprehend the size - though not necessarily the landscape.
Everyone who's been reading the comic since The Breakup Arc knows that Dora no longer lives in Northampton, having moved to a place in Amherst. Pen and Hanners complain that "that's 20 minutes away!" In reality, that's about an 8 to 9 mile drive - but it's all "surface street" (no freeway/highways).
Now, compare my little situation. To go from my apartment to the nearest Starbucks is also about 25 minutes - but it's more than 8-9 miles, because most of it is freeway driving (about 20 miles).
Another comparison: a friend of mine lives in the foothills of the Superstition Mountains in the greater Phoenix area. She occasionally teaches glass-blowing classes at Mesa Community College, which is right off the US 60 Freeway. To get there, it's about a 33 minute drive to go the 28.5 miles - mostly freeway when she gets onto the 60.
Neko_Ali:
--- Quote from: Emperor Norton on 28 Jan 2015, 17:19 ---I always say Atlanta, just because internationally people know where that is, at least vaguely. I'm actually about an hour out in Athens. Just the college town vibe, and the number of transplants from other places changes it so much from the normal South, once you get outside and into rural areas its just frightening.
I always get offended by Southern stereotypes, because I'm like "its not like that at all" and then I have to correct myself and think "Oh, yeah, I live in Athens. Athens is bizarro-South".
But yeah, really, even to me, there are times where characters do things that don't make since to me. Like the number of characters with no cars. The fact that taxis and other public transit is actually a thing people use. Or the whole distance stuff (small state people are weird).
--- End quote ---
It's easier for people not from the state, yeah. I lived in Athens for 10 years. I miss the place. But I couldn't afford rent on my house when my hours were slashed, so I've kinda been moving around, rooming with people for a few years now. I still wish I could afford to move back to Athens on my own.
Aziraphale:
--- Quote from: Emperor Norton on 28 Jan 2015, 17:19 ---I always say Atlanta, just because internationally people know where that is, at least vaguely. I'm actually about an hour out in Athens. Just the college town vibe, and the number of transplants from other places changes it so much from the normal South, once you get outside and into rural areas its just frightening.
I always get offended by Southern stereotypes, because I'm like "its not like that at all" and then I have to correct myself and think "Oh, yeah, I live in Athens. Athens is bizarro-South".
But yeah, really, even to me, there are times where characters do things that don't make since to me. Like the number of characters with no cars. The fact that taxis and other public transit is actually a thing people use. Or the whole distance stuff (small state people are weird).
--- End quote ---
The number of cars thing is weird if you've never lived in a place that's got good public transportation, or if you live in a place that's not pedestrian-friendly. I've never held a driver's license, but I'm also lucky to live in a place that has generally decent public transportation. If you lived in an area that doesn't even have sidewalks, much less mass transit, then yeah, not having a car is impractical and might be looked at a bit strange.
Emperor Norton:
--- Quote from: Neko_Ali on 28 Jan 2015, 18:17 ---It's easier for people not from the state, yeah. I lived in Athens for 10 years. I miss the place. But I couldn't afford rent on my house when my hours were slashed, so I've kinda been moving around, rooming with people for a few years now. I still wish I could afford to move back to Athens on my own.
--- End quote ---
I've lived here my entire life pretty much. (at least, I've never been more than 30 minutes away from Athens. I grew up technically in one of the county's next to it, but since there was nothing much there, I live in Athens :P). I'm lucky in that with being married, and both my wife and I working (and also with me having fallen backwards into an amazing job) I can afford a decent 3 bedroom house not far from the hospital (ARMC, which was where my wife has been working the last few years, though she just got a new job and is working out her notice at the hospital now yay).
Its just such a different place, culturally than the area around it. Also, I'm being all happy and rambly just because I never run across anyone who even knows anything about Athens, much less had lived there before :P.
Penquin47:
Sense of scale does tend to get a little wonky. Reading through this thread, I was thinking about how Austin (where I lived for two years) is a bubble of good-weird inside the redneck that is Texas, and Lubbock (where I live now) is like redneck concentrate - and they're only a few hundred miles apart. I've gotten to where I think nothing of driving the hundred miles to Amarillo for a weekend, and the few hundred further to Dallas or Oklahoma just means "make sure to bring lots of paper or enough good books to deal with the car trip".
Then I remembered that for most of the country, a few hundred miles apart means "in a completely different state, often with a buffer state in between".
Then I remembered living in Europe, where a few hundred miles could mean "three countries over" (except, of course, that you'd express it as a few hundred kilometers apart).
There are times where QC seems like it's set in a completely different world to me. The thing about Dora's 20-minute drive being end-of-the-world-and-all-her-friendships was easily the most jarring. 20 minute drive is a trip into town for dinner.
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