So the other day it occurred to me that although we spend a lot of time thinking over what country we want to study abroad in, travel to and have secretly unrealistic hopes of living in one day, we never really give much thought to the planet or universe in which we want to live. Stay with me here. Granted, Earth has its perks, being the only place with oxygen, water and life—or so they’ll have us think—but I personally believe we could use a change of scenery sometimes.
If you really think about it, earth actually holds us back in ways that are just unacceptable. I have never understood the point of gravity, or people being soulless pools of superficial thought and conformist actions. Which, of course, in its natural progression led me to ponder over the different universes in books that might be better alternatives. Some might argue that those universes are still located within earth despite being fictional, and those people would be mistaken. Because if that were true, most of us would either be climbing out in Narnia or flying over Never Never Land already. This is not a joke, children.
A perk of breaking down book settings—in no particular order—in which nobody in their right mind would not want to live is that it’s something movies almost always get phenomenally right. So for once it doesn’t matter if you don’t even have two brain cells to rub together for imagination, because you’ve probably seen it come to life in movies.
Take Middle-earth. Even though it’s quite blatant about establishing its ties to earth, it’s still one of the most famous literary worlds. Although the books aren’t as exciting as the crazy-eyed J.R.R. Tolkien fans will have you believe, the Shire, Rivendell, Lothlorien, Helm’s Deep, Fangorn Forest, Dead Marshes and Minas Tirith are all places worth moving to Middle-earth. The only downside is having to keep track of all the living things since we’re kind of used to it being just humans and animals.
Although I don’t believe Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games” series belongs in a list of epic settings; for argument’s sake I really wonder sometimes how many of my friends I can kill in a world where we’re all forced to battle to death for some grain and rice. Isn’t humanity absolutely delightful?
Yes, it would be a cliche if I mention Harry Potter, but a cliche that’s true nonetheless. I personally wouldn’t even object to being in close enough proximity to at least sniff the boy who lived, as long as I had a wand to play with—and not that kind, get your head out of the gutter—and could travel through fire. I’d also probably want to give Voldemort a hug just to see what he does.
“Wuthering Heights” may be depressing, brilliant and sometime pointless, but I’d be disloyal to my own gender if I didn’t want the demented-yet-so-yummy Heathcliff come wander on my moor. And plus I’d really like to be able to use that phrase in actual conversations. “My moor. Yes, I have a moor. With dramatic fog on it.”
Finally, what is it about zombies that makes them so hot and elusive? That’s probably just me. Except when we’re talking about “Warm Bodies.” It gives you the best of both worlds, a place where you get to kill zombies and marry them. And yes, it’s just as amazing and bloody as it sounds, if not more. And with that lovely image in all your minds, I’ll leave you to ponder the many merits of leaving earth.
Is there a world outside of ours you’d like to visit? Tell Maham at mhasan4@wisc.edu
