Week 14: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (6)

 

Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was an extremely funny, extremely british part of my late middle/early high school experience. It was the first science fiction book I’d ever read that was actually funny, but it never felt condescending or rude. It celebrated the tropes and norms of science fiction. It was laughing with science fiction fans instead of at them. Later in high school I’d discovered the magic of podcasts and audio dramas. It was nice to have some way to access stories without having to be focused with my eyes, it left me time to do things like cooking, exercise, or laundry while still enjoying excellent storytelling. As a fan of both podcasts and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, learning that there was an audio drama version of it was a wonderful revelation, and listening to it was like experiencing it for the first time all over again. When I listened to it, I set the playback speed to 2x speed. Most of the dialogue played out like a futuristic british Who’s On First. In the class discussions, I think what got praised most about Adams’ writing was his clever way of delivering exposition. Hitchhiker’s Guide is a very exposition-heavy story, even the movie had its fair share of explanation, but it never feels like a slog to get through, because Adams is always setting up his next clever punchline.

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