Science Fiction For People Who Don’t Like Science Fiction (Taylor’s Version)

ZTw Return S2 E43

Everybody likes science fiction, don’t they. Well, actually, no. There are lots of people all round the world who consider themselves consumers of culture (books, film, TV…) but who turn their noses up at the idea of science fiction. Far be it from me to set myself up as a defender of the Sci Fi faith, far from it; it is a genre I only dip into now and then. I am rarely moved by creatures from outer space, mad scientists with special powers or intergalactic fantasy civilizations.  

However, as I always enjoy a good series on TV practically regardless of the genre, I recently came across a British production on Netflix that caught my eye and after 8 episodes I have to say I feel my time was not wasted. And when I say “time” I have to be careful, don’t I, because if you can travel through time, it’s never really wasted, is it…

Anyway, here we go: The series I’m talking about is Bodies, with a choral cast headed by Stephen Graham (who always looks like a cop), and it’s about four cops at different times (end of the 19^th century; During World War 2; Nowadays; 30-odd years into the future) all unwittingly trying to solve the same case, starting with the identification of the same body. There are several layers of grimness, exploitation and manipulation at all these historical times, with a nasty air of mystical madness pervading the whole thing. It’s not really until the end that the viewer unravels what is going on – time travel is never easy to digest credibly, and you need several hours of training your head to realize that, uh oh, maybe it is possible after all…  

The body that stumps the police belongs to a character called Gabriel who, angelically, whispers silent information through strange markings on his body and a hole where his eye should be. We know for sure it is the same guy but of course how could a 19^th century policeman know that it’s the same body that appears in 2023?

This idea of being the same person at different moments in history is, of course, happening all the time. But we don’t realize it because we only pay attention to our own historical momentariness. We aren’t aware that we also lived sixty years ago, six hundred years ago, six thousand years ago, whenever. And that after we’re dead, we will live again, who knows when.

I’m not talking about reincarnation, our “soul” migrating to another body. The most beautiful and fascinating account of this is in Yukio Mishima’s tetralogy “The Sea of Fertility” when Honda discovers the different reincarnation of his friend Kiyoaki – the people he recognizes as his friend are separate individuals, despite their having Kiyoaki’s soul.

No, I’m talking about people being born again.

Not long ago there was some fuss in the news when somebody unearthed a family link between Taylor Swift and Emily Dickinson. Who are these people and why do they matter? Do I really have to explain who they are? I’m going to pass. The thing is, according to some genealogical forensics, Taylor and Emily are distant cousins, even though Emily died in 1886 and Taylor is still alive and kicking. But, actually, if you keep digging, you will find that they share exactly the same finger prints and DNA. What does this prove? It shows that Taylor Swift has been born at least twice and we know this thanks to the fact that both time she has become famous (albeit with a different name). Yes, people, Taylor Swift and Emily Dickinson are the same person.

Here at the Zaragoza Twins Genealogical Fabrications Center for Spurious Knowledge (ZTFCSK, pronounced “truth”) we have established, after many hours of painstaking research, that Taylor Swift was actually born in 1573, in Edinburgh, and again in 1714 in Boston, and again in 1830 in Amherst (just down the road from Boston – no coincidence!) and then in 1989 in West Reading, Pennsylvania. Those are her lives so far, as far as we can tell. Our futurology division (Clairvoyants ‘R’ Us) has also established that Taylor Swift will be born again in 2097 in Bogotá, and then again in 2143 in Lytham St.Annes, England, although this last birth is shrouded in mystery and may, in fact, be a hoax. Truth be told. We wouldn’t want to lead anybody on a wild goose chase, would we.

The fact of the matter is, it’s all science and it’s all fiction. You live, you die, or you become immortal like Elias Mannix from Bodies or Taylor Swift.

• Heen and Sheen Martínez, Swifties on the Edge of Time, Zaragoza, March 2023.