Handwavium

 

There is a term when a science fiction writer pulls something out of their butt to explain how the hero can solve an unsolvable problem. The writer will invent some hither-to-unknown substance, technology, or device that magically solves the problem. The idea is that he can just wave his hands and the problem goes away. When a writer does this s/he is employing “handwavium.”

In the movie Thank You for Smoking, a cigarette executive played by Aaron Eckhart,  is talking with a movie executive played by Rob Lowe, about how to get smokers on screen in a more favorable light. The movie exec is open to this and says, “How do you feel about the future?”

“The future?”

“Yeah, after all the health thing’s blown over . . . Sony has a new sci-fi flick they are looking to make. Message from Sector Six. All takes place in a space station.”

“Cigarettes in space?”

“It’s the final frontier Nick.”

“But wouldn’t they blow up in an all-oxygen environment?”

“Hmm . . . Probably . . . but it’s an easy fix. One line of dialogue, ‘thank God we invented the, you know, whatever device.” Rob Lowe is literally waving his hands in the air as he says, “the whatever device.”

The original Star Trek series was no stranger to handwavium. Many episodes featured a polysyllabic disease or substance which did just what the script needed it to do.  But in one episode the audience was in on it, as the characters knowingly used it to try to scare off the bad guys. In the episode “The Corbomite Maneuver,” Captain Kirk has to think quickly when his ship is threatened by a massively superior alien vehicle the size of a planet.  Kirk tells the aliens that the Enterprise’s hull is impregnated with the top-secret substance “corbomite” (which he just made up).  And if the other ship fired on them this corbomite would create a massive blast that would destroy everything within several parsecs of the ship.

The more obvious and egregious forms of handwavium are found more on screen that in written fiction. It can be sort of cheating. Instead of doing the hard work of scientifically figuring out how to solve the problem, they just invent some new term and solve it that way.

There is plenty of handwavium in written fiction too, but it isn’t all necessarily bad (I have been known to engage in it myself). If you are doing something that is scientifically impossible like travelling back in time, the reader can accept the wonder, for the sake of the story without the writer explaining in technical detail the physics of how this was accomplished (unless the “how” is integral to the story). The reader doesn’t always need to know the scientific underpinnings of a bold new concept or device. However, when it is used, it is important not to go to the well too often. It is best not to have more than one wonder per story or the readers will lose interest. Too many wonders mean anything is possible and if anything is possible then nothing is really at risk.

It is not just in science fiction. Anyone who wishes to make a point without really having the evidence to back it up can employ it. Politicians do it all the time. They just make stuff up or use meaningless jargon to make the world rosier, or scarier depending on the effect they are going for. Another term for this is “BS.”

So, if you choose to write science fiction, science should be your guide, but every once in a while, you are allowed to pull a fast one. And remember, when you find yourself in a sticky situation, the force will be with you.

Star Liner