This week, Futures gets a fresh historical perspective in the shape of the story Tempus omnia revelat. The tale marks the Futures debut for China-based author Tian Li. Here, she explains what led her to write the story — as always, it’s better to read the story before diving into the blog post.

Writing Tempus omnia revelat

I really enjoy American TV dramas, and I’m always so eager to see the latest episodes that I will watch them before the original English subtitles have been translated into Chinese. Unfortunately, my English is not always up to speed, so I miss a lot of the fun as I can’t understand all of the English dialogue. An otaku friend of mine is a big fan of Japanese cartoons, and he learns Japanese himself so that he can watch the newest cartoons. Watching foreign TV series without translation is a real challenge for fans, especially when the characters speak more than two languages or have strange accents.

If people watched my version of the ‘real-life’ TV show Rome, beamed straight from the historic past, it is likely that all the dialogue would be in extinct ancient languages or problematic dialects, which made me wonder how many people would be able to understand the show without the aid of translation. And if there was a technology that could edit great historical events into dramas or movies (and it’s theoretically possible in quantum physics), would modern audiences really appreciate them? The truths behind historical mysteries, and the appearance and conduct of famous historical figures, might be very different from what we expect based on what we have learned from history. History, after all, has been written, modified and interpreted by a range of recorders, artists, academics — and even axe-grinders.

Such ‘real-life’ dramas might also throw up some ethical issues. The descendants of historical figures might feel moved to prosecute because their ancestors’ privacy has been infringed, and some historical figures might even end up newly condemned for their actions, even though those actions were determined and limited by the time in which they lived.

More tellingly, if we really could watch real-life historical dramas, might we in turn be watched by people from the future? Would they criticize us in the same way that we might criticize ancient people? Would the watchers from the future travel to our era to interact with us? Would our modern-day famous figures become embroiled in prosecutions over privacy infringement and seek financial compensation?

With these questions in mind, I wrote Tempus omnia revelat, a story about real historical documentaries. And I would like to thank my friends who have supported me and encouraged me to write this story.