Municipal Darwinism

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Municipal Darwinism is a fictional concept featured in Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines Quartet. It refers to the practice in the post apocalyptic world described in the series, in which large mobile metropolitan areas, known as Traction Cities, consume one another by gathering other, smaller cities in large hydraulic "jaws". The larger metropolises consume smaller cities, which consume towns, which consume villages, hamlets and stationary settlements.[1]

Captured cities are dragged inside the body of the predator city, where they are then melted for fuel or salvaged for parts. Their citizens either resettle in the city they were just eaten by, or - in less ethical cities - are enslaved, often to work in the predator city's engines. Technology and small goods of value are looted as well.[2]

Contents

[edit] History

The practice originated during a time of immense geological instability following the Sixty Minute War, to allow cities to escape from the natural disasters that wracked the planet at that time. The Traction Cities stripped the planet of its natural resources, and as fuel began to run out they began attacking and consuming each other for fuel, which eventually became standard practice.

Although the planet eventually calmed down, Traction Cities have been moving for so long the people have forgotten why they moved in the first place, and it is now considered normal.[3] At the beginning of the series, Municipal Darwinism has been in practice for approximately a thousand years.

[edit] Satire

Municipal Darwinism may be considered a satire of the animal kingdom and Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest. Also the god of "unfettered" Municipal Darwinism is called The Thatcher, a reference to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the champion of unfettered capitalism.

The parody is not limited to the predator/prey relationship; the positions of scavenger and parasite are also filled. During Mortal Engines, the main characters find an empty and abandoned city being slowly stripped of goods and scrap metal by scavenger crews from small towns and airships, reminiscent of a decaying carcass being decomposed by bacteria and insects.[4] In Predator's Gold, airships are seen hovering around a large city and sifting through its exhaust smoke to recover minerals, similar to flies hovering around a larger animal.[5] Later in the book, a small aquatic vessel secretly attaches itself to the underside of Anchorage like a barnacle or limpet, and the crew sneak into the city at night to pilfer valuables.[6]

[edit] Social Structure

Municipal Darwinism is the centre of life for the people of Traction Cities, bordering on a religion. It is considered dirty and wrong to set foot on bare earth, and "unnatural" for cities to be stationary.

Municipal Darwinism is opposed by such groups as the Anti-Traction League, which sees Traction Cities as obstacles that hinder the recovery of the Earth to its natural state, and view their citizens as barbaric. Likewise, the citizens of Traction Cities also view Anti-Tractionists as barbaric, often using the derogatory term "mossie" to describe them.[7]

[edit] Future

From the beginning of the series, it is made clear that the amount of "prey" available has been dwindling in recent years, it is suggested that Municipal Darwinism is not sustainable living.[8] [9]

Events come to a head in the final two books in the series, in which the Traction Cities and Anti-Tractionists go to war. The war ends in a stalemate, but many tractionists realise that their way of living cannot go on forever, and some become static settlements.[10]

The epilogue of A Darkling Plain, the last book in the series, takes place thousands of years in the future and reveals that Traction Cities are now considered ancient legends.[11]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Reeve (2001). Mortal Engines, 10. 
  2. ^ Reeve (2001). Mortal Engines, 14. 
  3. ^ Reeve (2001). Mortal Engines, 42. 
  4. ^ Reeve (2001). Mortal Engines, 79. 
  5. ^ Reeve (2003). Predator's Gold, 11. 
  6. ^ Reeve (2001). Predator's Gold, 88. 
  7. ^ Reeve (2001). Mortal Engines, 149. 
  8. ^ Reeve (2001). Mortal Engines, 1. 
  9. ^ Reeve (2001). Mortal Engines, 80. 
  10. ^ Reeve (2006). A Darkling Plain, 522. 
  11. ^ Reeve (2006). A Darkling Plain, 532. 


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Mortal Engines Quartet by Philip Reeve
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