The Hitchhiker’s Guide: How Satire Became Sincerely Good
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy takes the reader into a dazzling journey of adventure, romance, and questioning the essence and meaning of our very existence, all while giving a humorous, and at times not so subtle, commentary on the genre of science fiction itself. Within the first two lines, readers are smacked in the face with the fact that their planet is insignificant in the grand scheme of things in the galaxy. What that grand scheme is, is still up for debate, even for characters in the book when they try to answer it, but one thing remains: humanity is nothing. Next to nothing. Humanity in Douglas Adams’ eyes is basically the annoying part of the piece of paper that you rip from your notebook with all the little ring holes that you have to tear off. It’s useful for keeping the paper in the notebook, but once its done its deed, you can toss it in the trash. Basically, humanity is nothing but a speck in the universe, and Douglas Adams does a great job at creating that and making it very clear within his book
(IMAGE — “Don’t Panic” is seen on the cover of the novel and said to have been the reason, in canon, that The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy outsold the Encyclopedia Galactica because it appealed to consumers more.)
Douglas Adams is very unique as an author because he is able to blend together elements of a genre all while basically laughing at said genre. Adams did a great job replicating the “film/investigative noir” feel for his novel Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and he did an even better job, if possible, for science fiction in The Hitchhiker’s Guide series. The way that Adams does this is by leaning into the nonsense that the genre of science fiction has. All of the random and funny parts of Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica are jam-packed into a series of novels. Whereas the two previously listed franchises have their redeeming qualities that have serious issues and plots that are worth uncovering, The Hitchhiker’s Guide’s redeeming quality is the fact that it doesn’t take itself seriously. There is an unknown, all-knowing, narrator within the series that pokes fun at everything the characters are doing and paths they are choosing, all while taking the reader on a fun trip to outer space.
Douglas Adams is a good author, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this. But furthermore, Adams is a good author because he is able to blend nonsense with serious moments. Moments of truth and actual social commentary. Religion is poked fun at incredibly throughout this novel, but it isn’t all done in spite. There are some serious points that are being made in the book; for instance, the book describes Jesus as a guy “who simply said people should be nice to each other.” It’s all a social commentary. Everything really is a social commentary when you think about it. No one writes a science fiction book because they hate science fiction. No! They write because they are passionate. They write because they have something to say. And Douglas Adams certainly had some things to say.