It's a tired trope. Our protagonists are the only ones who understand and accept the truth. The mass of people must be cajoled and carefully guided into doing the right thing.
I think one reason this crops up so much in (especially earlier) sf is a kind of revenge. Growing up in a community that is uninterested or actually hostile to intellectual pursuits (as some communities in the US definitely have been) the young writer builds up a chip on his shoulder that later shows up in these stories. If expect it less from younger writers who are growing up in the post-80s culture that provides outlets for nerds, and that is less hostile to sf generally.
Yes, I think you're onto something there. This's the lazy way to do a Competent Man trope - make everyone else really incompetent. You can do it without that; it's more difficult, but it's more rewarding when done well.
I think there's a natural tendency in fiction to make all important plot developments happen as the result of the protagonists or villain's efforts. It just doesn't make sense to waste time on side characters that the audience won't remember anyway, and besides, the audience is here to see your main character do cool stuff, which isn't going to happen if everyone else has all the ideas before they can.
I don't think this is limited to SF either, because the forces that cause it apply to *all* fiction. It's just more noticeable in SF because ideas are more important.
Was there a movie made (in English)?
Of 1632?
A 1632 movie? No, unfortunately. I think it'd do pretty well as a film, and the first novel would I think be pretty easy to translate to film too.
Why don’t you make a film?
I wish! But I don't have the skills to direct it, and besides, it'd need a good budget to film it well.
I think one reason this crops up so much in (especially earlier) sf is a kind of revenge. Growing up in a community that is uninterested or actually hostile to intellectual pursuits (as some communities in the US definitely have been) the young writer builds up a chip on his shoulder that later shows up in these stories. If expect it less from younger writers who are growing up in the post-80s culture that provides outlets for nerds, and that is less hostile to sf generally.
Really, these are just variants on the Competent Man trope. James Bond with a slide rule. Matt Dillon with a microscope.
Yes, I think you're onto something there. This's the lazy way to do a Competent Man trope - make everyone else really incompetent. You can do it without that; it's more difficult, but it's more rewarding when done well.
This seems related to https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheOnlyOne and https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheMainCharactersDoEverything.
I think there's a natural tendency in fiction to make all important plot developments happen as the result of the protagonists or villain's efforts. It just doesn't make sense to waste time on side characters that the audience won't remember anyway, and besides, the audience is here to see your main character do cool stuff, which isn't going to happen if everyone else has all the ideas before they can.
I don't think this is limited to SF either, because the forces that cause it apply to *all* fiction. It's just more noticeable in SF because ideas are more important.