They don't explain, that's the problem.
They don't explain, that's the cool thing
Exactly - and the dangerous and even limiting thing is to try to fit the PT characters into the RT characters' history or to be bogged down by that history because we actually have no way of knowing how anything is in PT unless we're told. We know nothing of the Collins' family's history or even history, fashion, science, etc. in general. Anything is possible unless we're told it's not. For all we know there was no Vietnam war going on, Nixon wasn't President (it actually would have been a nice nod to Joan Bennett if Eugene McCarthy was President because she'd campaigned for him during the '68 presidential primaries), or even if there was a second or a first world war...
By the way Lydia, this time I'm keeping in mind what you said long ago, about why you liked PT so much. You talked about PT being filled with obvious but also more subtle, clever kinds of opposites for the familiar RT characters
Did I say that? I don't remember doing so. I'm always happy to be flattered, but I'd hate to take credit for what somebody else said.
Regardless of who said it, it's very true. I love the characters that populate this world. In some ways they're similar to their RT counterparts - but in other ways they're so very different. And it's the differences that are fascinating...