Oh sure. SF has a long tradition of dystopias to go along with its utopias, in addition to works that combine both, like most cyberpunk and post-cyberpunk; stories that are still enthralled by technological and social change while at the same time deeply anxious about it.
Forked Thread: What is the difference between Science Fiction and Fantasy?
- Thread starter Corjay
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pawsplay
Hero
Thus we can conclude that Star Trek is fantasy and Lord of the Rings is science-fiction. There is nothing in LOTR that cannot be explained by "sufficiently advanced techology." On the other hand, the idea that a transporter could be used to duplicate people but is never used for this purpose to create an army of Picards strains all belief.
That has more to do with most characters in novels/movies behaving rather dumb in order to not break the plot with smart ideas.
I've read plenty of 'fantasy' that seemed more plausible than Star Trek and I've read some stuff touted as 'hard sci-fi' that made Harry Potter seem reasonable.
I'm not sure that there is a valid place to draw the line, since every attempt to do so just calls up a ton of exceptions.
I'm not sure that there is a valid place to draw the line, since every attempt to do so just calls up a ton of exceptions.
Celebrim
Legend
No, Jedi are telekinetic space wizards/knights. You can as a prelimenary classification stick 'Star Wars' into fantasy from that fact alone. Further analysis only reinforces that point.
The basic plot of 'Star Wars' is so pure fantasy as to be a cliche.
A farm boy living in a remote part of the empire is recruited by a wizard to rescue a princess in distress. Along the way he discovers that he is actually the long lost heir of a mighty Lord, knight, and sorcerer. After some training in sword and sorcery, the mentor Wizard dies, and the young farm boy slays the terrifying dragon which is threatening the good people of the empire using his training and knowledge of the beasts secret weak spot.
This is pure fantasy, and the dressing of the setting in the superficial tropes of science fiction just barely disguises that fact.
We've argued this point at EnWorld several times before. I'm not sure we ever found a perfect definition, but I still stick behind mine.
Fantasy is that branch of fiction which addresses the question, "What is the meaning of good and evil?" by imagining abstract concepts in tangible form. Science-fiction is that branch of fiction which addresses the question, "What does it mean to be human?" by imagining things which are not human and comparing and contrasting those things with humanity.
'Star Wars' has some elements of science fiction, such as the droids, but its not really interested in this question and pretty much handwaves the question of the humanity of aliens and robots or how aliens or robots might be different than humanity. The real focus of the story is on the meaning of good and evil and how one moves between these two states. It is a story of falls and redemptions that spends alot of time talking monologuing about essentially theological and ethical matters. This puts it firmly into the fantasy genera. The fact that is also a sword and sorcery drama at heart and that it never uses or addresses any scientific questions or terminology also ought to be a big clue.
The reason I like my definition is that it comes much closer to classifying everything where we instinctively classify it than any other definition I've come across. 'Star Wars' is an example of an outlier, but once you get past the idea of spaceships and laser beams as a distinctive feature of science fiction and look at the actual story, even that objection to my definition tends to go away. In particular, the problem with defining science fiction by things like 'spaceships' and 'laser beams' is that such a definition tends to assume 'spaceships and laser beams' as a necessary feature of science fiction, something that is certainly not true.
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stonegod
Spawn of Khyber/LEB Judge
Actually, I'm pretty sure her books are vampire/were-*/things-that-are-slower-than-her-protagonist fetish fiction now.
Terwox
First Post
To quote William Gibson a bit, science fiction is about what is going on in the world right now.
That is, it is a vision of the future if the ideas present in the world at the point in time of the authoring of the book do not change greatly over time.
Fantasy also is not really the opposite of science fiction. I am not sure why fantasy and science fiction are mutually exclusive categories, however, they classically have been. It's pretty crazy to think of them as binary categories. Star Wars is, per the above, pretty clearly somewhere between them.
That is, it is a vision of the future if the ideas present in the world at the point in time of the authoring of the book do not change greatly over time.
Fantasy also is not really the opposite of science fiction. I am not sure why fantasy and science fiction are mutually exclusive categories, however, they classically have been. It's pretty crazy to think of them as binary categories. Star Wars is, per the above, pretty clearly somewhere between them.
In the end, SciFi = Technology levels equal to the current time or in the future, Fantasy = Technology levels then what we have now.
That SciFi is based on science is most of the time not true. Just take artificial gravity. In most SciFi works it is taken for granted without explanation or other gravity based technology.
Just read http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/index.html and then tell me of a SciFi work which actually looks like that.
That SciFi is based on science is most of the time not true. Just take artificial gravity. In most SciFi works it is taken for granted without explanation or other gravity based technology.
Just read http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/index.html and then tell me of a SciFi work which actually looks like that.
WayneLigon
Adventurer
If you want your SF with a detailed tech manual, most of that was written in the 40's-70's but there's still quite a lot of it today. What SF are you reading where they provide no explanation for the things they do?
I have no idea what you're trying to say, there, especially given that the site is lavishly supplemented and illustrated with specific examples from science fiction. You know that 'sf with a tech manual attached' fiction I was talking about above? This is exactly that stuff.
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