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<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 4354282" data-attributes="member: 22779">Defining Science Fiction is not all that difficult.&nbsp; It's a genre, not a setting.&nbsp; SF deals with certain themes - namely the effect of science on what it means to be human.&nbsp; A story set 100 000 years ago featuring mammoth hunters could easily fit into the SF genre (and does) so long as it discusses what it means to be human in the face of scientific progress.By that definition, by the accepted definition of the genre of Science Fiction, Star Wars is most certainly not SF.&nbsp; It's fantasy.&nbsp; Setting does not define genre whatsoever.&nbsp; The fact that Star Wars has robots and blasters doesn't matter.&nbsp; It's not SF because it does not, in any way, relate the plot to the development of technology.&nbsp; You can reskin Star Wars as fantasy pretty easily.&nbsp; Same as you can reskin original Star Trek as Western.&nbsp; Later Star Trek started becoming more solidly SF, but the early stuff barely qualified.The problem comes when people try to define genre through setting.&nbsp; That's not how you define genre, generally.&nbsp; It makes a fairly good starting place, but, it's plot and theme that defines genre, not location and props.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 4354282, member: 22779"] Defining Science Fiction is not all that difficult. It's a genre, not a setting. SF deals with certain themes - namely the effect of science on what it means to be human. A story set 100 000 years ago featuring mammoth hunters could easily fit into the SF genre (and does) so long as it discusses what it means to be human in the face of scientific progress. By that definition, by the accepted definition of the genre of Science Fiction, Star Wars is most certainly not SF. It's fantasy. Setting does not define genre whatsoever. The fact that Star Wars has robots and blasters doesn't matter. It's not SF because it does not, in any way, relate the plot to the development of technology. You can reskin Star Wars as fantasy pretty easily. Same as you can reskin original Star Trek as Western. Later Star Trek started becoming more solidly SF, but the early stuff barely qualified. The problem comes when people try to define genre through setting. That's not how you define genre, generally. It makes a fairly good starting place, but, it's plot and theme that defines genre, not location and props. [/QUOTE]

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