Is there nothing new under the sun?

[The_Universe]

Contemplate with me, for a moment: what's new in Science Fiction and Fantasy (movies, books, comics)? Is there anything? Or has everything already been done, and all future generations will simply be adjusting the reflections of all that has come before?

What do you want to see but haven't? What do you want someone to address, but no one has? What's the next big thing? The next small one?

Where will our imaginations take us (or is there no where to go that we have not already been)?

It's all pretty much the same question...but what are your answers? I'd like to know.

What hasn't been done?

 

[Fast Learner]

Unless you're writing sf&f and coming up with new ideas, how would you know what hasn't been done?

What are examples of new things in the past, things that weren't adjusting the reflections of all that has come before?

 

[Tom Cashel]

All I can think of (and your avatar is partly to blame) is:

"MOLTAR!! RELEASE THE TACO!"

I don't think everything has been done. These days "retro" is popular, and Hollywood is always recycling whatever idea made a lot of money.

But trace those derivatives back to their sources, and you'll find the true innovators.

 

[evildmguy]

Many years ago, nearly twenty, when I was buying Doctor Who novels, one came out with an introduction that stuck with me. The author was saying that he did get hit with the "nothing is new so why do you keep writing" question. His response was to say that no one was paying attention the first time and so we have to redo it all.

As for me, I think it depends on what level you want to debate. As I understand it, there are only 5 themes in literature. (person vs person, person vs nature, person vs themself, etc.) So, when you boil anything down to its theme, we haven't had anything new in millenia.

However, when you get to plot specific ideas, there is always a lot of new stuff. We didn't have the concept of cloning until the late 1960s early 1970s. We didn't have lasers or masers. Many things of technology are new and the plot revolving around them is new.

Even within that, there is still a rebirth of things. For example, is TOS of Trek the same as Next Gen? Or Enterprise? Again, plot is different as is our understanding of technology, which makes a difference. The whole genre of SciFi and Fantasy seems to be undergoing a rebirth/change right now as we see shows updated to current science as well as current political and social ideas.

So, I think there is new stuff out there, as long as you are willing to be very broad in your definitions of new.

Have a good one! Take care!

edg

 

[The_Universe]

OK - I can buy all of that. But what's out there in the real world that still needs to be talked about?

Cloning has been done, as have lasers and masers...I'd say examining the internet (and any future iterations thereof) has been nearly done to death. Space travel has been...well traveled.

What do we need to talk about, now? What has changed in our world in a way that allows us to speculate the future in a new and interesting way?

I'm not trying to say that there *isn't* anything left to talk about, and I would never belittle the craft of writing - but I'm curious what you (and perhaps I) think should be the thing that gets talked about, next.

 

[nakia]

OK - I can buy all of that. But what's out there in the real world that still needs to be talked about?

Cloning has been done, as have lasers and masers...I'd say examining the internet (and any future iterations thereof) has been nearly done to death. Space travel has been...well traveled.

What do we need to talk about, now? What has changed in our world in a way that allows us to speculate the future in a new and interesting way?

I'm not trying to say that there *isn't* anything left to talk about, and I would never belittle the craft of writing - but I'm curious what you (and perhaps I) think should be the thing that gets talked about, next.

Here's a theme I would like to see developed well in a contemporary science fiction or horror film -- security/certainty versus freedom. How do we live in a world where things are so uncertain, where the potential for horror is always out there? Granted, this is not a new theme at all. But it certainly seems to be a pressing issue in our current social environment. And I cannot recall any recent sci-fi or horror films that have really addressed it in the same way that, say, Blade Runner addresses the question of what it means to be a human being. Maybe it's still too close to the event that brought this question to the fore (9/11) to make this kind of art.

On a realted note, I was watching the top 100 horror films on Bravo the other day and was struk by how much social commentary and metaphor is packed into some of the horror films of the 1960's and 1970's. Night of the Living Dead, in addition to being a graphic, scary zombie movie, also says things about race, revolution, and youth. I'm not sure any recent horror or science fiction films have had this same social slant.

Are there things out there I have missed that deal with these themes?

 

[Mark]

Is there nothing new under the sun?

The irony of someone with your screenname posing that question springs to mind...

 

[Dakkareth]

It is not not the distilled plot of a book (/movie/drama/holovid/stimsim/...), not the basic theme, which makes it something 'new' or worth reading. It's how it is composed from thoughts and ideas, old and sometimes new, it's the combination of factors, the author's mastery of his medium, that makes up the value.
Just because most ingredients imaginable are known and have been used before, it doesn't lower the value of a dish. It's the specific recipe used, the proportions and selection of ingredients as well as the cook's ability making it enjoyable. And I have no problem at all with eating the same more than once, if it is well done ...

 

[Mark]

It is not not the distilled plot of a book (/movie/drama/holovid/stimsim/...), not the basic theme, which makes it something 'new' or worth reading. It's how it is composed from thoughts and ideas, old and sometimes new, it's the combination of factors, the author's mastery of his medium, that makes up the value.
Just because most ingredients imaginable are known and have been used before, it doesn't lower the value of a dish. It's the specific recipe used, the proportions and selection of ingredients as well as the cook's ability making it enjoyable. And I have no problem at all with eating the same more than once, if it is well done ...

What makes something unique, if even the circumstances are old, is perspective. It's the old adage that everybody...everybody...has at least ONE good story in them.

 

[reanjr]

I thought Chronicles of Riddick was pretty fresh.