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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jay Verkuilen" data-source="post: 7762808" data-attributes="member: 6873517">Well here we are back at the family resemblance, though I think it's more clearly indicated. In my view, the family genres would be fantasy, sci-fi, pulp, and superhero. Maybe there are others, and there are some clear hybrid genres such as science fantasy or urban fantasy, that mix features of the types. My feeling is that the genres are more defined by the roots of their stories and their setting. In the first half of the 20th Century the genres weren't nearly so separate, so we're always dealing with a moving target. Doubtless they will merge and remix going forward, too. <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Fantasy: Rooted in old fairy tales and medieval or ancient world stories. Often set in an imagined past (e.g., Hyborea) or redone version (e.g., Middle Earth).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Pulp: Typically near past settings but characters with markedly larger than life tales often exploring some kind of forgotten ancient history. Indiana Jones is a great example but so are the Tomb Raider reboots. The protagonists are usually mundane people who happen to have some extra amount of toughness, not some clearly supernatural power themselves. Indiana Jones and Lara Croft kick ass and take an incredible beating, but they're not casting many spells as a key part of their characters.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Superhero: Modern settings. Usually features costumed heroes with fairly discrete powers and origin stories often rooted in some kind of scientific accident (Spider-Man, the Hulk), scientific experimentation (Captain America), hidden ancient knowledge (Doctor Strange), aliens of extraordinary ability (Thor, Superman), or a mixture of them (Black Panther, Batman). The world is a surprisingly mundane one otherwise, without many logical adaptations to the kind of changes you'd see if there really was Superman.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Sci-fi: Set in the future or an imagined future with the proposed modifications coming from some advancement of scientific development. Example: David Weber's Honor Harrington series. Very rooted in a mid 20th Century idea of the possibilities of advanced scientific progress. The outcomes can be magnificent (lots of sci-fi from the '50s) or hellish (cyberpunk) but fundamentally the root of the extraordinary is just clever combinations of existing scientific advancement.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Cosmic Fantasy: Set in an imagined future but one that's so far removed from proposed modifications of scientific development that it just doesn't make much sense anymore. It often loops back towards medievalism. Example: The Dying Earth by Jack Vance or Urth of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Science Fantasy: Has elements of sci-fi such as spaceships or space travel but has elements of fantasy too. Example: Star Wars, Flash "Aaaaahhhh! Savior of the Universe!" Gordon.</li> </ul>You can have some hybrid genres such as urban fantasy, which takes the modern setting from superhero stories but draws on fairy tale elements or, of course, superheroes who are rather fantasy-oriented, like Doctor Strange or Thor (although Marvel Asgardians are really "just" aliens). The genres are porous to some degree. I've skipped a few (Planetary Romance, Japanese Fantasy), but I think these capture it pretty well.</blockquote>

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