science fiction genre

Simmone Mercer s2603484 Monday 1-3pm. Jules  SCIENCE FICTION GENRE 

This blog aims to talk about the science fiction genre. As the blog is under a 1000 words I have added links to sites which will delve into another whole stratosphere of Science fiction.  

                                                             

When one wants the definition of Science Fiction (sf) the number of quotes from which to choose is mind boggling, even Doctor Who (all 9 of them!) would be confused as to who to believe. One web site  http://www.panix.com/~gokce/sf_defn.html has over 52 definitions from various authors including Isaac Asimov. Professor Stockwell waxed lyrically about Asimov’s Foundation trilogy in week 9s lecture in relation to the afore mention piece being ‘space opera’. There is a definition I practically liked “science fiction as a genre or division of literature distinguishes its fictional worlds to one degree or another from the world we actually live: a fiction of the imagination rather than an observed  reality, a fantastic literature” (Roberts 2002: 1). The book ‘Science Fiction’ by Adam Roberts contains a whole chapter dedicated to defining the term science fiction, not only by himself but also three influential critics: Darko Suvin, Robert Scholes and Damien Broderick.

Google the words ‘science fiction’ and there are over 10 pages with about 150,000,000 related sf links. Web pages vary from buying books online to fanzine pages, clubs to join and details on upcoming science fiction conventions. Did you know there is a museum dedicated solely to science fiction in
Washington
State in
America? I did not, until now. One web site http://www.sffworld.com  in particular has a wide variety of pages any sf lover would be lost in for days. There are also blogs and forums to participate in. Science fiction also has subcultures being horror and super natural thus increasing the variety of sources to investigate.

http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/crlnews/backissues2002/october/sciencefiction.htm

is an excellent web page from which to gain resources, I have even used a couple myself for this blog. So why is science fiction so popular? “Science fiction is more than just a body of texts, as any discussion of SF soon reveals that readers’ reactions or responses to texts seem to determine what is thought of as SF more than any formal textual characteristics”(Landon 1992:4). Landon also describes Sf as a ‘community’ and “a language in which we are competent than a definition on which we agree” (Landon 1997: 5). Perhaps this is why so many people do not get Sf. It all seems too imaginary, too other worldly and not enough reality!

 “The genre has been an essential part of technological culture for over a century.” (Bukatman 1997: 8). As technology grows so to does our imagination. If we look at early sf works the stories are based around adventure travels, Jules Vern’s Voyage to the Centre of the Earth (1863) and different forms of life other than human beings: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and H G Wells’ Martians in War of the Worlds. Early sf works used aliens as the other life forms we, (humans) were fearful of. Space is such a large unknown and unexplored mass that the possibility of a UFO landing on our door step was not beyond reality. Once the notion of aliens became almost comic, futuristic or cyber characters and worlds became the norm, Terminator (1987) and the Matrix (1999).   

 You might not think you are a fan of science fiction, I know I didn’t until I started conducting research for this blog. I realized how many of my favorite film and television shows are categorized into the sf genre. Blade Runner is a brilliant movie. I always thought of it more as a futuristic film rather than science fiction. The same thought goes for the Matrix it was out there but I did not necessarily think it was sf, how wrong was I. Buffy the vampire slayer comes under the science fiction/horror subculture. There was the retro tackiness of Lost in Space, a popular 1960s television show. The all time favorite and a classis today is Dr.Who. There is a whole generation that watched the show with lounge cushions over their faces or from behind the sofa. Who wasn’t afraid when a Daleck or the cyber man appeared on screen?  Check out
Australia’s own sf channel at www.scfitv.com.au. 

 What is the future of science fiction or is science fiction the future? Science fiction will continue to evolve and develop with new technologies comes new ideas and frontiers. Bukatman (1997:8 ) writes “Through the language, iconography and narration of science fiction, the shock of the new is aetheticised and examined. Science fiction constructs a space of accommodation to an intensely technological existence, and this has continued through to the present electronic era”.  

      REFERENCES 

• Landon, Brooks (1992) The Aesthetics of Ambivalence Greenwood Press
  Connecticut
• Roberts, Adam (2002) Science Fiction Routledge
  New York
• Bukatman, Scott (1997) Blade Runner British Film Institute

• http://www.sffworld.com (accessed 8 May 2007)

• Arant, Wendi  and Hall, Hal W

http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/crlnews/backissues2002/october/sciencefiction.htm (accessed 6 Mat 2007)

• http://www.panix.com/~gokce/sf_defn.html (accessed 7 may 2007)
• http://scfitv.com.au (accessed 7 May 2007)