why do people like or hate the scifi genre?

POSTED BY: crystalkei
UPDATED: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 10:44
VIEWED: 12278
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RALLEM

Tuesday, November 27, 2007 12:15 AM

Actually to this day a stigmatism is placed on Science Fiction in the film industry. I was checking out Red Dwarf and the producers at the BBC were flabbergasted at yet another Science Fiction Show.

SPACEHOPPER

Tuesday, November 27, 2007 1:11 AM

I disagree that people view it as childish and I agree that imagination is a big factor; “Vampires don’t exist, therefore this program is rubbish,” or “We can’t live/travel easily in space, so until a real solution is discovered for this problem, simply guessing is stupid, and having to listen to the characters explain a complex theory that plainly isn’t working right now is even more pointless.”

I think it is apparent from the success of reality programs, soaps and the like, that people don’t really want to think that hard when they get home from work and slump on the sofa. There seems to be a prevailing view that Sci-Fi is geeky and therefore too much effort, because geeky programs require you to learn about things that are complicated but aren’t real, when you don’t really want to learn anything at all.

This is of course complete rubbish.

Blade was great because it was a great action movie; great fight scenes involving a badass hero, the fact he was a vampire fighting other vampires was just a vehicle for making the fight scenes more spectacular and the enemy more inhumane, so there was no disputing which side you were routing for. I didn’t really care how they explained the existence of vampires or why they had the specific weaknesses (I don’t think that was dealt with anyway). Just keep an open mind to the fact that vampires could exist and watch it for the great action film it is, rather than dismissing it before even seeing it.

Firefly/Serenity is great because of the amazing depth it brings to its characters and I watched it mainly because of that. My sister, on the other hand, sat there saying, “That’s not possible,” “No-one says ‘gorram’ or ‘shiney’.” “Why would they have old-fashioned guns but fly around in spaceships?” “I can’t stand River, what a stupid character.”
If only she had the imagination to see that this sort of future might be possible, and accept that advances in brain surgery could lead to something like River’s situation and just watch the program for what it is; a brilliantly scripted drama that happens to be set in a world that provides interesting storylines and character quirks that can't be explored in conventional shows.

I know nothing of the physics of the show; how space travel was made possible on such a large scale, or how the planets were terraformed etc. But I can imagine that it will be possible in the future, and I haven’t had to learn a single ‘geeky’ fact or theory to convince myself.

The fact is, people aren’t prepared to imagine, but neither are they prepared to learn the science behind a show. It is like trying to explain electricity to someone when it was just a theory. “What? It’s this invisible power source that travels through metal and causes things to light up or spin or whatever and it's going revolutionise the world? Bullshit, I don’t have time to learn about this useless rubbish, I am too busy living in the real world.”

A lot of people are like my sister, if it doesn’t exist yet, if they can’t see it working in real life right now, then it’s not worth it. They have already decided to hate shows like Firefly before they even watch it.

RALLEM

Tuesday, November 27, 2007 2:11 AM

Actually I think it is funny how many items we use today which were originally thought up in Science Fiction stories. For instance the inventor of the Cell Phone credits the communicators of Star Trek entirely for the Cell Phone's inception. I cannot be certain about this because I served in the Army but I understand from a friend who served in the Navy that the sick bays in our war ships today are heavily influenced by the sick bay on the Enterprise in Star Trek also.

CRYSTALKEI

Tuesday, November 27, 2007 2:37 AM

I think it's surely an imagination issue. People think it's boring or weird or not "their thing."

Jayne Cobb, the Dick Casablancas of Firefly

MERRYK

Tuesday, November 27, 2007 2:41 AM

I think the science part of science fiction appeals to a certain group of people...whether it's made up or not, you have to be open to that to appreciate it with most science fiction. And you also have to be open to political/philosophical ideas. Character, action, and humor come, but the undertones of science and philosophy are what make it science fiction more than the future and aliens.

--
"My way of being polite, or however...well, it's the only way I have of showing you that I like you. Of showing respect." Simon Tam, Jaynestown

TRAVELER

Tuesday, November 27, 2007 2:47 AM

For me it is the way science fiction is limitless.
You can create any number of societies and worlds.

It can be the near future like 2001 a Space Odessey, or traveling through a worm hole like Star Gate.

So I read a lot a different authors so the story is unpredictable. I have some favorites, but I always look for new author to read.

Movies and TV science fiction is always high on my list to watch. That is why I know Firefly was poorly promoted, because I would have watched it if I had known it existed. But as you see I found it. I seek these things out.

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
Traveler

THEHEROOFWILLIAMTOWN

Tuesday, November 27, 2007 3:07 AM

Gah Science make my head hurt- Reality TV fan 3:16

No honestly i think it's the social stigma that surrounds the Genre about nerds and escapist junkies. Also most TV these days is sadly reality based Tv. I mean in Australia we get Big Brother one half of the year and Aussie Idol the other half. The only shows i get on TV are at 10 30pm at night, i get one hit of Stargate and one of The Unit.

I studied creative writing at Uni and the teacher whilst she was good had a massive prejudice against sci fi and fantasy. Her example of sci fi and fantasy was something like "Oh we're walking in a forest then gah a witch and a dragon". It was a dissapointment because i know i can write sci fi like nobodies buisness.

People don't seem to value or see teh deepth in most sci fi. Most of it is a metaphor for humanity. Also when i write sci fi i base it on events from History. People don't want to go to the effort to see the parallels or value in sci fi. I still handed in a review of Starship Troopers (the one by Hienlien) for creative writing though :p

NEWOLDBROWNCOAT

Tuesday, November 27, 2007 7:39 AM

Modern Sci-fi has always been a minority, niche market, clear back to the days of the pulp magazines and original paperback books. It always only did ever appeal to the nerds, geeks and head cases out there-- and I know, because I proudly was one.

Only very rarely does a Star Trek, or Star Wars come along and break out. Fantasy ( LOTR, etc.) has always been more popular. So has always horror ( Frankenstein and so on.). and so always have been action movies, superhero movies, sword and sorcery movies, and even Westerns, even tho' many of those categories have sci-fi elements in them .

Classic sci-fi fandom , back to the books days, has always been about serious concern for possible , probable futures extrapolated from present trends and developments.

BLUEBOMBER

Tuesday, November 27, 2007 5:30 PM

I'm not so sure about the skeptic science-fiction-is-nothing-like-reality-and-it-makes-me-think-too-much-so-I'm-not-going-to-watch argument. If that were the case, LoTR, Harry Potter, Spiderman, X-Men etc. wouldn't be the multi-billion dollar franchises they are today. And I do think there is a difference between science fiction and science fantasy (they could almost be considered different genres), but it's hard to say why one would be more popular than the other. I find that a lot of people who are into sci-fi are into action fantasy, and vice-versa.

"Mwah ha ha ha...mine is an evil laugh. Now die."

JONGSSTRAW

Tuesday, November 27, 2007 6:32 PM

The first "sci-fi" I can remember being aware of was when I was 6 and my parents would watch the Twilight Zone every week on CBS. I've always been attracted to sci-fi since. The 50's & 60's were terrific for sci-fi genre, but then the genre almost disappeared in the 70's; until Star Wars rejuvenated the genre in 1977....and the rest is history. Sci fi represents, in my opinion, the highest order of human thinking & imagination that we are capable of.

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