why do people like or hate the scifi genre?
POSTED BY: crystalkei
UPDATED: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 10:44
VIEWED: 12278
PAGE 3 of 3
I pretty much agree with most of these theories. Reasons for liking or disliking Scifi differ from person to person. I guess I was lucky both my parents were supportive. My father being a fan of Star Trek since he was a younger and my mother being pretty tolerant and later a X-files fan then Browncoat. My sister however isn't as interested, not to say she doesn't have an imagination I just don't think she really cares much to use it. In my experience, which I admit isn't alot, people just don't want to experience things outside what they were introduced to at an early age. Be it that they think it's childish or low-brow or just insane they have come to the conclusion that fiction is not a worthy way to waste their time... now watching ugly chicks try to eat goat bladders or make obese men cry is definantly what you want filling your head at the end of the day. Honestly I feel it all comes down to the fact that people are just different... ok that's not deep or complex or mind-bending but it's simple and it's the truth. It's not to say you can't find some non-believer who would love Scifi if they just gave it a shot. You just have to find the right time or show.. X-files, Firefly and Chuck are more recent shows I've found tend to be very good at steering people of a non Scifi tilt towards the genre. Either way it's very true that Scifi and Scifi fans have done a whole lot to further the stigma that the genre is silly, stupid and childish. I would give my entire paycheck to fund a second season of Firefly even if it was assured there wouldn't be a third but I'm still not going to dye my hair, put on fake boobs and go to a convention as Kaylee... no matter how much I love her. Not to say any Browncoat has ever gone that far(I sure hope not anyway) but certain other fanboys have been known for such insanity. Bottom line, Scifi like anything else is a varied bunch as are it's fans, no one is right and no one is wrong... unless they say Firefly sucks. Ok now I'm gunna go watch Friends and eat a nice big mac... seriously kidding.
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It's all about the war between TV and Reality....
Tv killed Reality so Reality struck back killing Tv with a heavy dose of reality. :P sorry it's a ramble i go on with sometimes.
I hate the amount of reality based garbage they put on TV they only do it to save money because they don't have to pay writers. Basically they're all the same anyway the executives aim is to edit the footage to make one person the 'bitch' and another to be the cry baby. In Australia every year Big Brother rocks around taking up almost two hours of TV per day. The 'Contestants' are always the bloody same they just have token people they throw in the place.
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Quote:
Originally posted by BlueBomber:
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."
I think you may have hit the nail on the head with you list of examples. The billion dollar franchises you listed basically spoon feed their product to the consumers and takes away the need to think things through. How many times have you spoken to someone who has seen the LOTR movies or Harry POtter Movies and enjoyed them but never read any of the books?
One of my friend's three children, the youngest liked the Harry Potter movies but had no interest in the books until one day his older brother and sister were talking to me about the Harry Potter series and we were explaining what we thought was going to happen and why, but when ever Seth tried to understand what we were saying we would tell him that those subplots won't be in the movies and he won't understand. That made Seth so angry that he went home that night and began reading the Harry Potter books, and is now reading all of his father's stash of sci fi and fantasy books too.
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I've been on both sides of the fence: During junior high I clearly remember loathing sci-fi, and even wrote on my English final (as a "compare and contrast genres") that "both sci-fi and fantasy are for geeks." *hangs head in shame* Not three years later, I had shelves of Piers Anthony and Anne McCaffrey, and was attending ST:TNG parties! I've since found a happy medium....
I'm not sure what changed in my case, but I think one of the big deterrents for many people is how alienating (no pun) sci-fi literature can be. The social critique that is a hallmark of excellent sci-fi is often buried too deeply within 500 pages of gibberish words and foreign worlds. In addition, many popular sci-fi books are series, which can be fairly inaccessible to new readers. Even if someone is intelligent and imaginative, it can be very intimidating to ask him to absorb an entirely new culture when he starts a new book - even more so when that book features scantily-clad women and dragons on the cover. I usually start my friends with Ray Bradbury, and then move on to something that might have a few spaceships, then mayyybe a few aliens, etc. You have to introduce people slowly, find the common ground in the genre, or they'll certainly balk when some Klingon or a telepathic dragon starts talking to them. ;)
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Quote:
Originally posted by TheHeroOfWilliamtown:
It's all about the war between TV and Reality....
Tv killed Reality so Reality struck back killing Tv with a heavy dose of reality. :P sorry it's a ramble i go on with sometimes.
I hate the amount of reality based garbage they put on TV they only do it to save money because they don't have to pay writers. Basically they're all the same anyway the executives aim is to edit the footage to make one person the 'bitch' and another to be the cry baby. In Australia every year Big Brother rocks around taking up almost two hours of TV per day. The 'Contestants' are always the bloody same they just have token people they throw in the place.
Ah!...A wonderfully refreshing thought about the utter banality of entertainment today...couldn't agree more.
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Thank you kindly.
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Imagination and intelligence.
Got 'em?
Or not.
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