Why Are We Here?
Kate Elliott May 26th, 2006
Science fiction and fantasy, like the broad umbrella that is mysteries, performs in more areas than “escape” and “entertainment,” though we’re big on entertainment, too. SFF engages with ideas, and by “ideas” we intend a broader spectrum than nifty concepts like “what if faster-than-light drive really worked.
For instance, sf/f can so often perform a triangulation with history = past, present AND future. Yet so often the social conceptualization (political, cultural, administrative) has lagged behind the technical. Where does work fit in? How do other forms and elements of popular culture intersect with the way we integrate culture and ideas into fiction? Where does genre become life, or life become genre?
We’re looking to discuss this on all levels, from the practical concerns of authors writing fiction, to the interplay of life with art and art with life, to the ways in which the NFL can be used as a model for early medieval band warfare.
Yep, I’d agree with that assessment. And I’d add sff can challenge, rock, and broaden the readers’ perceptions, to think about hitherto unconsidered possibilities.
I find that writing science fiction allows me to do many things. One of them that you didn’t mention was comment on something in the present that I wouldn’t feel comfortable about writing directly.
An example might help clarify what I mean. I had been noticing that a lot of American right wing commentators had expressed sentiments ranging from “I hope the President fails” to incitements to violence and insurrection. I wondered what their reaction would be if some nutcase actually took them at their word and assassinated the President. However, I didn’t feel comfortable about writing a fictional scenario in which that happened (how would I feel if it did subsequently come to pass?).
So, instead, I created the United States of Vespuccia and changed the names of the administration and the commentators (although many quotes of my fictional commentators were actually lifted from the commentators in our real world; this was the bridge between the fictional and real worlds). Treating it as science fiction allowed me to explore an unpleasant idea in a way that I was comfortable with.
Ira,
yes, I think we are mostly writing about the present no matter whether we’re writing about the past or the future, and science fiction and fantasy (and horror) allow us to take a step back but still examine our deepest hopes and fears.