Science Fiction &
Fantasy: Just Don’t Think Too Hard
By
Allie Johnson
A
long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, on 4 Privet Drive, Harry was training
to be Jedi, using his powers to defeat the dark lord and maintain the Galactic
Republic.
Please,
superfans, do not hunt me down.
Think about it: if you know nothing about Star Wars or Harry Potter, then a poster like this does not seem earth shattering.
People
have been trying to build flying cars for decades, and the Force seems
astonishingly like magic. How can we define the difference between two genres
with such similar qualities? The line between sf and fantasy is sketchy at best;
some pieces of writing straddle the line all together. Both genres are
subgenres of the overarching category of speculative fiction, the genre known
for encompassing all ideas weird and out-of-this-world. However…
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The
main distinction between sf and fantasy is dictated by the aura of speculation
that occurs. Translation: authors finish “what if” statements in fundamentally
different ways. Science fiction creates scenarios with scientific basis that
are or could be feasible. Fantasy does not even make an attempt to create
rational explanations for its mystical worlds. The qualities of how the story is written are what
determine its classification, not the characters and setting.
In
general, due to its focus on technology, science fiction has tendency to show
its age. For example, Big Brother’s surveillance cameras in George Orwell’s 1984 do not seem as scary, now that such
cameras exist… everywhere. It is easy for scientific principles to be proved
wrong or be changed over time. The far-fetched happenings in fantasy, on the
other hand, will never become outdated because they cannot and never will be
possible. Unless you know something I don’t, saying the word “expelliarmus”
with a wand in your hand will never disarm an opponent. In Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, Door’s
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opening ability is due to an inexplicable power that you and I will never be able to attain, no matter how long we spend staring at an unpeeled orange.
Both
sf worlds and fantasy worlds require rules. However, in science fiction, the
rules are more limited by what already exists, both in the real world and in
literature. For instance, Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics are
well-established tropes on the science fiction scene, and members of the sf
community look down upon breaches of these laws. Fantasy authors experience more
freedom with their world building. They can make their own rules, and as long
as authors maintain them throughout the entire story, readers are happy. (If a fantasy
writer were to break his or her own rules, he or she would face the wrath of
the reader community. I.E., “The wizard chose the wand instead of the wand
choosing the wizard! BLASPHEMY!”)
The
key to understanding the difference between science fiction and fantasy is to
not get lost in the details of plot, setting, and characters. There are plenty
of near-magic powers in science-fiction novels, and fantasy writers don’t
hesitate to use scientific principles to spice up their stories. These are the
characteristics then make the line between sf and fiction fuzzy. The true
difference lies in the mentality of the story. The distinction between the two
genres helps readers know the author’s general intention before they even read
the back cover. Fantasy attempts to bring you to a distant world, eventually returning
you to reality with a softer attitude toward the power of imagination. Science
fiction takes something from our known world and magnifies it, leaving us
looking at those ideas in a new light. While science fiction works to expand
the world, fantasy ultimately transcends it. And if there seems to be a story
with some combination of the two… well, the author may be trying to achieve expansion
and transcendence. Shoutout to them.
Allie:
ReplyDeleteI love that you're reminding us NOT to get hung up on the details... so crucial and so easily forgotten, especially when we put on our "I am now in English class!" hats.
Also... I nearly died laughing at the meme about the orange and the connection to _Neverwhere_.
Ahem.
As far as the post itself goes, positing that it's the kind of "what if" questions that are asked and how they're answered that determines if a text is this genre or that has a kind of lovely and clear utility that's very appealing. Of course it's an imperfect metric, but what I like about it is that it encourages the reader to focus on the core of the story. Thus (just as you later say) we don't get too hung up on the details.
Best,
TT