Edward Carson: "Can we draw a line between fantasy and science fiction?"

Can we draw a line between fantasy and science fiction?

By

Edward Carson

            Quite frankly, I find it difficult to draw a distinct line between fantasy and science fiction.  This is largely because both genres invoke aspects that correlate with one another.  Science can be found, in works that are labeled as “fantasy” while the strange and unimaginable can also be found in works of so-called “science fiction”.  Therefore, I maintain the stance that there is, in fact, not so great of a line to be drawn between the two, but a speculative fiction spectrum more or less. 

            To begin this argument, it is necessary to first consider the nature of science in general.  In essence, when we discuss science in speculative fiction literature, what do we mean?  When we think of science fiction, we undoubtedly think of futuristic, scientific engineering of advanced technology, based largely upon physics.  We cannot have levitation, intergalactic space travel, or energy beams without physics.  Therefore, we find ourselves among works that would fall on the spectrum closer to science fiction.  However, we must also realize that there are other sciences involved as well.  Biology and chemistry, for example, are both crucial to the entire basis for the creation of organically based humanoid android life, as in one of the most fundamental science fiction texts ever created, Karel Čapek’s "R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots)", which would actually fall on the spectrum slightly closer to fantasy as non-humans, even aliens, are considered incredibly fantastic in nature.  This being the case, it seems that we must include anthropology and geology as well for they too exist as a part of the realm of science.  Altogether, we must maintain open-mindedness when considering what it means to invoke science. 

Now having established the necessity to include all forms of science, it becomes strikingly easy to link fantasy works such as Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea with obvious notions of science.  In the story, Le Guin maintains a strong focus on the setting of the world of Earthsea, with it being an archipelago with varying climates (geology), inhabited by a diverse range of individuals from Caucasians to peoples resembling Native Americans and even Southeast Asians (anthropology).  This makes it impossible to ignore a notable connection between works of fantasy and the field of science.  In fact, a good majority of the field of fantasy seems to be based on a strong, descriptive setting, which falls under these earth-based sciences.  This is undoubtedly because fantasy requires a means by which to make the world seem “magical” to some extent and the best way to accomplish this feat tends to be through a detailed use of the setting of the story.  In essence, you can establish unique worldly aspects through detailed exposition of the nature of said world, linking normal with abnormal so that readers can visualize such a world more clearly.  Altogether, we can see works that lie on the fantasy side of the spectrum, while existing closer to science fiction with notable usages of science. 

Being as we have explored, distinguished, and linked the two sides of the speculative fiction spectrum, I think the time has come to truly demonstrate the most middle-gray area of all.  One of the most hotly debated works in all of speculative fiction, Star Wars.  The battle rages between the classification of the storyline as being a work of fantasy or a work of science fiction.  This is why a spectrum is most logical.  The story is based upon completely futuristic, yet utterly fantastic, notions of science.  There are hyperdrives, lightsabers, and blasters, each of which have become iconic symbols of galactic battle scenes.  Nonetheless, the argument is made that these futuristic items are too advanced and illogical, and that the story follows more of a fantasy-type storyline without much of an underlying purpose or inherent questioning of life as it would exist in the story.  I have no doubt that many people thought most of the technology we have today would be utterly impossible, but look, we eventually found a way to create automobiles and telephones.  Altogether, the ability to distinguish the work is so undeniably foggy, that having it exist quite well around the middle of the spectrum makes the most sense.  

tl;dr – Altogether, instead of drawing a distinct line between the fantasy and science fiction, it is much more logical to create a speculative fiction spectrum instead, in order to better classify the vastly varying types of works that exist.