Mason Dearborn: "The Differnce Between Sci-Fi and Fantasy -- Like Magic, Do the Precise Details Really Matter?"

The Difference between Sci-Fi and Fantasy – Like Magic, Do the Precise Details Really Matter?

By

Mason Dearborn

I find myself answering the age-old question “What really is the difference between fantasy and sci-fi?” quite often.  Any time someone asks me what my complicatedly-named English class is about (Speculative Fiction Studies), and I start to explain that we cover both science fiction and fantasy, I know the question is inevitable.  For as often as I answer it - at the Thanksgiving table, at my grandparents’ house, to my home friends in Senior Lit. – it is still challenging to give a complete answer.  It is easy to cast a general categorization and say fantasy has unicorns and sci-fi has robots, but, as can be seen in your (Ms. Smith’s) question, there are shortcomings to this.  

At first glance, aliens seem as fantastical as dragons.  However, the number of people who believe in aliens is far greater than the number that think there are dragons, elves, dwarves, and so on exist on Earth.  A favorite quotation I rely on when I am explaining the distinction between the genres, especially to my elderly grandparents that don’t exactly have the widest imaginations, is by James Gunn.  He defines science fiction as, “a fantastic event of development considered rationally.”  He then concedes, “brevity means lack of precision” (James Gunn, Toward a Definition of Science Fiction, pg. 7).  I thank him for acknowledging the failure of his definition to provide an all-encompassing solution, but his abstract idea is still salvageable.  Concurring with Gunn, I believe science fiction is fantasy with a rational mechanism.  Of course, the opposite is true.  Fantasy is science fiction without the explanation.  We don’t need to know how the wardrobe works in The Chronicles of Narnia; we trust and believe in the magic of Harry Potter.  

Note my use of mechanism.  The genre distinction between fantasy and science fiction is simply a means- a mechanism- of presenting the true dilemmas, conflicts, and themes of the story.  While fantasy may answer more of the “What?” when compared to sci-fi’s “Why?,” the distinction between the two falls to approach.  Whether it be reached by stepping through a magic wardrobe, or by a futuristic artificial intelligence technology, the stories of speculative fiction unfold regardless, each with their own merits.  In Phillip Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, we DO need to know the mechanics behind the androids to move on to the real conflicts and dilemmas the story is truly about.  The plot of the story is about a human retiring escaped androids, but the STORY is about the human main character’s growing confusion about what the difference actually is between himself and the androids he must kill.  The story explores the human condition, religion, loneliness, and dehumanization.  The factors that make DADES? science fiction, rather than fantasy, serve only to set up the real story.  

The genre distinction between fantasy and science fiction can be relegated to the same level of importance as the setting.  It is still important, but it facilitates the meat of the story that truly matters.  So, Ms. Smith, the difference does NOT matter (as much).  I officially release full permission to use my ideas over the upcoming holidays.  Breeze past the difference between the two sub-genres and talk more about what’s really important: speculative fiction.  Take the Gunn approach and give a vague answer, using large words of course, and impress your close family.  You can now rest easy that no one in your family will doubt your success and intelligence!