Mit Patel: "A Fine Line"

A Fine Line

By

Mit Patel

            What is the difference between Science Fiction and Fantasy? They both seem to include improbable scenarios and settings that the real world people would never experience. They both have a wide range of situations, which includes non-human objects talking, people from our time moving and surviving on another planet, or even young men going on a twelve year journey to find a beautiful princess. The idea is that Science Fiction and Fantasy challenge the ideas we have established in this generation, but at the same time, they allow us to take a step back and dive into something unusual, yet exciting. Science Fiction expands our world, while Fantasy transcends it. 

            Humanity can look forward to the postulations made by Science Fiction because it is discovers what is possible. Although what is possible is improbable, the point is that Science Fiction creates a story where the characters use technology that we are familiar with to create a logical solution to a problem. For example, the science fiction piece “The Cold Equations” by Tom Godwin creates a scene where a normal teen, who wants to see her brother after many years, sneaks on a plane where the amount of fuel is determined by the mass. After the captain, who is the only one on the plane, discovers the girl, he has to make a quick decision on what to do, and in the end, he has to kill her in order to save more lives. You know the famous quote by Spock, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” https://www.theobjectivestandard.com/2013/09/spocks-illogic-the-needs-of-the-many-outweigh-the-needs-of-the-few/.  From this piece we can see that modern technology was incorporated into a futuristic setting with a logical solution. We are able to discover the world in the future with “The Cold Equations.” Spaceships with exact quantities of fuel, life on a new planet called Mimir, and new methods to get rid of unwanted people. We dive into a world where we still have some parts of the given world, but just a little taste. Most of the setting and environment is totally new, but not extremely surprising. Science Fiction expands our world; we get to experience a new world with a bit of our own. 

 

            While we read Fantasy pieces, our brain dreams of impossibilities that can never be true. We imagine new creatures, new settings, new technology, or even new types of people. That’s the effect of reading Fantasy stories for anyone at any age: we forget about the real world for some time, and we dive into a world that we create by ourselves. This world includes our rules, our people, our problems, and the best thing is, this world can have talking animals that ride unicorns on the moon. That’s the point of Fantasy; it allows us to relax and escape from this world. Take the book Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. An average man with an average life escapes from the real world (London Above) and travels through a world where anything is possible (London Below). Richard, the average man, gets to travel with Door, a woman who has the ability to open any door, and kill an angel that went bad…if that makes sense… “And Islington was sucked through the door, a tiny, plummeting figure, shrinking as it tumbled into the blinding gulf beyond.” This quote selected from the end of the book gives a glimpse of what Fantasy can do. Gaiman creates a scene where Door opens a door that leads to Hell, or some dark place like that, and has the Angel get sucked into it. The reader has the ability to imagine where the Angel went, or how Door even opened that door, something that would not appear in Science Fiction. It is evident that Fantasy surpasses the limits of our world by allowing us to imagine our own solutions and explanations. 

            Most people have a hard time determining the difference between Science Fiction and Fantasy, but when you get down to the detail, it is obvious which is which. Science Fiction expands the world we live in. It creates a unique environment while still incorporating parts of our modern world. It allows to experience a more futuristic idea of what the world can be in the future, although, it is highly unlikely. On the other hand, Fantasy creates a world where the possibilities are endless. We can experience new problems and new technology. Science Fiction and Fantasy, although similar, are extremely different.