Dear Lynne and
Michael Thomas: Why Science Fiction and Fantasy are Pretty Neat
by
Jake Bail
In today’s
world, it seems that literature is more popular than ever; a larger portion of
society is learning to appreciate all of the things that writing has to offer
and the talent it takes to create noteworthy material. However, I feel that
when it comes to short science fiction and fantasy, although their fan bases
are larger than before, they still carry a negative implication for many. I’ll
have to admit that prior to taking my Speculative Fiction class, this was slightly
true for me. I often looked with a judging eye when I noticed people getting
overly absorbed into some sort of fantasy-based thing such as LARPing or
Dungeons and Dragons or Lord of the Rings. But my perception on fantasy and
science fiction has changed a lot throughout my semester in Speculative
Fiction.
During my
time in SpecFic, I’ve read a relatively large number of short science fiction
or fantasy stories, and now, I love them! They’ve quickly become high on my
list of things to do for when I’m feeling stressed, sad, or I simply don’t have
anything else to do, and this is because of the manner in which they allow you
to escape the world. I’ve found that the reading process and state of mind you
enter is different for these genres than all others.
Unlike any
other sorts of literature, sci-fi and fantasy are able to pull you out of the
world you are in and put you in a new one. This is because they change what you
know and how you perceive the world through modifying general rules of how
things work. For example, in Do Androids
Dream of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick, many rules in this world are different
from those in our own, like how the idea of simply owning a living animal is a
coveted thing that depicts higher social status than others. At one point in
the story, a real cat (as opposed to an electric one) dies. When this happened,
I found myself gasping and saying “Oh no!” which amazed me. How could I
possibly feel such an emotional connection to this random cat in this random
book? This is how I finally realized what was going on:
These
stories give you a new sense of logic. When I’m reading a fantasy or sci-fi
story, as the world is introduced, I learn to develop a separate system of
logic, which applies to the world that I am currently “in.” As I am provided
the general rules and nuances in the story that I am reading, I learn to think
and feel the same way the people (or other life forms) do, which is why science
fiction is such a great form of escape from reality.
When you
think about it, any non-sci-fi or non-fantasy book can absorb the attention of
the reader and distract them from their own life for a little while. However,
sci-fi and fantasy take this a step farther by literally changing the way you think and the way you feel in response to
given situations. In other genres, while the stories are able to distract the
reader, they do not skew the reader’s sense of reality and logic the way a
fantasy book can. And when this happens, the experience of the story is made so
much better. To be able to actually feel
as though you are on the adventure that you are reading, and to understand the
emotions of the characters on the adventure is simply more than any book based
in reality can offer, at least for me.
When I’m
reading Do Androids Dream of Electric sheep,
and my mindset is on the book, reasonable concern sways from “Oh god, am I
going to pass my calculus final?” to “NOOOO!!!! The kitty died!! WHY???” and I
believe that says more than the rest of this blog post can about why I love
these stories.
Jake,
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of being able to escape in to the logic a story's world provides (however unlike the logic of the world we've known). I agree that this is at the core of what can help a reader bridge the gap from "this is happening on the page" to "this feels as if it's happening to me." Now if only we could explore that without the sad death of nearly-extinct housecats. :)
Best,
TT