Science Fiction/Fantasy

This is one topic I would really like to go into depth. As many as you know both Science Fiction and Fantasy have captured the imagination of many many writers of our time. Some of us are fans of great works of Science fiction and Fantasy. Like Star Wars, LOTR, Star Trek, The Matrix, and many other types of fictions. But what do they all have in common? One way to answer that is "imagination" either develop in the minds of writers or the fans.

Many of us consider LOTR as a Fantasy. Star Wars is consider Sci-fi. But what do they have in common? Is about the power of the human imagination. But what are the causes to get these great stories into our world? What are their purpose? Are they for entertainment? Or to produce literature? Or maybe reflect our current problems?

What do you think is the purpose of people like George Lucas, Warchoski Brothers, Gene Roddenberry, or J.R.R Tolkien to create such works? Is it for literature purposes or are they trying to create a new mythology for our time. Is our world in real need of imagination in order to escape our current problems? Do many of you think that fiction is our only excape from reality?

forget about George Lucas. lets go past the Warchoski brothers.

Jules Verne was a genius...in my opinion...

in 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and his other novels, they all discuss about objects and inventions that have never been even invented. i think thats pure genius. liek the Submarine in 20,000 leages, i think it was called the Nautilus (sp?)

great author.

i will continue more tommorwo but for now i g2g

good night

Science Fiction and Fantasy, when constructed correctly, is also an escape from reality and a reminder of what's going on in reality. For instance, in LotR; It's the classic tale of good versus evil, but it is such an allegory as well. Saruman's burning of Fangorn Forest in order to produce weaponry, is symbolic of the cost of war. As such is the Dead Marshes.

In a DragonLance Trilogy called the Kingpriest Trilogy, there is a constant theme of how righteousness caould bring about the destruction of the world, if taken to extremes.

Fantasy is an intense symbology for the world as we know it; a testament to our own accomplishments and how they can effect us.

Science Fiction is more along the lines of a search of our own psyche. The Matrix is a perfect example of this. Michael Chrichton books made into movies also exhibit this theme.

But what do they have in common?
The wonder of Sci-fi is the ability of the writers (and directors) to create a world seemingly different from our own. I say seemingly because although the location maybe in Mars or Sector G of the 10th Quadrant (name your location) there is something fundamental that we can relate to (the human aspect of it).

They comment on reality (present and past) and some try to predict the future i.e. "where we will be if we kept going this way" and the "what ifs". They comment on politics, government, religion, science, technology etc and concerns that we have (eg human interaction with the advent of the Internet, virtual reality, threat of virus and biological warfare and threats to life in general etc).

Is it for literature purposes or are they trying to create a new mythology for our time.
Tolkien wanted to do that, didn't he? Create a mythology for England?

I think people want to write good stories, write about "old ideas" in a different, new way. And as Science advances and different discoveries are made, it invites people to write about the "what ifs". And as HockyHorror pointed out, Jules Verne was beyond his years when he wrote Leagues. Verne was writing "science fiction". And who knew that man would someday conquer the sky?

I like the points made so far. Now, let me take a step a bit further. When it comes to Sci-Fi such as Star Trek or Dune notice that somehow the idea of a Utopia society is sometimes present. This idea takes us back to the Republic of Plato in which society comes together under peaceful terms to be more productive and more united. Do you guys think that writers should include such ideas in their works?

imagination....fun....good stories...what I like about Star Wars...is the ?"humaness" of the troubles the protagonists face....same thing with LOTR....the unity and such binds strangers together for a common goal: survival....fight for right etc.

there's nothing wrong with a utopia, it should be the goal of all ppl on earth to try and accomplish that, I think it is possible, just not yet.

I like it when writers include utopia's it always adds a certain feeling of respect towards the culture that has reached that level of existence IMO

well.you said it yourself...evading reality..that's the main purpose of a fiction work. The deeper the universe, the more you like it. Ofcourse...a good plot line always helps..but that's an effect

Utopia...Do you guys think that writers should include such ideas in their works?

If it fits in with their story 😄

Utopia is greek (or was it Latin) for "no where".

There is an awesome quote I came across a few years ago... the closer you think you are, the further you get from it (or something along those lines).

It is great whenever the idea of utopia is discussed in a novel and movie. It shows us how far we are from it, and the impossibility of it. I don't think a Utopian society will be a reality. In order for that to happen, something drastic has to happen, and it will be costly. And this is what intrigues us 😛

I am a Dune fan 😮

To love or not to love fantasy

Should we add this to explore some Fantasy issues from pro-fantasy fans 😄

I kinda disregarded this thread because the original material I had in mind wasn't enough. I do appreciate the comments that have been posted. Still, this topic for me is interesting. For example check out this article on X-files and Twin Peaks.

http://scifi.about.com/library/weekly/aa041102.htm

btw-Serif I do think Dune is a great masterpiece of Sci-Fi. Currently I'm getting into Andrei Tarkovsky movies. I saw Stalker last week, and it was a great Sci-Fi story.

Sci fi and fastasy, I think, are ways for writers, and the readers, to approach human nature in a made up world, galaxy, realm, whatever you want to call it. By putting people into situations that don't exist, but still having them act human, fans and authors alike can examine the different reactions humans have in situations and what these possible outcomes are. Again, an LoTR metaphor: King Theoden, at first possesed by Saruman, overcomes this "inhibition" and dies on the battlefield, while the Gondorian king (forgot the guy's name) lives life as a hermit, shrugging off his one surviving sun and ultimately going insane.

Originally posted by §pearhead
Sci fi and fastasy, I think, are ways for writers, and the readers, to approach human nature in a made up world, galaxy, realm, whatever you want to call it. By putting people into situations that don't exist, but still having them act human, fans and authors alike can examine the different reactions humans have in situations and what these possible outcomes are.

That's good! I like how you put it Spear. That idea of placing human beings in situations in which some kind of heroic action must be taken, is very old. This idea has been seen in many different mythologies. Notice the Epic of Gilgamesh, or Beuwolf as examples. It is always about tales of heroes. I think that's what humanity has always desire. A super-hero to be born, someone that does great feats and is rewarded. Even today Comic Book superheroes are the beings we image that will rescue us in a moment of danger. I think that's why we (as Humans) create these beings.....so that we can have a safer world.

OMG!!!!! HAS ANYONE HERE SEEN "THE TWLIGHT ZONE"??? ITS AN OLD SCIENCE FICTION SERIES.. ITS AMAZING I HAVE BEEN WATCHIN THE MARATHON EVERY HALLOWEEN FOR AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER.. if u havent seen it omg look it up its amazing!!

Originally posted by Melani
OMG!!!!! HAS ANYONE HERE SEEN "THE TWLIGHT ZONE"??? ITS AN OLD SCIENCE FICTION SERIES.. ITS AMAZING I HAVE BEEN WATCHIN THE MARATHON EVERY HALLOWEEN FOR AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER.. if u havent seen it omg look it up its amazing!!

Yep. I was a fan of "THE TWLIGHT ZONE" And I have a lot of VHS films of it 🙂

Amazing how many people still want to credit Tolkien with metaphors when he put absolutely none in his work at all, and specifically said he did not like them.

I think it is rather distasteful to try and reject the Brothers and George Lucas from a discussion like this.

To which metaphors you are referring to Ushgarak? Who has rejected Mr. Lucas or the Warchoski brothers?

HH above.

Tolkien rejected all ideas that any of his work had allegorical meaning.

Oh yeah, and Jules Verne wrote after the submarine was invented- he simply picked up ideas about how it might go, which plenty of other writers have done. Not that I wish to cast Verne down- far from it- but it is as well to be fair.

Well, I don't think it was intentional. Maybe he is bigger fan of Verne than Mr. Lucas. 😉

Interesting quote I read the other day. Is from Brian Stableford:

"What is authentic about genuine science fiction, is that the science fiction writer should not stop with just saying: Well, the plot needs this to happen, therefore I'll just do it and I'll invent an excuse for it being able to be done. Proper science fiction ought to require people to begin to explore the consequences of what they've invented. And thus, I think that science fiction is, in a real sense, capable of being scientific. Not in the sense that it can foresee the future of science, but it can adopt a kind of variation of the scientific method itself, it does feel compelled to explore the consequences of hypotheses and the way things fit together."

By the way Dune rocks... its what got me into all of it.. screw starwars in comparison to Dune.
Utopia is present in everything... we move and build everything in the image of perfection... that is were to the ideal of heaven.