Science Fiction and Fantasy

Science fiction and Fantasy are the two genres that I will most often read if it is not for a class. I have about twenty books by Asimov alone. Early in the summer I reread Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, and I even read his next book in that series. That pales in comparison to the amount of fantasy reading that I did over the summer. I read the entire available parts of the series A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin. These books are currently being adapted to the show Game of Thrones airing on HBO, which comes with the necessary warning that the show is less than safe for children. They are some of the longest, most emotional books I have ever come across. He will kill off your favorite characters when you least expect it, so if you want a happy story with no tragedy you may want to steer clear. However, if you want brilliant character development, bawdy japes, and a deep examination of moral justifications this is the series for you.

Seriously, this is a really good show.

I find these two genres to have massive parallels. They are both written about worlds completely different from ours, yet the human concepts remain the same. These themes are what take these stories from interesting to captivating. Some of the stories from either genre have very little that is not believable. Not all fantasy has to have magic, and not all sci-fi has to have teleportation or faster than light travel. It is important to note that the quality of the story doesn't depend on the quantity of unreal happenings. Take the original Star Wars trilogy versus the new one. The new one depends on special effects, whereas the old one just used it as a device to help tell the story.

A grave error in judgment about special effects over strong character development.

Now which of the genres is preferable? I can’t answer that sadly. Everyone has different preferences on it. It’s easy to make a movie or television series in either genre, but making it good is the difficult part. We have numerous examples of cheesy science fiction movies from the mid to late twentieth century with disastrous special effects. They become the subject of Mystery Science Theater 3000 lampooning. Fantasy is a genre less explored. If you were a young boy in the sixties or seventies you would probably get a social pass if you liked spaceships, but not so much if you liked dwarves and orcs. Casual fans of both genres get a pass these days thanks to brilliant adaptations such as the Lord of the Rings movies, but the hardcore fans still garner some ridicule.

A preliminary photo from the Hobbit movie

I don’t think of fantasy as a genre that would ever command mutual exclusivity of fanbase over sci-fi. I also don't think there is a deep seeded need for escape from the throes of scientific monotony. It's just entertainment in the end. They are both stories that use different worlds as a tool for telling a story that perhaps couldn't be told in the modern world. Maybe it tackles a social issue that is not acceptable in modern society. Whatever the reason the effect remains constant. We are transported to a vastly different world where we find characters just as human as ourselves, even if they’re actually aliens or elves.