Science Fiction: A Short Essay
Dec. 18th, 2006 12:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
owaranai_natsuOk, so I decided, on a whim, to post an essay that I wrote for my English class. I totally suck at grammar and syntax, so please forgive me for boching it. It's a 'definition' paper of Science fiction. It was only suppose to be 500 words, so I couldn't go into tangents of stargate and what not, but I got a B+, for what it's worth.
"Science fiction is the existential metaphor that allows us to tell stories of the human condition," said Grell, a robot on the make-believe show Wormhole X-Treme, in the actual show of Stargate: SG-1. Science fiction, sci-fi, sf, can be many things and many names, but ordinary it is not. On the landmark 200th episode of the longest running science fiction show ever, even surpassing Star Trek, a ground breaking series in itself, the characters in Stargate: SG-1 act out scenarios making fun of what they've been doing for the past 10 years, as well as the stereotypes of other science fiction shows. The 'main' ingredients to a sci-fi show doesn’t always have to be a battle between good and evil in space, or lost aliens looking for life throughout space, or anything to do with space; science fiction is science and fiction, which in technicality, can be anything in your imagination.
Science fiction is in fact, a reflection of human nature. It encompasses all aspects of life ranging from fear, hate, love, depression, etc. Sci-fi, not only gives people a chance to get away from reality, but also allows us to observe reality from another perspective. In fact, it sometimes takes someone who is alienated (or just an alien themselves) to recognize what is in human nature, more so than Earthlings like ourselves.
Science fiction is science in fiction. Science is a study, an academic pursuit, and as evident in any sci-fi show, book, or movie, the science of something is involved. There is a science of studying ancient civilizations called archaeology. Archaeology is needed in case new alien races are encountered and diplomatic relations have to be properly set up by previous rituals. There is also the study of the curiosities of space called astronomy mixed in with physics. One could not travel in space without proper calculations of time-space continuums, wormholes, and velocity of an approaching alien planet. There would also have to be the study of the mind and how one person interacts with another, psychology and sociology. All sciences are involved somehow, and it shows that science fiction is a reflection of the human condition, because we create situations in a story, that provide us usage of these sciences.
Not only is there science in science fiction, but there is also an intrinsic need for fiction. Fiction has to be a part of the equation, because without fiction, science would remain just a science, merely with facts and no human emotions whatsoever. Because "science fiction is an existential metaphor that allows us to tells stories of the human condition," it is essential that the stories exist. Fiction is stories of any imagination, non-factual. Therefore, fiction could be made up of drama, romance, tragedy, friendship, hope, etc., all aspects of the 'human condition.' Furthermore, existentialists are very fond of how humans emote based on past experiences. Grell said that sci-fi is an existential metaphor, which basically means, sci-fi provides a genre in which you can explore the range of human emotions and reactions, when people are faced with situations that have never been and never will be faced, unless in science fiction.
So you see, science fiction is not cliché or stereotyped for no reason, it is because all of the components of science fiction that are just like everyday life that we think it mundane. Ironically, it may be the only escape from reality we have. Isaac Asimov once said, "Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today, but the core of science fiction, its essence, has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all." Science fiction is a microcosm of the universe, and it would serve us well to look at it closely.
<3
"Science fiction is the existential metaphor that allows us to tell stories of the human condition," said Grell, a robot on the make-believe show Wormhole X-Treme, in the actual show of Stargate: SG-1. Science fiction, sci-fi, sf, can be many things and many names, but ordinary it is not. On the landmark 200th episode of the longest running science fiction show ever, even surpassing Star Trek, a ground breaking series in itself, the characters in Stargate: SG-1 act out scenarios making fun of what they've been doing for the past 10 years, as well as the stereotypes of other science fiction shows. The 'main' ingredients to a sci-fi show doesn’t always have to be a battle between good and evil in space, or lost aliens looking for life throughout space, or anything to do with space; science fiction is science and fiction, which in technicality, can be anything in your imagination.
Science fiction is in fact, a reflection of human nature. It encompasses all aspects of life ranging from fear, hate, love, depression, etc. Sci-fi, not only gives people a chance to get away from reality, but also allows us to observe reality from another perspective. In fact, it sometimes takes someone who is alienated (or just an alien themselves) to recognize what is in human nature, more so than Earthlings like ourselves.
Science fiction is science in fiction. Science is a study, an academic pursuit, and as evident in any sci-fi show, book, or movie, the science of something is involved. There is a science of studying ancient civilizations called archaeology. Archaeology is needed in case new alien races are encountered and diplomatic relations have to be properly set up by previous rituals. There is also the study of the curiosities of space called astronomy mixed in with physics. One could not travel in space without proper calculations of time-space continuums, wormholes, and velocity of an approaching alien planet. There would also have to be the study of the mind and how one person interacts with another, psychology and sociology. All sciences are involved somehow, and it shows that science fiction is a reflection of the human condition, because we create situations in a story, that provide us usage of these sciences.
Not only is there science in science fiction, but there is also an intrinsic need for fiction. Fiction has to be a part of the equation, because without fiction, science would remain just a science, merely with facts and no human emotions whatsoever. Because "science fiction is an existential metaphor that allows us to tells stories of the human condition," it is essential that the stories exist. Fiction is stories of any imagination, non-factual. Therefore, fiction could be made up of drama, romance, tragedy, friendship, hope, etc., all aspects of the 'human condition.' Furthermore, existentialists are very fond of how humans emote based on past experiences. Grell said that sci-fi is an existential metaphor, which basically means, sci-fi provides a genre in which you can explore the range of human emotions and reactions, when people are faced with situations that have never been and never will be faced, unless in science fiction.
So you see, science fiction is not cliché or stereotyped for no reason, it is because all of the components of science fiction that are just like everyday life that we think it mundane. Ironically, it may be the only escape from reality we have. Isaac Asimov once said, "Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today, but the core of science fiction, its essence, has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all." Science fiction is a microcosm of the universe, and it would serve us well to look at it closely.
<3
