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Just some thoughts, here.
I never interpreted sci-fi as futuristic drama. It always seemed, to me, to be a form of social commentary. I liked the comments about the Deux Ex Machina approach.
Speculative rant :
Science Fiction, by it's very name, implies a fictive universe within an understandable scientific framework. In other words, it's supposed to be speculative, in a sense, but not too much so - we ought to be able to picture it. The technology so often employed as the costumed god resolving the problems is, in science fiction, used equally often to introduce the dilemma. It's a way of fast-forwarding a present social trend, anxiety, hope, and viewing a speculation at potential manifestations. It let's us observe an array of possible futures ; some more likely than others. Even when making inference to equivelent technology levels on other planets, or high technology in our own past, the primary point is to exemplify a single emotional response or social trend. 1984 employed what was then a far-advanced technology, not so much to make a point about the technology (science) itself, but more to make a point about the threat of oligarchy, and possibly warring human proclivities for a safe, controlled environment, and at the same time, an unsafe, chaotic, and uncontrollable environment. 1984 made some suggestions as to what could occur if we go too far with a given proclivity - a safe, controlled environment. Likewise, PKD, considered a Science Fiction author, oftentimes employs virtually no futuristic, or even necessarily scientific, devices to introduce his concepts or dilemmas. But, the thread runs through here, too : PKD is exploring. "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" employed a god on a crane (the androids), but "VALIS" only partially did (The music technologies, the satellite). "The Man In The High Castle" is Science Fiction solely on the weight of exploring an alternate reality that was at the time present day. Really, I think the trait that creates good Science Fiction creates good music, good painting, and good movies. It's all the same primordial stuff, the same introspection and exploration. I think our culture is currently in a waning state as concerns this 'Stuff of Creativity'. It's temporary. There will be a burst of the bubble. The next five years will involve an intense upswing - perhaps more intense than anything we've seen in our lifetimes. That's conjecture, sure ; but I can feel it, and rationalise it, and picture it, and I'm not the only one. Science fiction is dying - the creative juices are ebbing. Soon, they will flow. In many pagan myth cycles, of paramount importance is the winter. The goddess rests while the god watches over the barren earth. Without this rest, we could not have a spring, where that which has grown in the womb, assisted by the rest of the goddess, is born. This doesn't mean that nothing happens during our proverbial winter - but rather that this is the time for retread. Soon will come the time for an explotion of novelty.
Whoa. Sorry. It's the endorphins again. |
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