Sci-Fi and Fantasy, why do they not get respect?

Reply Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

04-05-07 | 04:03 PM

#26

Sex Fiend

DVD Talk Special Edition

Joined: Dec 2003

Posts: 1,042

Likes: 0

Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts

From: Electric Ladyland

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon2

I'm of a mind that it stems from certain sociological causes or roots that have no respect for (and may actually fear) things that are imaginative in nature.

Jon, that's a good point, and I essentially agree. It is my experience that many people are indeed, shall we say, "imaginatively-challenged" and have a very difficult time relating to any aesthetic that isn't squarely contextualized in the mundane. The result of their discomfort is often to condemn such an aesthetic as 'juvenile,' 'escapist,' or otherwise mock it as an irrelevant form of expression.

Which is very sad in my opinion, as I can scarcely imagine living a life in which one cannot enjoy the simple pleasure of using one's imagination. I understand that many people are "wired" differently and probably wouldn't recognize what they are missing anyway, but it's still sad nonetheless.

Reply Like

04-05-07 | 05:11 PM

#27

Supermallet

Banned by request

Joined: Jun 2000

Posts: 54,150

Likes: 0

Received 11 Likes on 11 Posts

From: Termite Terrace

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kudama

Escapism and wish fullfillment.
You almost make these sound like bad things.

-BTW this is not directed at you or any one person, but was inspired by your words. (In fact I agree with the rest of your post. Very astute.)

When we are not actually at work that is what everyone on this board does. The very act of posting here is an escapist act. I would classify the following as just as, if not more escapist, than Sci Fi**

All movies that are not documentaries or educational
All books that are not documentaries or educational
All television shows that are not documentaries or educational
All video games that are not documentaries or educational (YACT!

)
All porno

And the most escapist and wish fullfilling...

Sports spectatorship. Living vicariously through the acclomplishment of other real people. Talk about dweebish.

Hey! Hey! Don't be like that. I was being sarcastic.

Watch all the sports you want. Just don't expect me to. People really freak out when I tell I don't follow sports. It has become a fucking societal obligation for godsake. I get the impression it may become legally mandatory in the near future. I didn't mean to turn this into a sports bashing post. That just came out.
( And my backspace button is broken.)

All I'm saying is bring on the escapism, the more the better, and wish fullfillment isn't evil for cryin' out loud. at worst it's a guilty pleasure.

**(I'm defending sci fi because most fantasy doesn't do it for me; I detest "whimsical". Not saying it's bad, just rubs me the wrong way.)

Let me clarify my original post by saying I've been reading all manner of sci-fi books since I knew how to read. Hell, instead of reading story books to me as a young child before bed, my father read me sci-fi epics. So I have zero problem with science fiction. In fact, it's by far one of my favorite literary and cinematic genres. I've read and enjoyed plenty of escapist literature and seen escapist movies in a myriad of genres, so it's not a problem to me personally. But you can see how such a thing, when done in the outlandish style of sci-fi or fantasy, would be a turn off to Joe Sixpack who doesn't understand what spaceships and lasers have to do with him or why he should be watching a movie about fairies and elves? That was my point. I've read tons of excellent escapist sci-fi and plenty of terrible trying to be important sci-fi, so I'm not saying the only good works in the genre are by Philip K. Dick or anything like that.

P.S. I agree about sports.