Sinister or Dextrous? How to love SF...

[KatG]

Ah yes, the flow chart. I'd forgotten about it. That chart was the first time I'd ever heard of furries. I had to ask what they were.

*sigh*
So what did we have on the BBC last night? We had a grandmother dressed as a Klingon, a priest who used Star Wars in his preachings and a man who has done up his house like the Starship Enterprise.

I have nothing against those people personally; but it is depressing to see that those who don't read the stuff think that that is the sum total of what it is to like SF. It does come across as a 'look at the freaks' type observation.

And that is the obstacle. (Of course, you could argue that it's an obstacle we should ignore!)

Why would the BBC do a story on sf print authors? What's in it for them? They're still waking up to how widespread sff is in the culture, which now leads to the occasional revenge or triumph of the nerds story. I don't think we should ignore it. We just need to trick them. And not by saying that sf lovers must be more well-read, creative and flexible than the rest of the population, but by presenting them with a cultural fait d'accompli.

First of all, the media loves the film industry, with minor affection for television. So we need to get the books made into movies and television series. If possible, the original author needs to do a first draft of the screenplay -- that's about the only way to get them on air. But if not, the actors need to be bribed to bring up the author's name a lot during press interviews. And we need those films to do really well financially and win award nominations.

Then we need the scholars who study sff and the literary pundits who support sff -- and they're out there -- to hold some massive symposiums on sf at Oxford or Harvard or somewhere like that. It's like getting daddy's into the birthing room or getting people to recycle. You ease them into it, they grumble, then they get used to it and think it's normal and was all their own idea in the first place.

 

[Hobbit]

Why would the BBC do a story on sf print authors? What's in it for them?

Ah. This is where the context is needed perhaps.

You see, they have, on the same channel. There have been documentaries about Wells, Wyndham and Nigel Kneale on that channel. There has been a series called The Martians and Us which did look at the origins of SF.

So yes, I guess I am guilty of wanting my cake and to eat it as well.


Why should they do it? Because I'm sure there are more out there, like me, perhaps, who would like a programme that shows that SF can be intelligent, entertaining, uplifting and important, without resorting to what can appear to be a freakshow.

I think my niggle is that, when it boils down to it, how 'others' see SF is 'that' programme. And you're right, Kat, things are changing, possibly even for the better as SF becomes more mainstream. This programme takes a step back to a view of SF back to the 60's & 70's - something liked (perhaps only) by misfits, freaks and weirdoes. Instead of celebrating, it becomes insulting.

There just is still that 'stigma' - hence the link to some not seeing a stigma.

Alternatively, it's Hobbit in 'grumbly old man - rant' mode.

Hobbit

 

[AJ87]

What I do know is that my ideas work better in a fantasy world than a sci-fi universe.

Same here! Hehe. When it comes to writing, I prefer creating my own rules. So yeah, I'm more drawn into the Fantasy side of things.

 

[Great Zamfir]

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but SF book covers seem to be getting more tasteful every year. I think that signifies that publishers are realizing that SF books are bought by more people than just crazies and lecherous teenagers. Step in the right direction?

 

[Michael B]

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but SF book covers seem to be getting more tasteful every year. I think that signifies that publishers are realizing that SF books are bought by more people than just crazies and lecherous teenagers. Step in the right direction?

Yes and quite a few of them now are actually pictures linked with the plot and not just some sci fi/fantasy picture that the editor liked.

 

[KatG]

Ah. This is where the context is needed perhaps.

You see, they have, on the same channel. There have been documentaries about Wells, Wyndham and Nigel Kneale on that channel. There has been a series called The Martians and Us which did look at the origins of SF.

So yes, I guess I am guilty of wanting my cake and to eat it as well.

Why should they do it? Because I'm sure there are more out there, like me, perhaps, who would like a programme that shows that SF can be intelligent, entertaining, uplifting and important, without resorting to what can appear to be a freakshow.

Ah, but not enough of us yet, at least to their mind. The people who are a bit eccentric and into the movies and t.v. are still the better show. The problem is that they find most fiction authors intensely boring. There've been a few exceptions, and if you write screenplays, you have a much better shot, but even non sff writers usually get ignored most of the time. They don't have the status of the movies -- none of the arts do, nor even the powerful gamers.

It's only the category sff market that has the stigma -- the more mainstream we become, the less stigmatized we become. But we do lose things in the process -- opportunities for new writers, the rebel stance in art of those category book covers, a small, vivid community where everybody knows each other. We're a small, underground town that suddenly finds itself a metropolis. I try to see it as just an adjustment period.

Which is why I suppose I take exception to the article, which proposes that sf is a club to which only the virtuous and accomplished will enter. That attitude also belongs to the 60's and 70's, for me, and I think it drives more people away than encourages them to check sf out.

 

[Hobbit]

Might be an age thing!

From David Langford's award winning Ansible magazine, Jan 2007 edition:

My Science Fiction Life. This BBC4 programme about those funny sf fans was broadcast on 29 December. For readers who missed it or just couldn't face watching, Max provides a lightning summary --

`It was along these lines: Narrator: Science fiction is largely about escapism. See these people escape too far. Daft woman: I like being a Klingon called KickArse at the pub. Narrator: But sometimes real things come from SF. Random contributor: Gosh, aren't mobile phones great. Narrator: Here's a man who had computer bits implanted in him. Kevin Warwick: I had computer bits implanted. Isn't that great. Kevin Warwick's wife: It's so great I did it too. [etc ...]

`They did actually go along to the Tun and filmed a bunch of decent people. I think Roger Robinson, definitely Pete Young, Doug Spencer, new girl on the scene Abi Brown. But clearly they were looking for weirdos and disappointed at the clear, well read people they found.'

Hobbit

 

[KatG]

But did they ask them if they were left or right-handed?

Curse it, I'd heard of Ansible of course, but now you have burdened me with another site to regularly check out. Some other goodies from that issue, on the assumption that Mr. Langford won't mind if we further quote him:

Terry Pratchett remarked in a Metro.co.uk interview that fantasy has transcended the shackles of genre: `It's been happening for years and years, it's now so mainstream, people don't think of it as fantasy any more. You could say it's disappearing as a genre. Once, fantasy and sci-fi were always at the back of the shop, like a VD clinic -- those who needed to knew where to find it. I went out of genre in the mid-1990s because every Discworld book was getting to No. 1 and I was getting readers who wouldn't shop at Forbidden Planet. I found out I had a bunch of fans in a convent. The nuns sent a young lady to get their books signed at a signing because they couldn't come themselves.' (15 December) [LW] I suspect that `sci-fi' was supplied by the interviewer. A local Reading paper recently interviewed me by email, and although I avoided using such terms as `sci-fi', `obsession', `overwhelming passion', `sci-fi', etc., the reporter kindly corrected all these omissions.

As Others See Us. Australia eagerly welcomes its own sf pay-tv channel: `Sci-fi fans are strange animals. Their natural habitat is their parents' basement and their traditional pastime is watching their favourite shows on DVD. But on December 1 all this changed. Now we can watch our favourite shows on Foxtel too. That's right, my pasty-faced friends [... etc, etc, "sci-fi geek", etc ...] So grab your Klingon costume, put up an "I believe" poster in your parents' basement and veg out. The truth is out there.' (Alice Clarke, The Age, 7 December) [FMcH]

As Others See Us II. Caryn James of the New York Times discusses P.D. James's book as well as the film: `"The Children of Men" is not another of Ms. James's famed detective novels, and it is not, as it has sometimes sloppily been described, science fiction. It is a trenchant analysis of politics and power that speaks urgently to this social moment, a 14-year-old work that remains surprisingly pertinent. [...] In both forms "Children of Men," which opened Monday, is a story of redemption, set in England just decades in the future (the film takes place in 2027), when women have inexplicably lost the ability to become pregnant.' (28 December) [NH] No nasty future speculation there!

As Others See Us III. A temporally challenged publishing snippet: `Fifteen years after his death, Philip K Dick is one of Hollywood's biggest ideas men [...] His publisher Gollancz is marking the 25th anniversary of his death with a new look for six key titles, which they hope will catapult him outside his core readership of science fiction fans.' (Alison Bone, Guardian, 16 December 2006) [AC] Strange to think that word of Dick's existence could spread beyond our hermetic, cultish circle. Who knows, one day he may be discovered by the academics....

So really, our task is very simple. Take over the media. Change the image they insist on perpetuating. End of stigma. Any suggestions?

 

[Soon Lee]

Left-handed, and started young too.

I find that 'left-handers' as a group are often over-represented - golfers, tennis players, SFF readers etc. Are there categories where we're under-represented? Just wondering.

 

[kahnovitch]

I was born left handed but actually taught to write with my right.

I default to my left hand on a lot of things unconsciously though and I'm ambidextrous at games like badminton/tennis etc.