Science Fiction And Cultural Values

Science fiction is broadly defined as a film about the future or alternate realities, often but not always set in space, and frequently incorporating horror elements, science-fiction movies are wildly popular among fans (Goodykoontz, 2014). As a subgenre of fantasy, science fiction enables viewers to relate to themes from an idealized alternative version of reality (Edwards, 2014). Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope is a feature-length film that fits this genre perfectly. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope unfolds as princess named Leia is held hostage by the evil Imperial forces in their effort to quell the rebellion against the Galactic Empire. Luke Skywalker and a smuggler named Han Solo team together with the lovable droid duo, R2-D2 and C-3PO, to rescue the beautiful princess and restore justice in the galaxy.

Furthermore, both science fiction and sci-fi are fictional situations that relied on scientific or technological advances that took place somewhere in the future or on different planets. Examples include, Star Wars, ET, and Tron, just to name a few, defined the

GENRE: The genre of Distant Waves is science fiction because it is something that didn't happen that has futuristic thing in it such as earthquake machines, time travel, and other advanced devices that we don't have today. It also gave scientific explanations for everything.

Science fiction is a genre in which the story is fiction but the topic is what could be.

Science fiction or speculative fiction is defined by The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms as “a popular modern branch of prose fiction that explores the probable

“So they were trying to re-invent themselves and their universe... Science fiction was a big help.” (Chapter 4)

On a more superficial level, the fact that the novel has been deemed as "science fiction" opens it up to a

Science fiction is a genre of fiction in which the stories often tell about science and technology of the future. In “Harrison Bergeron”, it is 2081 everyone is equal and has to wear handicaps, the person in charge of the government is Diana Moon Glampers, and Harrison Bergeron is the one to rebel and go against the law. In “Old Glory”, it’s 2041 the people in charge are the SOS and Gran-da stands up and fights for his and the countries freedom. In both of these stories in the end both Harrison and Gran-da die. Both of these stories have are packed with details of Science Fiction (Sci-Fi) and have the same theme with the way the government has changed, technology has improved, and how both articles have a character that rebels the government.

Science fiction is often written as a commentary on our world. Events that may occur in the future, things that may have been invented, technology that has advanced further than our imaginations. Books like Fahrenheit 451 and the short story of Harrison Bergeron talk about how our society could be controlled by one larger being. In order to make everyone equal, happy, and clueless. Knowledge is the power to understand, in both books it tells us how to think about how much we truly understand our society and why is the truth hidden and silenced from us.

Science fiction is a genre that come from the author’s mind and is very imaginative as well as unlikely to occur in the present. Two well-known young adult science fiction books are The Giver and The City of Ember. These 2 books have something going wrong in society and people go through challenges. In The Giver and The City of ember, there are 3 main elements for comparison. They are the Exposition, Community, and Resolution.

Dictionary.com lists science fiction as “a form of fiction that draws imaginatively on scientific knowledge in its plot, setting, theme, etc.” goodreads.com lists science fiction as, “a broad genre of fiction that often invgolves speculation based on current or future science or technology.” Harrison Bergeron is science fiction for several reasons. First, it assumes that humans will develop extraordinary abilities that force the government to “handicap” them, so that all have the same ability level in this society. Merriam-Webster defines satire as, “a way of using humour to show that someone or something is foolish, weak, bad, etc.”

Science fiction is a genre of books that focuses on the future of our world/society where one our problems or habits in the present day is amplified into extreme ends, this world is called a dystopia. For example, Fahrenheit 451 is a science book written in 1951 by Ray Bradbury. In 1951, Ray Bradbury noticed that many children was attached to TV screens but not to books. He took this into the extreme and created a dystopia where even books are outlawed and burned by fireman. To add on, in the short story "Harrison Bergeron,"the author created a dystopia where the government forces everyone to where hindrances to their body so no one is stronger, more beautiful, or even smarter than anyone else. The theme of the science fiction book, Fahrenheit

Much of the appeal surrounding science fiction is the fact that a lot of the genre exists far from what we experience in our own world, and far from what exists within our own imagination. The phrase, “cognitive estrangement” has been used to describe the way that a lot of science fiction makes us feel. In his essay, “Estrangement and Cognition,” Darko Suvin describes cognitive estrangement and its relationship with Science fiction as a genre. He writes, “Thus it is not only the basic human and humanizing curiosity that gives birth to SF. Beyond an indirect inquisitiveness, which makes for a semantic game without clear referent, this genre has always been wedded to a hope of finding in the unknown the ideal environment, tribe, state, intelligence, or other aspect of the Supreme Good (or to a fear of and revulsion from its contrary). At all events, the possibility of other strange, covariant coordinate systems and semantic fields is assumed,” which explains that the strange is what drives interest in Science Fiction. He emphasizes that it’s the weird that sets science fiction apart from other genres, including fantasy. This sentiment has been echoed by many other writers. In the same essay, Suvin writes, “The effect of such factual reporting of fictions is one of confronting a set normative system—a Ptolemaic-type closed world picture—with a point of view or look implying a new set of norms; in literary theory this is known as the attitude of estrangement.” This statement

These examples make it science fiction because these things could possibly happen in the future but are most likely not to. In the future the Earth has been invaded twice by aliens called buggers, and humanity almost vanished. To protect Earth from the next invasion called the “Third Invasion”

Literature sounds too stuffy and high-browed an descriptor for Science Fiction as a genre. Science fiction is meant to be fantasy, something that is not real and does not strive to meet the literary aspirations of those who would write meaningful prose. Not to say that science fiction writers do not want to something meaningful, but even though the genre may be filled with writers who are degraded by "real" authors as a breed, does not mean that there are not classics that have been recognized as achieving a literary mark. It can be argued, because of the use of literary devices, that there are those science fiction novels that definitely reach the level anyone would consider literature, and among these is a book from Phillip K. Dick called The Man in the High Castle. This paper examines what literary devices were used in this book to make it both a work of science fiction and a work of literature.