“WE LIVE IN A SCIENCE FICTION WORLD” - James Cameron.
'If science fiction is a genre that imagines our future, what happens to gender and
race? (you can apply this question to literary or cinematic sf)'
Science fiction is a genre that imagines our future, and explores the human condition. It destabilises traditional notions of gender and race, deeming them obsolete and free of social limitations.
Source One
Bennet, Steve. “Science Fiction Genre Definition,” Find me an author.com, (2009) http://www.findmeanauthor.com/science_fiction_genre_definition.htm (accessed 28/8/10).
This article outlines a definition of the science fiction genre, which is essential in understanding the future that science fiction imagines. Science fiction is defined as a genre “dealing with the impact of actual or imagined science on society”[1] and imagines and predicts our future, “telling stories of the marvels we hope to see.”[2] Bennet explains that “science fiction allows the writer to use his imagination,”[3] and present an “altered present or even an alternative past.”[4]
The article also addresses the question of what happens to race in the ‘science fiction future’. Bennet refers to H.G Wells’ “War of the Worlds”, whereby new species invade earth, thus implying that in the ‘imagined’ future, there will be multiple species, and the notion of one human race will become obsolete.
As this article was composed in 2009, it is legitimate in terms of its prevalence to current views on the imagined future that the science fiction genre creates. However, Bennet states that although we live in a world of rapidly changing technology that may raise ethical questions for the future, it is “nice to have some fiction that is purely good entertainment”[5]. This statement indicates that this article is not scholarly, and that the intention of the site is merely to enable to readers to discover new genres. However, the article still provides information that allows the reader to understand the aims of the science fiction genre.
Source Two
Lammes, Sybille. “Moving Science: Science, Gender and Science Fiction,” The European Association for the Study of Science and Technology. (September 2010) http://www.easst.net/review/march1997/lammes(accessed 2/9/10).
Sybille Lammes’ article conveys the notion that “science fiction can be read as translations of fears and hopes surrounding gender and science.”[6] The future of science fiction is one whereby an “overt maleness”[7] exists. Fritz Lang’s ‘Metropolis’ is discussed, in which a “transformation of a female robot into flesh”[8] takes place. This provides the reader with the notion that a science fiction imagined future, is one whereby gender binaries still remain, as the “passive female body becomes active” and “seems to fit neatly into a male idea about science and gender.”[9] The article discusses the “fear that technology might cause an implosion of distinctions between human and machine,” reiterating the fear that is embodied in science fiction, which is that of the ‘unknown;’ where possibilities are endless, and the prospect of the creation a third race, existing outside gender norms, is imminent.
The article is a legitimate source, as it is part of the European Association for the Study of Science and Gender from Goteborg University and contains a list of notes and sources, working to further instil a sense of validity in its arguments. The source is temporally relevant, as it was written in 2010, thus ensuring that the content is suitable for the question of the position of gender in an imagined future, as it presents contemporary arguments.
Source Three
Vint, Sherryl. “Both/And: Science Fiction and the Question of Changing Gender,” Strange Horizons (18 February 2002), http://www.strangehorizons.com/2002/20020218/both_and.shtml (accessed 30/8/10).
Sherryl Vint’s article is appropriate when considering how science fiction dictates an imagined future. The article discusses what science fiction can contribute to contemporary debates about sex and gender. In the science fiction realm, traditional notions of gender become obsolete, as “gender reassignment surgery can occur with an ease,”[10] and gender identity is given a “malleable body”[11] enabling men and women with the ability to “inhabit any gender.”[12] Vint uses Delany’s novel ‘Trouble on Tritan’ to exemplify a new social/sexual world that the science fiction genre creates. It is a world where “there is no explicit prejudice against either homosexuality or heterosexuality”[13] probing the thought that perhaps science fiction will create a “more enlightened future.”[14]
The article contains a bibliography so that the perspectives offered can be further verified. Vint also has scholarly authority as she “holds a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Alberta...and completed a dissertation on representations of the body in science fiction in 2000.”[15] However the article is not as temporally relevant as some of the other sources, as it was written in 2002.
Source Four
Adilifu, Nama. 'R Is for Race, Not Rocket: Black Representation in American Science Fiction Cinema', Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 26: 2, 155 — 166 (2009) http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a908924681 (accessed 5/09/10).
The article is examining the human condition in relation to the future of race in American science fiction cinema. As it was written from an American perspective, the issues of racism in an American context would therefore not be geographically relevant in an Australian context. However, it was written in 2009, so the information it displays is recent and relevant to current thoughts on the future of race, and racial representation in science fiction cinema.
Science fiction film depends on “difference or otherness in the form of the monster in order to drive or energize their narratives.”[16] However, racial representation is dependent upon the social context in which the film is produced. Racial ‘otherness’ is portrayed in science fiction films such as ‘When Worlds Collide’. The film “functions as an ideological extension of the practice of “whites only” public segregation that overtly advocates white racial homogeneity as a requirement for the preservation of the American way of life and the rebuilding of a perfect world.”[17] However, “unlike nearly all of the sci-fi films of the previous decades...sci-fi films of today are making room for black representation,”[18] instilling hope in all who view them, that race and racial representation may have a positive future.
Source Five
Hollinger, Veronica. “Stories about the Future: From Patterns of Expectations to Pattern Recognition,” Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 33, No. 3 (Nov., 2006), 452-472. Published by: SF-TH Inc http://www.jstor.org/stable/4241464.
In her article, Veronica Hollinger describes science fiction as a “popular cultural discourse,”[19] whereby the “technoculture”[20] present in which we live, is just like the future imagined by science fiction. The notion of the future is described as transitory, as each generation brings with it new prospects of what the future will hold, implying that the “trajectory of human history”[21] can be easily disrupted. The online journal article was published in 2006, so it is still fairly recent and temporally relevant. It is also appropriate due to its scholarly authority, as it is an article located in the Science Fiction Studies Journal.
Science fiction imagines a different reality to our own, in terms of race and gender. It is one filled with both hope and fear for our future. As we live in a ‘science fiction world’, dominated by rapid social and technological advancements, we have to wonder if our “entire planet is being developed into terminal identity and complete surrender,”[22] or if science fiction will mark a step towards a more positive future.
[1]Steve Bennet, “Science Fiction Genre Definition,” Find me an author.com, (2009) http://www.findmeanauthor.com/science_fiction_genre_definition.htm (accessed 28/8/10).
[2] Steve Bennet
[3] Steve Bennet
[4] Steve Bennet
[5] Steve Bennet
[6] Sybille Lammes, “Moving Science: Science, Gender and Science Fiction,” The European Association for the Study of Science and Technology. (September 2010) http://www.easst.net/review/march1997/lammes (accessed 2/9/10).
[7] Sybille Lammes
[8] Sybille Lammes
[9] Sybille Lammes
[10] Sherryl Vint
[11] Sherryl Vint
[12] Sherryl Vint
[13] Sherryl Vint
[14] Sherryl Vint
[15] Sherryl Vint, “Both/And: Science Fiction and the Question of Changing Gender,” Strange Horizons (18 February 2002), http://www.strangehorizons.com/2002/20020218/both_and.shtml (accessed 30/8/10).
[16] Nama Adilifu, 'R Is for Race, Not Rocket: Black Representation in American Science Fiction Cinema', Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 26: 2, 155 — 166 (2009) http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a908924681 (accessed 5/09/10).
[17] Nama Adilifu
[18] Nama Adilifu
[19] Veronica Hollinger. Stories about the Future: From Patterns of Expectations to Pattern Recognition, (Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 33, No. 3 Nov., 2006. Published by: SF-TH Inc http://www.jstor.org/stable/4241464.) p.453.
[20] Veronica Hollinger. p.452.
[21] Veronica Hollinger. p.456.
[22] William S. Burroughs
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