5 Reasons We Love Science Fiction and Fantasy
Science fiction and fantasy both provide a sense of wonder. Ther is an appeal, a quality about them that is hard to explain. Why are we drawn to magic, to time travel, to dragons?
Well, science fiction and fantasy stories both fall under the category of speculative fiction. Speculative fiction can be broadly defined as a story containing elements that do not exist in our past or present. This can include the aforementioned science fiction and fantasy, as well as some horror and supernatural fiction.
However, this doesn’t explain why we are so entranced by these genres. I think there are five main reasons to love sci-fi and fantasy.
Escapism
Escapist literature takes us out of our own sometimes grim and depressing reality. By its very nature, speculative fiction places us in a setting different from our own. This means that the story is already separated from our reality. Speculative fiction is a great vehicle for escapism because of its settings. The setting is removed from ours and will never be exactly like our own, be it Hogwarts or Middle Earth, Jurassic Park or Trantor. Even settings that are very similar to ours, such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), have added strange elements.
I hope that some of my fantasy Short Stories can give people a breather during these strange times. For example: A King Apart & Ivory Tower.
Ideas
Sometimes we read, not only to escape our lives but also to get a better understanding of them. The new settings allow us to look at ideas in new ways and can help spread those ideas. For example, both Animal Farm and 1984 showed how terrible the USSR was. Even though 1984 doesn’t contain fantastical elements, its use of an alternate future causes it to be speculative fiction. Through the use of setting and allusion these books helped influence America’s ideas about communism.
However, books can explore ideas without that being their sole purpose. For example, one can look at Harry Potter. In the later books, it explores the fascism. However, we will look at how Harry Potter handles bigotry. The bigotry can be seen as early as book two where Hermione is called a ‘mudblood.’ This continues throughout the series, and it can teach children the danger of bigotry. Hogwarts is removed from our own lives, but we still connect with the characters. Because of this, we feel the pain that Hermione feels during these interactions
In the short story Press of a Button, the theme of morality in war is explored.
Looking forward
We also use speculative fiction, mainly science fiction, as a way to share our hopes for the future. This doesn’t necessarily mean that these books are made to give us a new perspective. Instead, they focus on new problems that may arise in the future. Isaac Asimov writes extensively about how we could deal with robots. He looked forward and wrote about what he thought the future may look like. For a short story about robots read Tink
Science fiction stories are based on both our fears and our aspirations for the future. We don’t necessarily know what will come next. We want to prepare for the worst and also be ready for the good things that may come. Science fiction can offer both warnings and hopes.
Heroes
Speculative fiction is often known for its iconic characters; Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker, Captain America. Almost everyone can recognize these characters. However, not only are these characters well known, these characters are idols. Almost every young boy dreams of being Luke, of holding his lightsaber. Children all around the world look in their mailboxes, hoping to get their Hogwarts letter. Speculative fiction oftentimes creates characters that people not only love but characters that people want to be.
Novelty
However, the biggest appeal of speculative fiction is the novelty of it. Novelty can loosely be described as the new or unusual. As it happens, we get to see strange, new, and exciting things in speculative fiction all of the time. We are entranced by the fantastical elements of these stories. Dragons, magic, robots, spaceships; these all induce a feelings of awe and wonder even after being used multiple times.
Dragons will almost always inspire a reaction in the audience despite how many times said audience has seen one before. This is because dragons, like other fantastical elements, are impressive and grand in scope. They make us think about what might be out there, out on the edge of the map by the words “here be dragons.”
Dragons, magic, spaceships, these are things that we will always want to read about. Similarly, I will always want to write about them.
If you have compliments, critique, or just want to start a discussion, feel free to comment below!
