What is science fiction anyway?
Every nerd and most of America knows about Star Wars. But only the hardcore sci-fi fans will differentiate the franchise from other supposed "science fiction" classics like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Trek. Why is this? All three take place in space, in a futuristic society (despite Star Wars taking place in the "past"). They seem, on the surface, to be in the same genre. But Star Wars is completely different from the other two I mentioned. Why? As always, Wikipedia has the answer:
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with the impact of imagined innovations in science or technology, often in a futuristic setting.
Star Wars, as classified by the sci-fi community and Wikipedia, is a space opera. In other words, Star Wars is set in space, it's not really about space. The impact of the technology or science introduced in the series doesn't really play a large part.
Science Fiction and Fantasy
This may be the largest debate there is on the topic of literary classification. Where do we draw the line between science fiction and fantasy? Rod Serling probably puts it most eloquently:
Science fiction makes the implausible possible, while science fantasy makes the impossible plausible.
This is a great definition, but I think it goes deeper than that. My friend Jeff offered a unique idea. According to him, science fiction takes place in our primary world — our universe as we perceive it (but including things we've not yet observed but might exist, e.g. extraterrestrials). Sure, it may be somewhere else on the timeline, or elsewhere in the universe where different things are possible, or it might bend a few of the rules, but it could be argued that it is the same universe.
Fantasy, on the other hand, takes place in a secondary world, which is a new universe which has fundamental differences from the universe we know. This includes everything from Lord of the Rings — which is in an entirely different land — to Harry Potter, which is a universe integrated neatly into modern English society.
Fantasy doesn't explain the differences in the universe — magic is just magic, no deeper than that — because that's simply how the universe is. Science fiction must explain itself. The wands in Harry Potter could be explained by science (hmmm...quantum manipulation of nano-particles?), but they aren't. And that's what makes it fantasy.
Sci-fi, defined
Let me lay it down for you. Although there are entirely differently interpretations of what "science fiction" is, here's how I define it:
- The impact of science or technology is a central theme.
- The story must take place in a plausible branch of our universe.
- The reader doesn't have to temporarily suspend his sense of reality (at least not as much as with fantasy).
This includes everything from steampunk to alien battles to certain Edgar Allan Poe stories to most of Ray Bradbury's work. Star Wars gets close; it satisfies the last two points, but not the first.
Sci-fi, thematically
Or you could take a thematic approach to differentiate science fiction and fantasy. Disregarding what I said above about primary and secondary worlds, science fiction and fantasy traditionally expose separate human emotions (but there is a lot of overlap here, which is why this is a looser definition). Here's what the good people at TV Tropes has to say:
Science fiction appeals to hope, both in how we want things to turn out, and how we are afraid they might turn out worse. Fantasy on the other hand is about yearning, an appeal directly to the heart about how things should be that in some ways stretches back to the ideal of childhood, something that can be seen directly in many stories. Fantasy is rarely dystopic in the way science fiction often is, but it is often wistful.
It all comes down to interpretation, and you can take lots of stories any way you'd like. The "Force" in Star Wars: is it mystical, or can it be explained (albeit with some stretch of the imagination)? The unexplained elements of technology in your favorite hard sci-fi novel: were they left unexplained because they were magic, or because they are simply too advanced?
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