Is Star Wars Science Fiction or Fantasy?
Yesterday we crammed a circus’ worth of clowns into a car and went rock climbing up near the Sierra’s. In between random singing seizures emphasizing how much I am all about that bass (and never that treble), we had an interesting conversation about the delineation between Science Fiction and Fantasy. In particular we had the question…is Star Wars Sci-Fi or Fantasy?
That might seem like a really obvious answer considering it’s set in space, has space ships, lasers, and wookies (that must make it sci-fi, right?) but let’s wait a second and come back around to that in a minute.
These genres go hand-in-hand in most people’s minds ,and pretty much every bookstore on the planet, but besides the fact that they both deal with wondrous elements, there’s actually a fair difference between the two.
Now I’m gonna get my brush out, the real fat one, and start painting some real broad strokes here.
In my mind, until recently, Fantasy has been what I consider escapist. For the most part people read Fantasy because they want to be transported to a world that’s sort of like the real world, but entirely different. How’s that for a paradox? From this vein you get stories like Lord of the Rings, The Wheel of Time, and A Song of Ice and Fire. There are humans running around doing human things, having feasts, raping and pillaging, but there is also this fantastical quality. Dragons and magic and wizards with big fuck off beards (Eddie reference anybody?).
Conversely, Science Fiction in my experience, is more about social/cultural/technological commentary. Good Sci-Fi isn’t really about the technology as much as it is about our interaction with technology. For instance, William Gibson’s Neuromancer (which is pretty much the ancestor of the Matrix) written back in the ’80s tried to imagine how the internet and computer revolution would change society in the coming decades.
In recent years social media has kind of taken a giant steaming doo-doo on us all. Nobody really made it through unscathed (so stop pretending like you aren’t down in the muck like the rest of us). Now, as the way people interact shifts, and our individual reach expands, the question becomes how will that transform us as a society?
A really great book, if you’re interested in what the world might look like in the near future as a result of social media, I recommend checking out Will McIntosh’s Love Minus 80.
Science Fiction as a genre takes those types of questions and extrapolates them out, throws some lasers and aliens in, and then offers a possible answer.
Are those answers right? Nobody knows until after the fact, but it’s an important, and fun, exercise.
Ya know, unless i make it sound as though Fantasy is kind of frivolous, let me point out that in the last couple years Fantasy has been doing some really interesting things in terms of reframing our understanding of cultural norms. Kameron Hurley’s The Mirror Empire won the Hugo this year, and while I had a considerable number of problems with the story, I have to applaud Hurley who set out to tackle some really complicated topics.
Okay. So Star Wars. Sci Fi or Fantasy?
You could argue this either way, but here’s my feeling. If you removed the space ships, the lasers, and the robots, you pretty much have a Fantasy tale. The story follows the Hero’s Journey which is pretty much the most persistent Fantasy trope of all time, plus a mystical essence called the Force.
Sure the prequels tried to root the Force in a biological function (mitoclorians? What the fuu…okay,never mind), but that’s garbage and doesn’t change the mystical quality.
Robots, aliens, lasers, and all that fun stuff are mainstays of Sci-Fi, but at its heart Star Wars, the movies atleast, aren’t really about cultural reform, or what society may or may not look like in light of different technological advancements. It’s Frodo with the Ring having to confront the lava pit of doom (aka: Luke, Lightsabre, and Darth Vader is a lava pit of doom).
Obviously I’m distilling this argument to hyperbolic proportions, but hey, that’s how good debates/fist fights start. So what’s your take? Star Wars sci-fi or fantasy?
Anthony
Whoa, deep subject!! Your courage in tackling it is impressive. 😉
Good post!
I just hope I don’t get a lightsaber in the back at the next convention. It’s easy being courageous from behind the protection of a keyboard and an internet connection.
nice one…………..AntVicino
I can remember Dick Tracy’s cartoon when mostvpeople felt his waist phone was science ficton.
Oh god, what I wouldn’t do for a waist-phone!
I remember Flash Gordon. It was a favorite cartoon.
Dick Tracy also had a two way wrist radio. When was that? Probably the mid 1940s.
I remember the two way wrist radio. Even when I was just a wee little lad in the ’90’s I wanted to get myself one!
Ah, truly one of the great questions. Your points are well made here and I fall on the same side. If I might add a couple points to further bolster the battlements.
Firstly, when you talk about technology in Star Wars it’s difficult to ignore the “used space” aesthetic, meaning simply that tech for these characters is no longer novel, if it ever was. They’re jaded, and so their interactions with tech are more reflective of the audience’s interaction with the equivalent in their time, i.e., the Millennium Falcon is to Han Solo, what my dad’s AMC Gremlin was to him (gets them from a to b and they love them despite questionable functionality). So despite the wow factor, there really isn’t much in the way of behavior altering tech as you point out.
Finally, Lucas of course famously aped the plot and thematic ideas from Campbell’s The Hero With a Thousand Faces. This plants the film firmly in the classical tradition in that it deals with more archetypal ideas relating to good and evil and assorted other bugaboos of human nature.
Anyway, sorry for the short novel. Great topic!
Stu, I love short novels and I love bolstering battlements, if for no other reason than the alliteration is pleasing to the tongue.
Your observation about the tech and the way society interacts with it is spot on. I hadn’t considered that angle previously, or at least not in those terms!
Thanks for adding more thought fodder!
Anthony, the use of SW as a platform for this discussion is important because, once you say “Star” and “Wars” people will perk up! I would tend to agree with you that, at it’s heart, Star Wars is fantasy–I think of it as “space opera,” because it’s typically painted with such an epically-large brush and characters represent Big Stuff like Good (Luke, duh) and Evil (Vader, duh again). But I also think it depends on what SW media we’re discussing. Starting with the first Timothy Zahn books, technology started coming to the forefront–Z tried to explain how astromech droids like R2, X-Wings and Tie-fighters, etc. might actually work. Along with that, the black/white Empire/Rebellion dicotomy was suddenly shaded–Zahn and others after him writing in the EU started trying to show class distinctions (human vs. alien, rich vs. poor, etc.) and give social commentary about dystopian social regimes, certainly in the realm of sci-fi.
While still fantasy, then, the literary SW universe has leaned more toward sci-fi than fantasy IMHO. Btw, I found you on the twitter…follow the cartoon goat, my friend.
You bring up an excellent point in respect to the novels (which I admit I’ve never read. I know, I’m a heathen!) From the sounds of it, the books make a much more honest attempt at being sci-fi than the movies themselves. If I were to hop into the novels, where would you recommend beginning? It’s a daunting task hopping into such a huge library of books.
And here I said I should sleep! Anyway, you should start with Timothy Zahn’s “Heir to the Empire” –just bust through that trilogy and you’ll have a good feel for everything. You can even read those and stop. There are plenty of other great ones (and many not so great) which I can recommend, but it depends on what kind of fan you are. Lots of people are pissed that Disney is ignoring the books with the new movies, which will also wipe out the book I just recommended to you. That said, I don’t care. The SW EU is rich enough to be enjoyed as its own set of possibilities, so there. I’m always up for new interpretations and permutations, why not? The fans who say that they have “wasted their lives” now that the EU isn’t “canon” really need to chill–the books are still there, to be enjoyed and mined by Disney later, in different forms. It really makes sense to start over so as not to be constrainted by 30 years of mythology. That said, please read “Heir to the Empire” and tell me if it’s not the coolest thing ever. 😉
Reblogged this on EigaLove and commented:
This is such a good question, and posed in such an eloquent way, that I must cede my space to this gentlemen. Couldn’t have asked the question better myself!
Hope you don’t mind, but I just reblogged this to “Eigalove…”
I love a good reblogging!
I got to call myself out on something real quick. Kameron Hurley won two Hugos last year, but neither were for Mirror Empire. Please forgive my slip-up.
I’m a major fan of cross-overs, so I’ll say both.
There are no wrong answers in the land of make believe.
Well said, sir.
I’ve heard the argument before. I don’t think there is an easy, black and white, answer. For me, science fiction is more technological but can have psychic/esp elements. One of my favorite authors, the late Andre Norton, uses a technology/esp formula in many of her works. Fantasy has always involved some sort of magic that isn’t grounded in esp. However, it is possible to write a magically based science fiction or a space faring fantasy novel (TSR/Wizards Coast’s Spell Jammer universe anyone?) Through in some Steampunk and you have Slipstream. The fact that the boarders are so blurred are what make it fun.
So IMHO Star Wars is science fiction with a good dose for psychic powers thrown in for good measure.
Reblogged this on The Blue Room and commented:
Hello, friends and readers. Welcome to an abbreviated edition of Science Fiction Sunday.
Originally, I had planned to write another Science Fiction History Theatre post for you today; but I’m on the end of the semester grind right now so things are a little hectic. Don’t fret, though—I’ll still be writing about science fiction history later this week. Today, we’re just going to change pace (and mediums). I read this post about whether Star Wars was science fiction or fantasy last week and thought it would be a great post to respond to.
Personally, I’ve always placed Star Wars in the space opera category. The emphasis in space operas has always been less on the science and more on—well, the opera. A good space opera is all about the drama.
So, is Star Wars science fiction or fantasy? Drop your comments below to let me know your thoughts look forward to another Science Fiction History Theatre later this week!
Stay strange, friends,
Dylan
Thank you for stopping at my blog, Anthony. Fascinating post. Appreciate the difference between Fantasy and Science fiction. Science Fiction is one phase of fantasy, as ideas and possible predictios of the future. Of course all fantasy isn’t about Science Fiction
First and foremost it’s fantasy. Yes, it has elements of science fiction but these are mainly devices, tools used by the characters which don’t comment on the society we live so explicitly but rather mythologise. The clue is in the opening sentence, which in itself leaves enough ambiguity, ‘A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…’
You and I, good sir, are in absolute agreement!
There is a fine line between SF and Fantasy. Star Wars straddles that line, but I’m more inclined to call it Science Fiction, just as Heinlein’s Have Space Suit, Will Travel or Herbert’s Dune would be considered SF. Fantasy is more in the realm of McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern, although you can make a case for that being science fiction as well.
SF or Fantasy – Many novels contain elements of both. I suppose the best person to ask is the author. Let them discern their intent and give us the conclusion.
Reblogged this on The Z Factor and commented:
I say yes!!
I have to say I agree with you. I write fantasy (per me), but have ended up under sci-fi for a couple books, one because it’s post-apocalyptic and per Amazon that only falls under sci-fi.
Fantasy.
A young farm boy is given a magic sword by an old wizard, and in the company of a lovable rogue, sets off to rescue princess from the castle of an evil sorcerer.
The spaceships are incidental.
My son will kill me for this heresy.
When you put it like that, I don’t know how anybody could possibly disagree. 🙂
I accept the premise that any technology far enough advanced will look like magic, and I accept that SF and Fantasy cross over. But it all boils down to swords for me. Fantasy = swords. Light sabers are, well, sabers = swords = fantasy. And I loved the three original movies (and watched the three prequels, and will watch the new one, too.)
I’ve always thought Star Wars was fantasy. It doesn’t speculate about reality. We might call Star Wars science fantasy, but I’m perfectly happy calling it fantasy. It’s a fantasy set in a science fiction background. Star Wars is happy to use all the trappings of science fiction–space ships, robots, galactic empires, but it never extrapolates about what those things means.
Have you notices that most fantasies deal with aristocracies? Fantasy, like you say is based on escapism and a fascination with the past.