The tradition of anticipating summer (Western) feature films with the best special effects show from Hollywood’s best 3D animation studios will never establish a large following were it not for the invention of the sci-fi literary genre. Science fiction, as it is more fondly called by film and literature fans, encompasses a wide spectrum of topics and situations that explore the wonders of science.
Because a lot of imagination and creativity is involved, science fiction requires the help of top-notch computer-generated 3D animation special effects to realistically engage viewers in the staging or world created by the movies. Therefore, science fiction almost always falls into the territory of fantasy (the positive side of science) and horror (its adverse effects).
Science fiction is a hotbed of ideas in which very attractive scientific ideas are tested in the context of a society, especially their consequences in the way that people conduct their lives with certain technologies present in their lives. The most common scenarios that science fiction has thoroughly explored are alternate timelines in the future (the Terminator franchise), travel to outer space (Star Trek), interactions with aliens (ET – Extra Terrestrial), countering the laws of the nature (The Matrix). and other complicated scientific principles such as time travel, psionics, nanotechnology, light speed travel, and dystopia (where anarchy has reigned supreme).
But what is science fiction? Critics and fans alike find it difficult to pigeonhole a fixed definition of science fiction. As early as the 1970s, science fiction wasn’t even used to refer to Hollywood’s big summer blockbusters. It was used by film critics to refer to the low-budget, inferior B-movies.
The most popular writers of the science fiction genre are also at a loss about a specific definition for the entire scope of literature. Mark C. Glassy suggested using the obscenity benchmark to determine a work of science fiction: “You don’t know what it is, but you know it when you see it.” Vladimir Nabokov said that if the definitions were to become rigorous, Shakespeare’s artwork, The Tempest, would have to be listed as belonging to the genre. For Rod Serling, science fiction is “the improbable made possible” compared to fantasy, which is “the impossible made probable.”
Science fiction may have some roots in the imaginative nature of ancient mythologies. As for the earlier works of science fiction literature, one of the earliest recognized works is Kepler’s Somnium, which describes a journey to the Moon. Other past science fiction bibliographic references include Voltaire’s Micromegas and Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver Travels.
To the wealth of works of science fiction literature are added the books of Mary Shelley, Frankenstein and the last man. Even the celebrated poet Edgar Allan Poe joined in the fun by writing a story about flying to the moon. During the introduction of important technologies such as electricity, powerful transportation and the telegraph, luminaries such as Jules Verne (Around the World in 80 Days) and HG Wells (The War of the Worlds).
There have been many paradigm shifts in the approach of science fiction writers over the years. Authors of cyberpunk like William Gibson began to break with the typical optimism associated with the progress of science fiction. On the other hand, the rise in popular culture of George Lucas’s blockbuster Star Wars brought back the space opera popularized by Star Trek, giving a premium to narrative and character development rather than the precision of scientific speculation. . After all scientific imaginations were just fictitious, why bother to explain them in detail? But this is true: science fiction has carved a solid niche in people’s entertainment values around the world.