In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream: How Hard Do You Like Your Sci-Fi?
Science fiction. The benighted genre few people will confess to loving, for fear of being branded a geek (nay, worse, a nerd! At least geeks are chic). The one that no one wants to touch in public, but everyone will eagerly hunker down on a Thursday night for. If space is the final frontier, science fiction often gets treated like the abyss, even though there’s some truly fantastic, imaginative, complex science fiction out there, science fiction that will bend your mind and science fiction with just plain good stories and characters. Creators of science fiction have mastered the epic and they will school you in it if you dare to compete with them.
When it comes to picking the bones of science fiction, and there are a lot to pick, few bones are quite as delicious to gnaw at as the contentious debate over hard versus soft science fiction. I’ve got a dog in this fight just like everyone else, and I think it’s time we bring it to I Fry Mine In Butter, because this commentariat has got the sass, the smarts, and the staying power to see this through.
I’ll put my prejudices right up front, where you can see them. (This is called a ‘statement of bias’ in academicspeak.) I like my science fiction hard, and I like it epic. I like it so hard you will crack your teeth on it and I like it to sweep spans of thousands of pages (or hundreds of hours of television). It’s really hard for me to locate science fiction that meets my platonic ideal, because, honestly, epic science fiction isn’t usually that hard, since the creators seem to believe that people into epics aren’t capable of handling The Science, and hard science fiction is often short on the epic, which is a pity, because if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that there is never enough science. Bring me science, science, and more science.
I love science. I heart science. I want to curl up with science and make sweet love to it. And the part of science I love best, the thing that gets me most excited, is exploring the outer boundaries of science. Science is a land of hypothesis and possibility and it’s a place where anything can happen, and I love seeing people push at that with science fiction. To explore not just the scientific limitations on things like space exploration (radiation’s a bitch and things in space are really far apart), but also to look at how scientific ethics comes into play when we start talking about things like introducing inventions and species from Earth into new environments.
I mean, look at this fucking supernova remnant, people:
That’s hawt am I right? (All credit to NASA, I don’t have a telescope this badass.)
There’s also a fascinating sociopolitical aspect to science fiction; it’s long been the genre people use to explore things too hot for an honest approach, it’s the place where you will find people challenging racism, sexism, ableism, and all the other -isms, often in really interesting ways. Before people could openly talk about issues, they were writing short stories with little green men and asking readers to consider their fundamental personhood. You want social radicalism? Look to science fiction. Of course, if you want horrific -ism fail, you can also look to science fiction, that’s the elasticity of the genre.
Epics provide a chance to explore three of my favourite things in detail, in a setting where the creator gets to manipulate the boundaries in any direction to push the story where it needs to go. You’ve got your science. You’ve got your ethics. And you’ve got your sociopolitical issues. All wrapped up in a delicious package. These things are usually too earnest to see packaged together in, say, straight literary fiction or television dramas. They feel clunky and out of sorts and awkward. In science fiction, they belong together, like ice cream and apple pie. You expect them. If you’re like me, you crave them.
Sometimes science fiction disappoints me, tremendously. I adored Battlestar Galactica, although it was a little soft, because it pushed at some interesting ethical boundaries and it was striving to become an epic (and let’s be clear, BSG does not get a pass on -ism fail and I suspect we’ll be talking about that here in the pretty near future), and then I got to the end and realised it was all about g-d and stuff, and I wanted to cry. (No offense if that’s your thing, I don’t mind a good round of g-d and stuff myself now and then, but it was a real letdown in the case of BSG.)
Sometimes it thrills me and makes every bone in my body jitter with excitement. The Sparrow, probably one of the greatest books of all time, is science fiction, with a hint of hardness; shall we call it firm? It’s getting there (shall we use the candy hardness scale? It’s at the hard ball stage). There’s science, it pushes at questions like how to deal with encountering a totally foreign ecosystem that sentient organisms are already inhabiting for those more interested in the sociopolitical side of things, it’s a damn good story, and it’s some pretty fucking awesome writing, to boot. Russell hits the sweet spot when it comes to lyrical descriptions without being overwrought, painting simple, clear, luscious images that make you fall into the world of the book. Unfortunately, it’s not epic in the slightest. Can’t win ‘em all.
How do you like your science fiction? Hard? Soft? Epic? Short and sweet? Bring on the romance? Stick to the space travel, please? Embedded sociopolitical commentary? Planets filled with eternal sex pollen orgies and sexy sexy aliens?
The first thing that came to mind while reading this post was the Peter Hyams film Outland, which seems to be some kind of western in outerspace starring Bond #1. It sounds exactly like the “hard” sci-fi, which you’ve outlined here, and the kind I am often a bit scared of. Or maybe intimidated by. It still baffles me that I love 2001 the way I do and it’s – wait for it – Peter Hyams directed sequel of sorts, but I do. I think I might actually watch Outland now. So thanks on that count.
I think I’m inching towards the hard, darker end, like the first two Alien films, but not quite ready to deal with the bleak masterpiece that is Silent Running. Though sometimes I think I’m not even “hardcore” enough for something as breezy as Gattaca, which is more future than outerspacey, but you know, they get there eventually.
Though oddly enough I can throw down on Solaris (either version) any time it wishes to be thrown.
This was FANTASTIC. Thank you so much.
I love dark! Dark sci-fi is delicious. Maybe I’m just a dark person, but my favourite stuff tends to be pretty fucking bleak. Fluffy happy science saves the human race and everyone magically becomes good stuff tends to bore me.
I also love the Western in space concept, which is one of the reasons I have a soft spot for Firefly even though it’s got some serious ish goin’ on.
I am curious about Cowboys and Aliens, though with their spectacular writer catfight things are looking a bit hairy.
“radiation’s a bitch and things in space are really far apart”
I like that line a lot, and wanted to see it repeated.
You have same complaint about BSG that my husband has; he was very disappointed with where they decided to go with it. At this point, I’m not good/familiar with hard science. I like my science fiction to be rather speculative, but can take it many ways so long as it’s not like Pi. Some of my favorites include: Alien + Aliens, Solaris (the second), Gattaca, Blade Runner, and Sunshine. I also like some of the lesser “Alien on a …” movies, such as Leviathan.
The tough thing about science fiction is that it’s such a broad genre. There’s action/adventure sci fi, which I love, (e.g. Terminator), alien-comes-to-earth sci fi (Predator, humans-leave-the-earth sci fi (Pitch Black, horror (Event Horizon, what I like to call “soulful” sci fi (The Fountain, ethical sci fi (Equilibrium, the list goes on. I mean, Starship Troopers – which I’ve watched at least a dozen times – bears little resemblance to E.T.. I dislike The Minority Report and A.I. tremendously, but think Strange Days and Robocop were very well done. Can’t say I know what it all means.
I love Minority Report, is it Tom Cruise? I don’t know why I love it so much but it’s visually arresting and I find him not as stinky as I expected. It makes me think, which is a good thing, though I know tons of people who don’t like how the story was shaped or the fact it’s so clearly Spielberganized.
I loved Minority Report too! I’m really interested in sci-fi that probes ethics like that. And I totally view the versatility of the genre as a whole as a benefit, hsofia! One of the things I love about it is all the different directions people can take it in. I think people who aren’t familiar with it who get all disdainful have a very limited idea of the sheer range of the genre.
Ha. Maybe I do like my sci-fi a little hard and dark. I haven’t named a perky film yet. And was about to mention I Am Legend. Cause you know that’s so light and upbeat. Don’t let the Will Smith fool you! It’s no Men in Black.
I have no problem talking about science fiction, I even write the stuff! I stick close to the speculative and softer side mostly because a lot of the hard science fiction and military sci fi is too laden with the isms I don’t care to pay to read. This is why Octavia Butler is my favorite spec fic author—nobody unpacked culture and created new models for everything from jurisprudence to altruism. Connie Willis, Ursula K. LeGuin, and Kurt Vonnegut have written some of my most loved sci fic books. At least the ones that I’ve read until they were falling apart.
I feel like sci fi at its best has the potential to get at the limitations and possibilities for culture, often by extrapolating from the trends in current culture. Even light-hearted fare like Douglas Adams’ work leaves us with some razor-sharp satire. Other speculative genres, like horror, can do the same, but a lot of what I read here too is a little contaminated with stereotypes that frustrate me too much to get anything good out of them. And as I write that, I have a dark kind of horror, kind of sci fi story coming out next February that I hope is well received.
Anyway, nerds represent! Fantastic article, s.e.!
I always wish someone would make films out of Vonnegut’s rough sketches of spec fiction stories, particularly “Dr. Schadenfreuden” and “The Dog’s Breakfast”.
I know! Terrific idea! I’d also love to see Kinded in film form. Maybe Zhang Yimou for the Vonnegut work? Lynne Ramsay or Marlies Carruth for Kindred?
re Minority Report: It wasn’t Tom Cruise; I think he’s an okay actor and don’t dislike the guy even if he seems a bit of a bozo at times. There was something about halfway or 3/4 way through the movie that made me angry and felt like a cheat/trick on the filmmaker’s part; it pissed me off. But I can’t for the life of me remember what it was. I saw it in the theater, so it’s been almost a decade. I’ll have to re-view it one day. Maybe I’ll feel differently next time.
@hsofia: I had a similar Minority Report problem — I was into the movie for the first half, then something happened that lost/disappointed me. However, I LOVED A.I., unreasonably so.
I love watching sci-fi movies, but have little interest in reading the genre — with the exception of Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles. I read that when I was 11 or 12 and it blew me away. I haven’t revisited it for fear I’d find it terrible now. I do give Samuel Delaney a chance every once in awhile.
I’m with you on favoring the hard science part too, which is probably why Star Trek (Next Generation only, please) was a favorite. BSG was more of a show that tricked sci-fi people into watching a human political drama (just like LOST was a show that tricked drama fans into watching a sci-fi show, though then they bailed at the end and made theirs about g-d/heaven etc. too).
I’m a fan of all the Alien movies, even the lesser ones, in part because science saved them for me — I loved thinking about how the biology of the alien changed because of using dog hosts, for example, from the 3rd one. And in Alien Resurrection, that scene where Ripley faces a room of her mutant predecessor clones is so disturbing and haunting, even years later.
re Minority Report: It wasn’t Tom Cruise; I think he’s an okay actor and don’t dislike the guy even if he seems a bit of a bozo at times. There was something about halfway or 3/4 way through the movie that made me angry and felt like a cheat/trick on the filmmaker’s part; it pissed me off.
Okay, yeah, yup I definitely feel this. I was cheesed at the Scooby Doo ending situation towards the latter half of the movie and wished it hadn’t gone that way. I was perfectly willing to pretend that everything that happened after Cruise went to see that old woman in the Celie hat dashed his hopes and all that jazz was the end of the film. I always forget that the film rapidly dissolves like cotton candy in the last twenty or so minutes.
This is a great post! I never really thought of myself as a sci-fi fan, but then I remembered I was a big fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation as a kid, and followed it fairly religiously (but stopped short of watching the movie spinoffs). If I had cable I probably would have been a fan of BSG during its original run, and even though I hear how fantastic the show is, I don’t feel the urgency to watch. My loss, I know!
I guess I tend to like my sci-fi with humor, like the Douglas Adams books and Firefly. So I apparently I don’t like my sci-fi that hard at all. I’m a sci-fi weakling.
I used to love science fiction as a kid, both reading it and watching it, but I had, not grown out of it… but maybe grown away from it, as I started realizing that certain elements of the genre were just not plausible. To me, the most interesting stories are the ones that could be true, so I probably like my S/F softer just because that’s potentially more realistic based on what science fact we have currently.
That’s not to say I don’t enjoy the storytelling of an epic tale for its own sake but if it’s not relating to the people of the here and now, it feels like maybe we’re just using some fx that the studio paid for to get people in the theaters. All these 3D films coming out… that may be the scariest of all!
It would be great if some truly edgy SciFi stuff were filmified, but it seems unlikely. I mean, they wouldn’t let Leguin’s characters be brown on TV! Octavia Butler would probably scare everyone to death. Too bad…
For movies, how about Man Facing Southeast, Moon and The Abyss? I love a lot of the other films/TV mentioned here (in the post and comments), but most of them are just action plots in a novel setting. I think if you want a true speculative fiction experience in film, you have to look elsewhere. Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner) will take you to another planet, if that’s where you really want to go.
For re-imagining the world, I love the books of Maureen McHugh and Elizabeth Arnason. For very dark, hard stuff, try anything by Peter Watts.