I didn't like science fiction as a kid because all my brothers did. Men liked science fiction. But I also just didn't like it. I honestly don't know why. Because now, I loooove writing space and futuristic stories.
I don't think I'm a hypocrite and neither is anyone else who doesn't like to read one genre but likes to write in it. I don't like to read science fiction, but I love to watch it!
I love sci-fi movies far more than I like fantasy movies. I'm going to try to figure out why in this blog.
I have tried to read sci-fi books many times. From several authors and several sub-genres. I really love the movies based on Philip K. Dick's books but could not STAND reading "A Scanner Darkly". It was boring and unnecessarily convoluted. Not to mention the plot twist was known since like literally page two. There was no tension and nothing to be discovered. Not sure what was going on. Don't get me wrong, Dick is an AMAZING story teller and I love his books "The Minority Report" and "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep".
Moving on. I am thinking about sci-fi this month because I am reading a Star Wars book for my 2019 book challenge right now (Star Wars is fantasy, by the way. No Sci-fi). So I love sci-fi movies. I love the environments and think they are done well in film 90% of the time. I love the themes in sci-fi as well. For example, Prometheus is a good film (hold on, don't kill me!). The second installment was great too simply for the fact that they dealt with strong sci-fi themes that we don't see much any more: creation, morals, humanity ( done well), what do you do to survive... Those kinds of themes. The religious overtone is refreshing as well since we don't see that much any more in sci-fi and I miss it. Sci-fi is there to delve into the bigger questions of existing. That's why I love it. I miss that in movies. Now, this doesn't explain why I don't like sci-fi books. I think the short answer is: they don't these things and the story tellers of sci-fi don't do story and character arcs well. They focus too much on the lasers and aliens on rocket ships aspects. Or the sex, which is weird. They lose the human side. The moral side.
I KNOW this is not all sci-fi, as I have read some that I like. But I think it's probably more than 50%. Especially with modern sci-fi writers. I am not saying fantasy is the superior genre, by the way. I love all genres. Seriously. In fact, I think if fantasy took some themes out of sci-fi's book, it could the strongest genre. That might be where steampunk comes in, I don't know. But let me say, the fantasy movies are bad. Usually. I think way more fantasy movies are weak than sci-fi books. Again, calm down! I know there are good ones out there. But think it about "The Hidden Kingdom", that awful "Eragon" movie (I don't like the books either, but that's another post for another time), and, God forbid, those DnD movies! Even the movie version of Earthsea isn't that great (but it's better than the books, again, please don't kill me, I know LeGuine is a goddess and I love her).
I'm about to get off track and am behind in today's schedule so I'm going to leave it here for now. Pick it up again later. This should be good food for thought for now though.
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