My criticism of "American science fiction"

[Tsuwabuki]

Originally Posted by Ryzorian

They difuse in space. Sure they keep going but distance will difuse the effects. Otherwise the gamma ray burst from every explodeing star would vaporize us. ( Wich obviously they don't)

Plus the chances of hitting a freighter is slight, compareably speaking to say hitting a random planet or asteroid.

Mass drivers and anti matter weapons would more than likely be the big nasties...being able to convert a mass driver into an antimatter mass driver would be double points.

I essentially said this, only in a far more technical way. The bottom line of my last post is essentially: possible, yes, probable? No way.

A conventional missile would be more likely to cause serious damage to an unintended target, and even then, it is far more likely to hit something that isn't exactly critical to life.

[Ronin4hire]

I havent been on in a while and this thread has moved on but I just want to clear up a few things.

I am not talking about ALL SF that is made in America when I say "American Science Fiction". Im talking about a particular TYPE of SF that (to my knowledge) ONLY comes out of the United States (though someone brought up Yamato). The tag "American" (or Japanese or whatever) becomes redundant otherwise as SF is SF.

Though I suppose it is a misleading tag and I shouldnt have drawn all of sci-fi into it. I was trying to highlight what I thought to be a cultural phenomenon. Perhaps I should've narrowed it down to the "American space opera" or come to think of it just "Space Opera?" How does that sound?

I guess its my fault that I was confusing because I was trying to criticise what I see is wrong with it while trying to highlight what I thought to be a cultural phenomenon. Im more interested in what I see to be a cultural phenomenon so I will start again by examining "American Space Opera" on its own and not in context with other types of science fiction.

-The portrayal of Alien societies seems to be essentialised in much the same way that other cultures often are (from any standpoint).

-Humanity seems to be a projection of American society and parallels can be drawn between the way Human society relates to Alien society(ies) and the various ways American society imagines itself in comparison to other.

Examples of the above- Babylon 5, Star Trek, Mass Effect, Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars (though it wasnt a main theme), Wing Commander

-Military encounters and military technology in space are similar to WW2 technologies (Space battles featuring carrier fleets supported by a various array of capital ships and fighters, Space Marines) . My theory for this is because WW2 is still romanticised throughout the Western world but in particular, the United States where the narrative of that conflict is still very much along the lines of "good versus evil".

(With the exception of Star Trek the above examples can also be used to show this.)

[Ronin4hire]

Originally Posted by TalnSG

I hate to be reminded of how many years it has been since I truly enjoyed a Sci-Fi movie for its plot or theme..... the last one was probably in black and white and filmed at Shepperton Studios (obviously not American). No, on second thought there was something commendable in Sleeper, Blade Runner and Soylent Green. There is a place for the truly uncomfortable solutions to world problems in sci-fi, it just isn't visited very often anymore.

But with the big bucks being forked over to have the world's children babysat in movie theatres instead of living life, of course the American movie industry has been dumbed-down to fit is paying clients. As for Avatar, it fits the description too. An immature treatment with lots of visual so the viewer doesn't have to do any thinking on their own.... and to some extent the experience is probably much better if they don't think about it too much.

I agree. A movie that I saw last year (but was released perhaps 3 or 4 years ago) called Sunshine almost delivered what I thought to be a good sci-fi film. It started off with a crew of astronaughts heading towards the sun to "restart" it with some sort of device. It was decent up untill they introduced a monster and then the film turned from being a sci-fi/thriller into a lame horror flick.

As for Avatar, I enjoyed it and thought it had something to say about colonialism (coming from a country with a relatively recent colonial past). My only gripe with it was that the Navi were presented as the "Noble Savage" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_savage). For example- how the ritual of entering adulthood by sending your child into the mountains to capture some wild beast where the risk of death is considerable would be a negative aspect of Navi society which would invite criticism from me, however in the film it was romanticised.

[MMM]

I think we are mixing up the genre with creators some are not satisfied with.

[TalnSG]

Originally Posted by Nathan

One of the my biggest pet peeves about space battles is the complete disregard for accuracy, even up close. I mean, those slugs or lazers you are firing off get to keep on travelling until it hits something. How many poor trader vessels millions of miles away have suddenly been riddled with shots because some 'hero' opened mass fire on an enemy ship and missed for the first 10 seconds?

True. Could be a new story line there for another big budget piece of fluff, Nathan. On the other hand, maybe you are overthinking things a bit?

[Ryzorian]

The Navi adulthood ritual wasn't that bad, several ancient cultures do that. Though most are predominantly male only, since most don't treat females that highly.

Eh, technical terms only confuse me.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by Ronin4hire

I havent been on in a while and this thread has moved on but I just want to clear up a few things.

I am not talking about ALL SF that is made in America when I say "American Science Fiction". Im talking about a particular TYPE of SF that (to my knowledge) ONLY comes out of the United States (though someone brought up Yamato). The tag "American" (or Japanese or whatever) becomes redundant otherwise as SF is SF.

Though I suppose it is a misleading tag and I shouldnt have drawn all of sci-fi into it. I was trying to highlight what I thought to be a cultural phenomenon. Perhaps I should've narrowed it down to the "American space opera" or come to think of it just "Space Opera?" How does that sound?

I guess its my fault that I was confusing because I was trying to criticise what I see is wrong with it while trying to highlight what I thought to be a cultural phenomenon. Im more interested in what I see to be a cultural phenomenon so I will start again by examining "American Space Opera" on its own and not in context with other types of science fiction.

-The portrayal of Alien societies seems to be essentialised in much the same way that other cultures often are (from any standpoint).

-Humanity seems to be a projection of American society and parallels can be drawn between the way Human society relates to Alien society(ies) and the various ways American society imagines itself in comparison to other.

Examples of the above- Babylon 5, Star Trek, Mass Effect, Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars (though it wasnt a main theme), Wing Commander

-Military encounters and military technology in space are similar to WW2 technologies (Space battles featuring carrier fleets supported by a various array of capital ships and fighters, Space Marines) . My theory for this is because WW2 is still romanticised throughout the Western world but in particular, the United States where the narrative of that conflict is still very much along the lines of "good versus evil".

(With the exception of Star Trek the above examples can also be used to show this.)

You make it sound like separating oneself from one's culture is like taking off a shirt. Yes, American sci-fi comes from an American perspective designed for an American audience.

District 9 is made by a South African director, and there are certainly South African themes in the movie. Does that make it a better or worse movie?

The reality is that we have never had contact with non-Earthlings (that we know of on a public nature) so to judge a movie or a genre about not being realistic about an experience that no one has ever had before is frankly nit-picky.

[Ronin4hire]

Originally Posted by MMM

You make it sound like separating oneself from one's culture is like taking off a shirt. Yes, American sci-fi comes from an American perspective designed for an American audience.

District 9 is made by a South African director, and there are certainly South African themes in the movie. Does that make it a better or worse movie?

The reality is that we have never had contact with non-Earthlings (that we know of on a public nature) so to judge a movie or a genre about not being realistic about an experience that no one has ever had before is frankly nit-picky.

I dont mind cultural bias... but when those biases fly in the face of common sense (which the American ones do in the examples I gave) then yeah... call me nitpicky if you want but I cant take it seriously.

[Ryzorian]

It would be very difficult to have a very popular show of any type, but particularly those that had some sort of military theme without Good and Evil.

Nobody wants to watch a show where it's hard to figure out who to root for. I can understand some of the intense drama that can be played out when good and evil is not so black and white but multiple shades of gray..However, in most cases, a show would not last long with out definate white hats and black hats.