tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2718046465562929451.post11457258871645123..comments2023-10-31T12:49:57.461+00:00Comments on Beames on Film: Is 'Star Wars' Sci-fi?Robert Beameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03989843762343798504noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2718046465562929451.post-90301961521059543382010-06-09T16:04:42.964+01:002010-06-09T16:04:42.964+01:00I agree with you that Star Wars isn't sc-fi un...I agree with you that Star Wars isn't sc-fi unless you reduce the meaning of the genre to include anything that depicts advanced technology. <br /><br />However I wonder what your thoughts are on whether many of the 1950's science fiction films were strictly sc-fi themselves. Were the 50’s films written as sc-fi or rather were they written using an acceptable escapist story device to smuggle in views that at the time might have got the writers in trouble? Are the authors sc-fi writers or screen writers who aren't using the conventions of sc-fi to explore pitfalls in future societies or technologies but simply to comment upon current society while appearing to just be an entertainment?<br /><br />Authors like Philip K Dick or Isaac Asimov or Arthur C Clarke wrote sc-fi. Their works comment upon the moral issues that may arise with advancements in science, or use what-if scientific stories to comment upon current society by representing a possible future extreme as an exercise in exploring a philosophical view. A film like AI for example uses the notion of advanced artificial intelligence to discuss what constitutes a sentient life – it may appear that the future presents this problem but in truth it is just magnifying the issue by saying ‘what-if’ such AI existed in order to explore the issue of what makes us tick.<br /><br />I'm not sure that the 50's movies were interested in hypothesis but were rather holding up a mirror to current conventionally accepted norms and showing how warped our view of them often is. Or do you think any allegorical story with advanced technology is sc-fi, even if the story is not concerned with exploring a philosophy or the affects of technological advancements on society?<br /><br />What truly makes a sc-fi a sc-fi?Edward Beameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01528398477261173674noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2718046465562929451.post-53265514500974133172010-06-09T16:00:59.640+01:002010-06-09T16:00:59.640+01:00This comment has been removed by the author.Edward Beameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01528398477261173674noreply@blogger.com