RE: This is gonna be the thread where we talk about stuff
07-20-2013, 02:10 AM
Re: part 1: Yeah, I feel like most "literary" SF is closer to reality than space opera SF is. Fair point. "Science fiction" does encompass a pretty huge range of material, from Vonnegut to Asimov, and maybe it's not fair to lump all of it together.
Re: part 2: I hadn't thought about that, but you're right, a disproportionate number of SF protagonists tend to be elites in their society. I guess that cyberpunk was kind of a reaction to that, what with its druggies and hackers and thugs and general lowlife protagonists. But in general SF protagonists tend to be, well, powerful white dudes, and that's a problem the genre has never fully resolved.
One reason I like Banks is because his protagonists tend to be unconventional/boundary-crossing, like you'd expect an egalitarian super-advanced society to actually be.
Re: part 2: I hadn't thought about that, but you're right, a disproportionate number of SF protagonists tend to be elites in their society. I guess that cyberpunk was kind of a reaction to that, what with its druggies and hackers and thugs and general lowlife protagonists. But in general SF protagonists tend to be, well, powerful white dudes, and that's a problem the genre has never fully resolved.
One reason I like Banks is because his protagonists tend to be unconventional/boundary-crossing, like you'd expect an egalitarian super-advanced society to actually be.