Speculative Fiction Crisis! (1 Viewer)

[nick1048]

SPECULATIVE FICTION CRISIS:

"The genre has as its central feature, the excape from our reality into other worlds."
Is this an accurate analysis of the speculative fiction genre?
You should refer to TWO of the prescribed texts, and other related texts.

TEXTS:

Dune - Frank Herbert - Prescribed
The Handmaid's Tale - Margart Atwood - Prescribed
The Matrix - Warner Bros. - Related
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley - Related

This damn thing has crashed two times after I have tried to post this damn fucking thread which has caused enough frustration... Maybe this just isn't my day... Anyways.

Firstly, as all EE1 people would know, this is not advanced so don't post responses to this containing techniques... That is not enough to even get you by in EE1. You must address the context, values and conventions primarily to answer the question. Ofcourse the answer is yes, as this is a true statement. Now onto the justification.

Conventions.
The genre has no concrete conventions, how can you talk about them??? And how can you define what the conventions are when they are not even true between independant texts. Sure websites offer you the good old 'generic' conventions of the genre, which merely seperates the genre into sub-genre i.e. spec fiction into sci-fi, fantasy, utopia/dystopia, halocaust, genetic engineering etc. I have no idea what conventions to include in terms of answering this specific question and how to relate the context of the texts to the question via the conventions.

Context
The context is a huge factor is defining what "our reality" means. What do you think it means? I think it is referring to the change in physical situation between our reality and the composer's ficticious realm. However, this is not the case for all spec fiction texts. "The Matrix" for example is established in the time the the responder watches the text, there is no fixed context, it is everywhere and only becomes apparent when exposed to the responder's imagination.

Values
This is usually the value kept constant between "our reality" and speculative fiction. We can relate to the traditional values imposed by the stories, whether they are contrary to our own, there is still some empathy between composer and responder. For this aspect it is very clear that the context and the values share a powerful inter-relationship. The question is, are these views ultimately right or are they pointless speculation you wont get any marks for. After all it's not only good enough to have articulation and flair if your missing the substance essential to answer the question then ultimately u fail... Am I even answering the question.

Thankyou for enduring all this, it's been tying knots in my mind and stomach all day and I can't really find any full-proof solution. I, ofcourse, would like to have some confidence in the essay I'm producing. I understand that it's a working process and that's not the problem. The problem is that the working progress doesn't work if your burrowing yourself in the wrong direction so let me rectify this while I can. Thankyou for reading this and any comments will be greatly appreciated...

nick1048

 

[nick1048]

No one with any answers ehh??? Wow... Must actually be a noteworthy problem.

 

[RyddeckerSMP]

Firstly, are you sure you can do Brave New World? It is a set text for Module A in Advanced, and i'm pretty sure you can't do prescribed texts as related materials.

Secondly, Speculative Fiction does have conventions! There are at least 10-15 in every text as well!
Codes and Conventions:
1.)Evokes a sense of wonder in terms of possibilities, scope (such as in LOTR, with the use of CGI to create epic scope/scale).
2.)Concentrates on ‘what if’, ‘what may be’ and ‘what might have been’ scenarios.
3.)Secondary worlds are envisaged and the ramifications and ethics of these alterations considered.
4.)Deals with ecological, political, technological and environmental issues (despite the Speculative Fiction’s obviously fictional realm and characters, responders accept that Speculative Fiction deals with important issues).
5.)Genre of empowerment, explores all manner of marginality and empowers the weak, therefore the hero normally survives. (‘othering’)
6.)It is a genre that confirms our faith in reason and spirituality, while questioning the very nature of science and technology.
7.)Allows preparation for change, allows the outrageous to be accepted, while throughout having the absence of verisimilitude, (lack of liking to reality).
8.)Provokes and challenges controversy and debate about possibilities in human existence. It also reflects the cultural, social and technological concerns of its context; therefore as a genre it is dynamic and fluid.
9.)Speculative Fiction ironically relies on suspended disbelief and is part of a popular culture movement that reflects the zeitgeist (flavour/culture of the times) and disseminates potentially influential ideologies.

Here are some ideas on the value of the Speculative Fiction:
Conventional Idea and Values associated with Speculative Fiction:
1.)Restoration of order from chaos
2.)Values the marginalized minority – genre of empowerment
3.)Good will always win over evil through perseverance, spirituality, etc
4.)Value of spirituality and the hero, who represents all that is strong and good in humanity.
5.)Value of Speculative Fiction; it is an extrapolation of our concerns in a created realm – thereby enabling “cognitive estrangement”.

For context focus on when the text was constructed, what was happenning in the world? Link to an aspect of the text within it. E.g. LOTR, world of chaos (Sept 11), need for heroes/hope in the world.

I hope this helps ya! If you need any more help, feel free to PM/emial me, i'll try and help you if i can....

 

[Dreamspirit]

this target UAI... are y'all that confident to get over 95?