What is the purpose of science fiction ?
What do you guys think the purpose is ? :o
February 29, 2012
What is the purpose of science fiction ?
What do you guys think the purpose is ? :o
4 Comments • Newest first
Light sabers.
The (hidden) purpose of science fiction changed over time.
At first it tried to warn people against the danger of technology. (Frankenstein, for example)
The next wave of science fiction tried to warn people against alien threat (lol, War of the World's panic much).
After that, especially in the 1960s, science fiction celebrated new technologies and equality of the races and sexes (the Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and especially Star Trek are known for that, Star Trek TOS also elaborately celebrated colour television )
Right now the entertainment part seems to dominate although Star Trek continued to advocate equal rights and even made one of its movies into a "save the whales" campaign of some sort (the movie is so hilarious that it doesn't get annoying).
some tries to teach humans a lesson... like anti war sci-fi books.
others just entertain.
The ultimate purpose, as with all fiction, is to entertain.
SF uses a specific direction to do that, and it often gets diluted with other agendas, such as pushing religious ideas, or a particular ideology regarding science or technlolgy, but its basic purpose remains entertainment.