Fears and Questions of Science Fiction

Not surprisingly the primary ‘question’ a science fiction story asks is:  ‘What if…?’ What if we could travel in time? What if we could clone humans? What if we discovered alien beings? What if we could make artificial intelligence robots? What separates these questions from fantasy and ensures they resonate with viewers in profound and effecting ways is the element of plausibility.   In order for it to be science fiction the ‘what if’ has to propose something which could be plausible in the future, sometimes the very near future,  when viewed from the here and now.  When we ask the question ‘What if’ we are inspired by the possibilities, but the question also raises fear: fear of the ramifications of our inquisitiveness, our lesser nature, our hubris.

This is where the Science comes in.

The exploitation of Science in SciFi cinema can range widely. From so called ‘Hard’ SciFi where the science is specifically linked to real-world advances and probable technologies; through to much more loose and far-fetched applications of science. In any case along that continuum from likely to farfetched,  the ‘science’ at the heart of the SciFi narrative can be defined as simply the plausible ability to do that which we otherwise cannot and that this ability - as Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling famously described - is The improbable made possible. This distinction is important as it tells us what it is that removes SciFi from Fantasy and it also explains some of the power Sci Fi has to garner intense cultural resonance – it has plausibility and and it has ramifications for the here and the now.

Questions

Novelist Steven Barnes - in an article entitled ‘The three questions of science fiction writing“ - takes the concept of the ‘What if’ scenario further to identify key variations.  These are:

What If? - If Only? - If this goes on..?

What if scenarios present us with an instigation, an inciting technology or scientific development that presents human curiosity with a challenge and/or threat. If Only by contrast has an intrinsically emotive and longing quality, a science fiction fuelled by deep desire to progress. Whereas the third of the trio, If this Goes On, has decidedly a tone of the cautionary tale, a recognition of a current trajectory that must be curtailed or else…

What If…

The What if scenario may be seen to be at the heart of science fiction, that is Questioning and Exploring. Blade Runner for example is not cautioning against robots with human emotions so much as it is exploring what it means to be human when human emotions and artificially intelligent memories can be manufactured.

If Only…

In looking for examples of If Only SciFi we may see Dr Who as a science fiction premised on longing and desire. To travel beyond the stairs, (stairs or stars?) to travel in time, to see wonders and sights of other worlds and other times, these are the desires primarily expressed by the Doctor’s companions. Of course adventures and dangers ensue as a result of these desires and in particular their longing to see across space and time has ramifications for their personal lives in their everyday world. But ultimately Dr Who celebrates and endorses the If Only longing by exploring and overcoming the fears inherent in stepping out of one world and into another. The ‘science’ of space/time travel in Dr Who enables and satisfies that longing, explores its pitfalls but doesn’t ultimately caution against it.

If this goes on…?

At the other end of the spectrum we can see the distinctly cautionary warning that the If this Goes On scenario embodies within SciFi cinema. Dystopian science fiction makes great use of the fears conjured up by the intrinsic warning in the phrase If this Goes On. The film adaptation of George Orwell’s novel, 1984, for example, presents a world where invasive surveillance through ‘tele-screens’ and the media manipulations of a totalitarian government create a frightening vision of what our society might become if we do not heed the warnings about proliferation of surveillance technology and government invasion of privacy. Similarly GATTACA serves as a profoundly cautionary tale against the misuse of genetic information and genetic profiling.

What if, If Only and If this Goes On…  are, in a sense, scenario questions.  They establish a framework for generating and modulating the feelings viewers have as they enter into the world of the story and the contract of viewing.  And this, of course, is at the heart of understanding genre: recognition that individual genres elicit and connect with specific modes of emotion in viewers. More particularly that viewers enter into the viewing contract with expectations about how that viewing experience will make them feel. As we select the DVD from the rental store or buy the movie ticket at the box office we may not possess knowledge of what will happen in the film, but we do have clear expectations of what we hope and expect to feel from watching the film based on the genre we have chosen.

This leads us to ask what exactly are the essential feeling-states of Science Fiction?

Read the rest of this article on www.screenculture.net

[This article stems from the Graduate Certificate Screen Culture course at AFTRS and you can read the full and extended version of this essay inIssue 4 of Lumina - genre is not a ‘dirty word’]