The Politics of "Apolitical" Science Fiction Fandom
Added 2022-11-14 14:01:04 +0000 UTCAt Geek Girl Con this year, I moderated an amazing panel asking what makes science fiction political, and why do people think it can be anything else.
Comments
I'm not sure it's even possible to make truly apolitical science fiction unless it's just a computer game, and even then... I don't remember if this was Asimov or Heinlein that observed this, but many people could have predicted the 'horseless carriage'; not many predicted rush hour, the importance of a car in American dating rituals, or drive-in movie theaters. The social reaction to a scientific change is at the heart of it, and as soon as you're looking at how society reacts to anything, politics makes an entry in some way.
MARK F JENKINS
2022-11-17 19:33:32 +0000 UTCAhh yay! I'm glad <3
Jessie Earl
2022-11-17 07:12:29 +0000 UTCI attended this panel and it's the reason I'm on your patreon now :D
2022-11-16 22:10:50 +0000 UTCAll media, all thought, can be pollical. It is impossible to divorce human creativity from the inherent social aspects of being human, which means it's all political. Even the children's reading book "...see the dog jump..." is political in nature. Science Fiction more than any other genre has always strong focus on Socioeconomic Politics. From the roots with Frankenstein (The fear of uncontrolled scientific study) to War of the Worlds (A commentary of the British Empire). Nothing is created in a vacuum, and even if it's only subconscious, the creators are always being Political. Note George Lucas was very politically left when he made Star Wars, all you need to know about Star Wars and George Lucas's political thoughts at that time is to watch THX (Both the Film School version and the Feature version, and OMG because of choices in Andor, I think you can now include THX as a World in the Star Wars Galaxy).
Rachel Mary Winter
2022-11-14 21:57:29 +0000 UTCRe your comment circa 24:00... The thing is, for George Lucas, be it in Star Wars or Indiana Jones, 40 years ago saying *Nazis are bad* was, while "political" for some definition, non-controversial. We have seen the Overton Window slide so much in the intervening time that there are people who will authentically defend an autocratic, corporatized, police state that now see even saying "(Space) Nazis are bad" as a partisan attack.
Robert Cooper
2022-11-14 15:58:20 +0000 UTCThank you for sharing this!
Emily Kugler
2022-11-14 15:08:08 +0000 UTCWas this recorded at 360p or is YouTube just taking forever to process the full resolution version?
Luna
2022-11-14 14:45:40 +0000 UTC
