Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: headdie on June 03, 2011, 04:00:21 pm
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http://arcass.deviantart.com/journal/41090587/
Normally journal entries on DA fall into either mildly humorous or general fluff and generally not worth sharing, but this one was interesting and I though relevant to here.
In so much SF that's been created during my lifetime, the visions of the future are all clearly dominated by Western - specifically American - culture and society. That made a certain amount of sense back in the Cold War era, but today our planet's geopolitical sea change is becoming more obvious each day...
the article goes into why current trends in sci-fi might be out of kilter with the real world. I figured might be an interesting to everyone.
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That is disappointingly superficial. The names are good and all, but the stories themselves are what make sci-fi Western or Indian or what have you. In Japanese Godzilla movies for example, Godzilla trashes Tokyo but is really a friend. Hollywood comes along, and Godzilla is a big bad monster that we underdogs must defeat by our wits and valor. What language the characters speak is just part of the setting.
In that way Firefly is also completely Western sci-fi.
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Hm, considering that hollywood makes movies mostly with the western audience in mind, it's no surprise at all that the movies are mostly based/ inspired by western culture.
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Meh. The article is very superficial and not entirely thought through.
The author is from western Massachusetts, according to his profile. As such, the probability of him having ever come into contact with SF from countries that are not America is a wee bit on the low side.
Even if he is a fan who imports stuff from the rest of the world, the fact that most SF is published in the english language markets first (due to said market being the biggest), and especially written to appeal to said market, will colour his experiences.
And yeah, what Qent said applies as well. American SF is different from British SF, which is different from German SF, which differs from Russian SF, and so on. The problem is, an average american reader will never get to see stuff that didn't originate in the US or the UK, unless they are truly exceptional, and of course, marketable to american readers.
On another note, in this little entry, he notes:
Additionally the way our democracies work has been changing, with more and more megacorporate interest and power playing a role. If a power like China does finally embrace a more democratic system, it may not come from public pressure as much as bending to meet corporate interests. That country has an interesting few decades ahead of it!
Which indicates that he apparently missed this little thing called "Cyberpunk", which came up in the 80s and 90s. An entire subgenre, dedicated to exploring the ideas he says aren't explored.
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I thought the thread would be about current trends in sci fi and all I got was a lousy T-shirt...
So.... can we transform this thread into something remarkable? Is it too late?
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I think Western Massachusetts is saying that having a world dominated by Americans is implausible and "breaks immersion", and he wants Hollywood to change their take on futuristic sci-fi. I'm guessing that he wants futuristic sci-fis to be more Asian-centric because that's how the world seems to be going. I'm going to assume he thinks that the future will be dominated not by light-skinned humans, but by either the yellows or a blend. I guess he does have a point, but whether or not we care or whether or not the near-and-far future will be dominated by China is another matter entirely.
I might've assumed too much of him.
NOTE: I have never encountered Chinese sci-fis that take place in space.
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Additionally the way our democracies work has been changing, with more and more megacorporate interest and power playing a role. If a power like China does finally embrace a more democratic system, it may not come from public pressure as much as bending to meet corporate interests. That country has an interesting few decades ahead of it!
Wouldn't count on it.
I think Western Massachusetts is saying that having a world dominated by Americans is implausible and "breaks immersion", and he wants Hollywood to change their take on futuristic sci-fi. I'm guessing that he wants futuristic sci-fis to be more Asian-centric because that's how the world seems to be going. I'm going to assume he thinks that the future will be dominated not by light-skinned humans, but by either the yellows or a blend. I guess he does have a point, but whether or not we care or whether or not the near-and-far future will be dominated by China is another matter entirely.
I might've assumed too much of him.
What the author doesn't get is that Hollywood is successful the world over because it makes stuff THAT NON-AMERICAN PEOPLE OFTEN LIKE. Chinese media, despite being very heavily protected is almost totally uncompetitive even on its home turf, the Avatar Incident made that abundently clear.
NOTE: I have never encountered Chinese sci-fis that take place in space.
Because there aren't any. Despite living in China for 6 years except for a rare short story I haven't seen a single TV series or film based on space. Sci-fi in China in general is slim pickings.
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NOTE: I have never encountered Chinese sci-fis that take place in space.
Does China even have Sci-Fi?
Japan has their crazy robots and we've got our WW2-in-space or Stargate XYZ, but I've actually never heard of any domestic Chinese sci-fi of any sort.
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Heh... never noticed that, but then again, I don't watch many Chinese films...
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Don't they abolish anything that takes place in a different time? Or was it specifically time travel that they said was unallowed in their media?
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Don't they abolish anything that takes place in a different time? Or was it specifically time travel that they said was unallowed in their media?
That article a while back said time travel I think... with some hilarious reason ala "it makes for bad/implausible storylines so we won't have it!" attached. ;)
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the Avatar Incident made that abundently clear.
The what?
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I think few months ago i've read that china actually banned SF not to give people ideas (possibly about democracy?). On the other hand, how else do you want to govern several planets that are lys away from each other? You have to give them autonomy, or else your empire will crumble...
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the Avatar Incident made that abundently clear.
The what?
If this is what I think it is, the film Avatar vastly outperformed the home-grown chinese film Confucius (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius_(2010_film) (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius_(2010_film))) even after avatar was pulled from most of the 2D cinemas.
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Blade Runner was doing the futuristic Chinatown stuff in the early 80's, that's old-hat now.
I think the problem is manifold, it's to do with the Actors, the Budget, the tastes of the audience, the profit risk to artistic investment ratio and a host of other things. In the West there certainly seems to be an attitude that a Film must have the kind of plot where you can go buy a Cornetto and not miss anything of relevance to it.
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Don't they abolish anything that takes place in a different time? Or was it specifically time travel that they said was unallowed in their media?
That article a while back said time travel I think... with some hilarious reason ala "it makes for bad/implausible storylines so we won't have it!" attached. ;)
And the worst thing is, that is so true. :wtf: We should make it a constitutional amendment, at least.. :P
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Star Trek killed Time Travel as a storytelling tool, even the reboot had to involve it, to the point where it's actually become cliched now.
I think that's what I like about Doctor Who, whilst the whole 'Time' aspect is there, mostly it serves merely to explain the change of location. Moffat likes to have a 'Timey Wimey' plot running through the series but it's always handled in a way that doesn't assume the watcher is an idiot.
Strangely enough, the entire concept of Dr Who could almost trace its roots back to books like 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court' by Twain.
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The discussion about China has been split and moved to here:
http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=76522.0
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I think that whatever the future is, it'll be much different than pretty much all SF written so far. The future is going to be weird. Can't wait. :)
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This article has good intentions, but seems to be coming from someone who hasn't actually read much SF in the past thirty years.
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Here's some other trends in sci-fi to add to the discussion... http://www.cracked.com/article_17392_6-sci-fi-movie-conventions-that-need-to-die.html (http://www.cracked.com/article_17392_6-sci-fi-movie-conventions-that-need-to-die.html)
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This one always bugged me (from mixael's link):
#3. One Planet, One Culture... Except Earth
Our intrepid space explorers make contact with a new planet named Generisis III (cool planets always have numbers) and make contact with the sentient species, the Latexx Foreheadians. Assuming peaceful contact is made, the heroes will be spending a lot of time learning about the Foreheadian culture, language, religion, and all other aspects of Foreheadian life.
But wait a minute. Earth has hundreds of languages, cultures and religions. There's not even a single culture which has "dominance," and the most common trade language (English) is barely spoken by half the planet. So why in sci-fi do we still have races who are "warlike" or "profiteers" that live on a "desert planet" or an "ice planet." Apparently all civilizations eventually just consolidate everything to avoid confusion?
Read more: 6 Sci-Fi Movie Conventions (That Need to Die) | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/article_17392_6-sci-fi-movie-conventions-that-need-to-die_p2.html#ixzz1ObPS5rg6