What is SciFi?
After my last post, a comment was made (thanks Ken!) that questioned whether 'Snakes on a Plane' was actually science fiction. Although Perrin aptly pointed out that Samuel L. Jackson can be whatever he damn well pleases to be, the point seemed to be valid and got me thinking.
So, I did some research. Many people have attempted to define science fiction, but I have to fall back to Robert A. Heinlein's take on the subject. He defines science fiction as:
"Science Fiction is speculative fiction in which the author takes as his first postulate the real world as we know it, including all established facts and natural laws. The result can be extremely fantastic in content, but it is not fantasy; it is legitimate--and often very tightly reasoned--speculation about the possibilities of the real world. This category excludes rocket ships that make U-turns, serpent men of Neptune that lust after human maidens, and stories by authors who flunked their Boy Scout merit badge tests in descriptive astronomy."
(Ray Guns And Spaceships, in Expanded Universe, Ace, 1981)
Using that definition, most of the things that we talk about as Science Fiction fans do not qualify as true science fiction. However, in the modern context, the term 'SciFi' has a much broader interpretation. SciFi does refer to true Science Fiction, but it also can encompass fantasy, horror, supernatural or occult topics, cult films, comics or high tech action movies. Look at the schedule for the SciFi channel - it features a movie called 'Dragon Sword' and shows like 'Who wants to be a Superhero?' and 'Ghost Hunters'. Clearly, the term SciFi describes a large field of work.
Thus, it turns out that SciFi is a much broader term than Science Fiction. And, really, would we want to be limited to hard science fiction when there is all of this other great stuff out there?
