Some Thoughts on Media Science Fiction and Fantasy
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| Title: | Some Thoughts on Media Science Fiction and Fantasy |
| Creator: | Joy Carole Harrison |
| Date(s): | 1984 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Star Trek: TOS, Battlestar Galactica, Science Fiction |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Some Thoughts on Media Science Fiction and Fantasy is an essay by Joy Harrison.
It was printed in the Battlestar Galactica zine Purple & Orange? #17.
Topics Discussed
- Trekkies and Trekkers
- Science Fiction Fandom
- fans and over-enthusiasm
- the state of science fiction being offered by mainstream television
The Essay
Nearly every author in the broad field we term "science fiction and fantasy" has his or her fans ~ individuals who especially enjoy that writer's work. No one can fault a reader for appreciating the creations of such professionals as Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Tanith Lee, David Brin, R.A. MacAvoy — to name only a few. And what of such artists as Michael Whelan and Victoria Poyser, among others? These people, too, are professionals; like the finest of writers, they have earned their fans, and truly deserve them.But what of that area of science fiction/fantasy termed "media"? And what of the fans of media science fiction and fantasy? We've all heard of the "Trekkies" — those particularly obnoxious fans of the popular television series STAR TREK. And this editor knows from personal experience just how unpleasant such overly enthusiastic fans can be. Try to imagine, if you will, attempting to teach some of the basics of relativity theory (not exactly an easy subject to master!) to a Trekkie who is convinced that everything depicted in the STAR TREK series is 100% factual! After ten weeks of this sort of thing, we felt the violent termination of this particular individual would properly be called "justifiable homicide" — or maybe would be classified as a favour to the rest of the human race. But not all media fans are extremists, and to assume they are is to do a grave injustice to the vast majority of all fandom. Groupies are the exception, not the rule — and they are just as prevalent outside the science fiction/fantasy community as in it.
The saner fans of STAR TREK began to call themselves "Trekkers" not long after their more vehement colleagues began to make a somewhat unsavoury reputation for themselves — and, unfortunately, for the rest of media fandom as well. Media fans began to be looked down upon — people without the intelligence to appreciate the literature of science fiction and fantasy, perhaps, or people who simply went to extremes with their fantasies...
But there is a great wealth of good media science fiction. Who can deny the merits of such films as THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL or FORBIDDEN PLANET, of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, or BLADE RUNNER, or even that remarkably delightful bit of visual escapism, STAR WARS? And can any true science fiction/fantasy fan claim to be completely uninterested in seeing what will be done with the film versions of DUNE and 2010? Is there really, somewhere, a fan who has never speculated on the visualization of cherished favourites of literature?
Television, too, has left its mark on science fiction and fantasy, although with few contributions as noteworthy as those of the film medium. STAR TREK did serve a purpose, however, as did such series as THE TWILIGHT ZONE, THE OUTER LIMITS, and even THE AVENGERS. Not all television is totally worthless — although, of course, the vast majority of it remains barely mediocre.
But then, a large percentage of what is written in the field of science fiction/fantasy is pretty dreadful, too. It's not just the media — it's simply that the majority of science fiction and fantasy, like the majority of everything else, is not always as good as we might wish it to be.
It would be wrong for any science fiction/fantasy fan to denigrate the general category of "media science fiction" — just as it would be wrong to deride the written word. Certainly, the majority of truly excellent science fiction has never been committed to film, and those who never read are missing some of the most magnificent tales science fiction and fantasy have to offer. But those who refuse to accept science fiction and fantasy in the theatre or on television are missing something, too. We have no use for groupies — those overly enthusiastic fans of any breed — whether they be the fanatically loyal, devoted followers of a film, a television series, an actor, an artist, a book, or a writer. But there is no shame in enjoying good media science fiction and fantasy — or in enjoying a good book.
And we truly pity anyone who cannot appreciate both.
The Author's Comments: 2017
Joy Harrison commented on this essay in Media Fandom Oral History Project Interview with Joy Harrison (2017).
Yeah, I still feel very much the same way. And this again, this is what, what I was trying to do with Imagination. There is good media stuff out there, both television and movies, and a lot of the anti-media people won't acknowledge that But the media people, the visual arts people, don't acknowledge that there's good in the literature. Now, I can appreciate some of the great authors of the past. And I still, I mean, despite the fact that I don't read a lot of science fiction anymore, once every few years, I go back and reread Stranger in a Strange Land, because every time I read it, it's different. Because I have years of new experiences to bring to that reading. That's a timeless book. It's a story that that will be just as interesting for people a century from now as it was when it was first written. The original Star Trek had tremendous virtues. I mean, consider the social changes that had their beginning in Star Trek where we saw men and women interacting as equal, where we saw different races interacting as equal. In a world where that sort of thing didn't happen, this was amazing. So there's, there's good and there's bad in both, but if you ignore one in favor of the other, you know, completely ignore one, it's wrong. So, yeah. What I say there is, is very, very true. And I wish that people could, could understand this better.