“Like Doctor Who, I could sense the Force was nearby…” News Posted by John Hoare on 12th October 2006, 11:20 I’m in the middle of writing an article at the moment which has somewhat changed tack. Which means I won’t be using the following links. But they’re well worth a read, so whilst they’re not specifically Red Dwarf related, have a goosie at these David Langford columns, first published in SFX: SFX #126, January 2005: As Others See Us SFX #133, August 2005: Eye of the Beholder SFX #142, April 2006: Pride and Prejudice And yeah, this was originally linked to on NTS. But have a look if you’ve not seen them, because they pretty much perfectly deconstruct the mainstream media’s attitude to SF geeks…
Just makes me all the prouder to be a Female Geek, sir. I mean, if the likes of Ann Coulter’re slagging off SF, how can liking SF not be right? =P But seriously, fuck them. They’re the narrow-minded gits if they won’t actually pick up a Discworld novel for fear of breaking out in spots and Spock ears.
It’s a sad thing to see the excellent Stephen Fry to lower himself to being a stupid cock about SF. Yeah, HHGTTG isn’t SF. Of course. Yes.
I always used to use sci-fi. But I found that I annoyed less people by using SF than by using sci-fi, so I just switched to the term that annoyed the least people. Maybe I should add an option in the profiles to automatically translate the term to the word people prefer…
I always thought ‘genre’ used in that sense covered the more widespread area of “SF/Fantasy/Horror”, and so is a legitimate term. It doesn’t just mean SF, even when used colloquially. (I know it has different sense when used technically, of course.)
Yeah, it is used to group those areas together, but it’s always struck me as a hugely pointless term. It’s like distinguishing apples, oranges and bananas over pineapples, grapes and lemons by calling them fruit. What a shit analogy, but you see my point. (And I didn’t mean to single out Andrew, it’s just he’s the last person I saw using the term)
Well, I think it’s fair to say that a lot of people who are into SF are also into Fantasy and Horror. But agreed that it is a slightly artificial distinction. I think companies have figured out that those are three areas that *really* sell magazines and DVDs. So people who are into other things – say, comedy – aren’t as well catered for commercially. It all gets back into that argument. It’s fair enough to say that SF, Fantasy and Horror fans are the groups that have proper, organised fandom – which I think is also why they’re grouped together. Us people who are also into other things need to organise ourselves a bit more…
Calling something a ‘genre’ show is an attempt to make someone feel less like a sci-fi nerd upon watching it. Lost would be called a genre show, wouldn’t it? What’s funny is that it’s actually the kind of show that breaks the barriers between genres, like Who.
Hey, find me another word for that group and I’ll call them it. In the mean time the context makes the use clear, so I’m sticking with ‘genre’. :-p
It’s a sad thing to see the excellent Stephen Fry to lower himself to being a stupid cock about SF. Yeah, HHGTTG isn’t SF. Of course. Yes. Yeah, that does kinda suck. Normally Stephen Fry’s a pretty reasonable and intelligent writer. He’s usually above that sort of “well, it’s got this and this and this in it, but that doesn’t mean it’s that bad old sci-fi” arsewallop.
Harlan Ellison always used to say that “sci-fi” sounded like crickets fucking. Of course, he also said he’d nail your dog’s head to the coffee table if you ever referred to him as a “science fiction writer.” (He prefers “speculative fiction.” Nevertheless, he’s a good writer, and he has a point that most of his stuff really isn’t SF.) If I use “sci-fi” it’s always in jest or making a point about how awful something is. If I have to actually *say* “sci-fi”, I pronounce it “skiffy.”
There’s a hilarious bit in this month’s excellent edition of SFX, where they’re celebrating 150 issues. The team all give some excellent anecdotes about making the magazine, including this brilliant bit from MJ Simpson: “Is that Carnival Films? Can you tell us about a show we’ve heard you’re making called Crime Traveller.” “You wouldn’t be interested. It’s not SF.” “Oh? We heard it’s about a time machine.” “Yes, there’s a time machine in it, but it’s not a SF series.” The problem with Crime Traveller, there. They didn’t have a bloody clue about what they were doing.
