Fiction Genre - Fantasy Fictions and Science Fiction - Case Study Example

? Fiction Genre Fiction Genres It is argued that all fictions are genres based. However, identifying the type of genre involves using a set of rules to determine where the genre actually falls. The term genre fiction, commonly referred to as popular category or contemporary, is widely appealing to a massive audience, which in some instances are perceived to contain a less educated flavor compared to the literary fiction (Hunt and Lenz, 2005, p.32). What is common about all genre fictions is that they all tell a story. In addition, they have an opening, middle and a conclusion; composed of definable characters, plots, settings and themes. What is also evident in most genre fictions is that there is a protagonist on one hand and their opposing force on the other, mostly in the form of an antagonist. It is also argued that most genre fictions involve characters who are propelling themselves through a setting, or experiencing challenges of that world, whom at the end either emerge triumphant or defeated. Most scholars concur that there are seven different types of genre fictions with hundred sub genres attached to them. The major journal includes horror, fantasy, romance, mystery/crime, science fiction, and western and thriller/adventure/suspense fictions. This paper will compare and contrast fantasy fictions and science fiction in light of their distinctive characteristics. Fantasy fiction Fantasy refers to a genre of fiction which commonly employs magic and supernatural phenomena as the basic element of the theme, plot or setting. Most incidences happening within the genre usually takes place in a fabricated world where magic is common. In a fantasy fiction, one should always expect the unexpected and think the unthinkable and finally believe that magic is the blood coursing through the veins of the novel (Armitt, 2005, p.52). Fantasy fiction tends to create a world where every day normal perception of life is changed and carefully reconstructed into a separate realm of existence. In this genre, writers pull back the curtains of our present understanding of life and revealing to us a new location where life also takes place. Most popular fantasy fictions have the following elements: Religious overtones Since there is a partial relationship between fantasy and the old times, religions, particularly Catholicism and old Christian themes, usually play a big role in shaping fantasy fictions (Sinclair, 2008). The Medieval Most fantasy genres are stereotypically filled with medieval themes and characters such as royal families, knights on horseback, dungeons castles and middle-age dress. In most cases, the weapons if not magical, are usually archaic: longbows, swords and slingshots (Sinclair, 2008, p. 56). The Good-Evil divide Satan and God are ultimately the components of antagonism between evil and good. Fantasy tends to use the perception that pure goodness and pure evil are easy to differentiate and that there is no justified reason for not rooting the good people (Hunt and Lenz, 2005, p.33). These characteristics can be seen from the different fantasy sub genres which include the high or epic fantasy genre, sorcery and sword fantasy genre, contemporary or urban fantasy genre, dark fantasy, elfpunk and erotic fantasy among others. Science fiction Science fiction is a genre that discusses the “what if?’, question. It is a genre that investigates the philosophical, moral and technological possibilities by establishing new and exciting realities. According to Diana Tixier Herald, science fiction is a genre that deals with scientific topics, aliens, space and recognized by earth-variant worlds or forms of life that have never witnessed magic. The other common theme associated with science fiction is the time travel (Luckhurst, 2005, p.62). This genre has certain characteristic common to all categories of the science fiction. Storyline The genre is usually recognized as a speculative fiction by many. Most works in this genre explore social, moral, philosophical and intellectual questions or events. The authors of this genre tend utilize a setting that creates otherness of place or time, a setting outside of everyday reality so as to allow for a discussion of new, challenging and controversial ideas. Therefore, a science fiction is a genre that affirms the role played by a story in our lives (Roberts, 2000, p. 75). Frame Scientific and the technical details of science fiction as said to be moist important parts of the frame. As earlier stated, one of the most important elements of science fiction is its focus of science and technology, without giving enough details; works of science fiction lose this characteristic (Luckhurst, 2005, p.48). Characterization As Tixier pointed out, frame and storyline are the main focus of this genre. Here, characters are usually secondary to the question that is pursued through the action of the plot. It is noted that even though the genre does not focus much of characterization, it focuses mainly on events and situations. One other thing about science fiction is that characters are series characters, developed gradually over the course of the series (Roberts, 2000, p.62). Spacing The spacing within the genre significantly are linked with the nature and amount of actions contained in the story. The actions found in this genre are either interior or exterior. The basic assumption is that works focused on exterior actions are faster paced, and those focused on interior actions are slow paced (Luckhurst, 2005, p.57). Comparison between fantasy and science fiction From the description of fantasy and science fictions, it can be seen that there exist a small difference between the two. Based on the characteristics of the two fantasies, it comes out that science fiction is of change whereas fantasy fiction is of longing. As such instead of focusing on the world as it might one day become, science fiction focuses on the world as people wish it be or have been (Roberts, 2000, p.76). This is manifested through the works of Michael Swanwick whom after writing the Iron Drago’s Daughter, pointed out that the difference he could find between science fiction and fantasy was that science fiction is a transformational kind of fiction whereas fantasy is a normative kind of fiction (Hunt and Lenz, 2005, p.54). This implies that fantasy often concludes with the re-establishment of order, where the evil is conquered and good on the throne. Science fiction, on the other hand, ends with the establishment of new order, that is, a new way of doing things, with the emergence of new order. Science fictions mainly deals with the allegory of the scientific world-view and not the facts of science, whereas fantasy fictions deals mainly with magical creatures, with some set in a magical land as seen with the middle-earth, which has characters such as the wizards, talking creatures among others. Because of this, tales with Faster-Than-Light and Time Machines drives are science fiction and not fantasy for that matter, even though current world of science rejects such inventions (Roberts, 2000, p.74). Similarly, ghost tales are fantasy even if it has some elements scientific research into ghost sightings are natural on the matter. The issue here is that a story could have been told in Homer’s or Shakespear’s, since a ghost tale is literary a device acknowledged by the audience the tale’s sake as real. On a similar note, the time machine is accepted as being realistic by science fiction audience, even if it is not real. Fantasy fiction deals mainly with moral issues; the good versus the evil (knight in shining Armor, vs evil overload, and Angles vs Demons etcetera) and human right such as nobles versus slavery, serfs (Hunt and Lenz, 2005, p.46). Science fiction, on the other hand, tends to deal with ethical issues such as artificial intelligence, cloning, state control, personal liberty and dynastopia/ utopia among others (Luckhurst, 2005, p.45). The other essential difference between fantasy fiction and science fiction can be established by looking at whether the fictional world is governed by laws that are understandable through human reason, which are eventually controlled by human effort. Orson Scott Card once argued that a fantasy fiction works by vague and shadowy rules whereas science fictions are based on set of rules which are explicit throughout the book (Hunt and Lenz, 2005, p.57). Some writers’ points out that fantasy involve persons with exceptional talents that enable them to do special things (Armitt, 2005, p.67). On the contrary, science fiction involves general laws, which are applied by individuals who are in the right place at the right time (Luckhurst, 2005, p.86). Alternatively, fantasy characters may acquire power by studying arcane lore carefully guarded down by secretive practitioners or by knowing the actual names of people or things, whereas science fiction characters acquire their power by understanding natural laws published in textbooks. There are also science fictions, which are based on cultures where science is taken as evil and scientist persecuted, nevertheless, the scientists here still wish that they could disseminate their knowledge. The fundamental thing about fantasy fiction is that after the end of an adventure and the bad people are defeated the social order still appears to remain the same (Armitt, 2005). On the contrary, science fictions consider the possibility of learning and change. Brin (2011, par. 8) notes that children always choose to learn from the mistakes of their parents, when they miss the opportunity and are obstinately stupid once can get a science tragedy, which is far more horrible than the tragic in Aristotle’s Poetics. Aristotle argued that tragedy is Oedepus writhing against fate. As such, a science tale portrays people suffering, similar to older tragedies. Part 2 Fantasy fiction Introduction Different levels of fantasy appeal to different levels of readers. The very young reader is able to deal quite well with talking animals that do things that only human would normally do. Young adults can move into dealing with friendly ghosts or spirits and animals who participate in adventures outside their immediate world. The plot, however, still needs to be quite closely aligned with the readers own life experiences. As a reader moves into the intermediate grades, books of fantasy can take steps into other worlds through time travel, or into imaginary lands created especially for the characters. It is during this period that readers easily move from Michael Bond’s Paddington stories (which are essentially stories of a talking toy animal) into a completely fantastic world as witnessed in Alice’s Adventures in Wonder world by Lewis Carroll, or to a time wrap story as in Ruth Park’s “playing Bettie Bow” (Reginal, Meriville and Burgess, 2010, p. 75). Rationale for choice Fantasy writers normally ask readers to suspend their belief in the reality of the laws and logic of the world as they know it. The writers ensure that a situation is set up where alternative laws and logic become part of the reader’s belief system. They achieve this technique by starting from a realistic context and then venture into the realm of fantasy. For example, in Beatrix Potter’s “the tale of Tom Kitten”, she begins by telling the readers about the story of three little kittens (Mittens, Tom, and Moppet). Children realize that nothing is unusual about these kittens; kittens are in a realistic setting. It is only on turning the page that readers realize that the three kittens may be outside the world of reality. The antics of the kittens are not unlike the mischief that some young readers might have gotten into in a similar situation. So even as readers are asked to suspend some beliefs, the text also appeals to the children’s knowledge and their ability to identify with the action and characters in the newly constructed world (Reginal, Meriville and Burgess, 2010, p.93). Children find fantasy books interesting because animals, inanimate objects, or supernatural beings are routinely given human characteristics; they are personified. In addition, human beings are also placed in fantastical setting. In other words, characters are presented in such a way as to seem believable in the situation. Language dialects, vocabularies, and speech rhythms are always used to suggest personalities of characters, geographical settings, or a specific time period (Shaw, 2010, p.84). Tales featuring animals can be found in the books. For instance, the books by Beatrix potter, George Selden, and Robert Lawson’s Rabbit Hill. The rabbit Hill is a story that relates the effect humans have on the lives of animals. Consequently, other writers create not only interesting characters but entire mythical worlds (Shaw, 2010, p. 104). Shortcomings Children sometimes confuse contemporary realistic fiction with modern fantasy. Fantasy writers often build more reader identification with their plots, characters, and settings by creating those elements realistically before taking the text and readers into fantastical realms (O’Keefe, 2004, p.56). Supernatural attributes, magic, unexplained events, and mysterious beings can be confusing to children. In addition, these imaginary objects move the story from the contemporary realistic fiction into imaginary world of modern fantasy. The most notable shortcoming of fantasy fiction is that the situations are outside the realm of possibility. Problems in fantasy books are often solved through magical or supernatural power. Toys are personified, animals behave like people, and there are little people, supernatural beings, or real people who have supernatural experiences (Shaw, 2010, p. 37). Fantasy readers do not know how seriously they should believe the stories. Fantasy, when placed in a literary context, leads to several problems. Fantasy leads to smoothing dubious and embarrassing when placed in realistic contexts. In addition, readers need to justify their interests in reading fantasy stories. Consequently, fantasy stories lead to unconscious fears and desires which can motivate the child to behave in unfamiliar ways. Fantasy allows readers to speculate, to explore possibilities, to indulge our private selves-to consider imaginatively things that cannot be. Fantasy can only be restricted to children. Fantasy is childish, this is the reason why fantasy and children literature have been associated with each other (Reginal, Meriville & Burgess, 2010, p. 71). Alternative Genre Horror fiction Horror stories constitute the limit of reason, sense and consciousness. In addition, horror stories are ambivalently human. Horror is located in both the real and the imaginary. The important aspect of horror is its ability to entertain, terrify, and provoke politicized, philosophical engaged thought. Horrors evoke human fears of death and pain as well as the dark fears of the unknown. Readers of fiction are able to acquire sufficient imagination to see beyond, and through what human beings take for granted as normal and familiar (Cooper, 2010, p.75). Horror is present everywhere. Horror is entertaining and educational to children as well as to the adults. In addition, horror is contradictory, paradoxical; it combines opposites, destabilizes, and challenges, but often do so in order to restore order. Consequently, horror is social, cultural, political, psychological, emotional, spiritual, supernatural, natural, and part of human condition. Horror is in everyday reality. However, it also qualifies as a genre, a construction, and a representation of what disgusts and terrifies, what human beings fear and secretly desire. However, horror, and fantasy cannot be taken seriously. Readers are likely to locate themselves along a continuum of response to horror, some more troubled, and provoked. Rationale for Choice What is it about horror that attracts children? The attraction is not confined to children; many adults enjoy horror stories, whether in books or film form. Engaging in horror helps human beings to overcome their fears and engage with their unconscious desires. Monsters in horror stories can serve as metaphors for human fears. Texts such as Bram Stocker’s Dracula and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein are the perfect horror stories for children. In addition, such horror texts are usually devoid of the sexual scenes which are a feature of adult horror, but they do evoke a similar fear of unknown (Cooper, 2010, p. 66). In recent years, texts such as Point Horror and Goosebumps have been circulated everywhere in the world. The crazes on the point Horror and Goosebumps series have led to a several learning institutions banning these texts. School administrators claim that these texts have little educational value and lead to mindless addiction (Joshi, 2001, p.104). Children horror narratives can be seen as being educational. Death is the main subject mater in children horror stories. Importantly, children horror stories have to do more with linstituting the rules of socialization and extrapolating a hidden behavior code., the primary concern of horror texts such as the “point horror” is with the initiation of the adolescent reader into the ways in which the subject of death is regarded and represented in culture. Murder is not the main subject matter in “point horror”, but death. Murder can be seen as subset of death, however, murder is unnatural (Joshi, 2001, p.107). A nightmare mood is experienced when reading horror novels. These stories also create a feeling of menace, evoking a strong emotional response in both adults and children. Elements like story line, characterization, and pacing help to create a sense of menace and contribute to emotional impact. Consequently, horror novels are fused with a nightmare mood. Readers can never escape such feelings while reading horror fiction. Horror conventions and characters have been used in fantasy stories. It is actually difficult to identify the genre by the type of characters and background. However, horror fiction is mainly characterized by monsters in supernatural state (Cooper, 2010, p. 45). The presence of supernatural beings sets horror apart from other genres. Supernatural monsters affect the mood, tone and story line. Story lines in the horror genre do not necessarily flow in a logical order; this is due to the influence of the supernatural. The supernatural should not bother readers, as it is part of what they expect to find in most horror stories (Joshi, 2001, p. 88). Characters in horror novels are usually haunted, and shattered. In addition, the characters can be seen as individuals who are vulnerable and are out of control. There are not many lucky and happy characters in horror stories because they are likely to be killed by the monster or by the supernatural being. The character of the villain or evil force is always sinister. Villains are always not realistic. One of the most interesting features of characterization in horror is how view point can help readers separate horror from hard edged suspense. Children can actually learn from stories concerning serial killers and how they can be avoided in the modern society (Cooper, 2010, p. 101). Conclusion Fantasy fiction and horror fiction have similarities that are common. Readers bare required to suspend their realistic expectations. Realistic expectations can be suspended by investing one’ self in a new environment of fantasy and that which has supernatural beings and monsters. In addition, readers are required to both have live in reality and in fantasy while decoding the meaning of horror and fantasy novels. Readers should not live in impossible worlds of horror and fantasy after reading horror and fantasy novels. Reference Armitt, L. (2005). Fantasy fiction: An introduction. New York, NY: Continuum International Publishing Group. Brin, D. (2011). The difference between science fiction and fantasy. April 8. Retrieved from: http://davidbrin.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/the-difference-between-science-fiction-and-fantasy/ Cooper, A. (2010), Gothic Realities; The Impact Of Horror Fiction In Modern Culture, New York: McFarland. Hunt, P., & Lenz, M. (2005). Alternative world of fantasy fiction. New York, NY: Continuum International Publishing Group. Joshi, S. (2001), Ramsey Campbell and Modern Horror Fiction, Liverpool; Liverpool University Press. Luckhurst, R. (2005). Science fiction. Cambridge: Polity. O’Keefe, D. (2004), Readers in Wonderland: The Liberating Worlds Of Fantasy Fiction, New York: Continuum International Publishing Group. Reginal, R., Meriville, D & Burgess, M (2010), Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, Volume 2, New York; Wildside Press. Roberts, A.C. (2000). Science Fiction. London: Routledge. Shaw, B (2010), the Animal Fable in Science Fiction and Fantasy, New York; McFarland. Sinclair, F. (2008). Fantasy fiction. Wanborough, Swindon: School Library Association. Read More