jtn90
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Posts: 66
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Post by jtn90 on Jul 26, 2021 10:40:53 GMT
This debate is a very common topic, but I'm interested on see what people here think of it.
Star Wars is commonly viewed as purelly fantasy due for it's storytelling,tropes ,themes, phylosophy, setting in a complete fictional universe and everything related to the force.
While I agree that those things are more proper from fantasy stories, for me personally just doesn't feel right to completelly dismiss the si fi of the franchice and call it purelly fantasy and having nothing to do with sci fi, because as much as you can say the story could be the same if it was set in a fictional medieval world, the sci fi setting and imaginery is an important part of Star Wars, it's what makes it recognizable and it wouldn't feel the same if you remove it, even if nothing else changes, the whole purpse of the creation the lightsabers is to make a futuristic sword.
I ofen see that what makes Star Wars not sci fi is because the technollogy doesn't contribute to the plot, ad no one explains how it works.
I don't think that is completelly necessary to make a sci fi story but what is your opinion on the matter?
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Post by Alexrd on Jul 26, 2021 11:54:08 GMT
What is a sci-fi setting? Space and spaceships aren't necessarily sci-fi. Jurassic Park is sci-fi, it's not set in space and doesn't have spaceships. And like that are many other sci-fi movies.
Sci-fi, as far as I'm concerned, has fictional science as a core part of the story. Star Wars doesn't have that. Star Wars is fantasy. Space fantasy, but fantasy. Not sci-fi.
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Post by eljedicolombiano on Dec 20, 2021 1:54:46 GMT
I think another key point is that Star Wars doesn't abide to a materialist worldview (as most Sci-fi does) given how it has the Force and a spiritual dimension, not to mention its views on technology.
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Post by Subtext Mining on Dec 21, 2021 15:19:16 GMT
The following quotes are by Irvin Kershner from the "Lost" Empire Strikes Back Documentary: I accepted to do the film because I like the idea of doing a fairy tale, doing something imaginative, doing something children would love, and the idea gives me great pleasure. Some people call it science-fiction, I don't even consider it science-fiction, I consider it a fairy tale. In science-fiction you're very concerned about leaving the spaceship on a planet because there may not be oxygen, or the gravitational force is not the same as on Earth, or not what your body is adjusted to; and so you must take all that into consideration or it's considered very poor science-fiction. It's fairy tale! That's the environment, that's the context: that you can literally do anything. And if I believe it while I'm doing it, the audience tends to believe it too. So that's a fairy tale. Science-fiction has certain qualities that you hafta respect; all kinds of scientific jargon - we've eliminated all scientific jargon. There's almost none, just a touch, like salt & pepper. It's not a science-fiction movie.  |
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Post by Subtext Mining on Feb 7, 2022 19:28:26 GMT
Yeah, there's space age sci-fi technology at use in Star Wars. And yeah, it's part of the spectacle. But as you say, it's iconic. And I'd say that's about the extent of it's purpose for the most part.
Yeah, they have speeders, laserswords, plasma shields, instant hologram communication, and human-like droids, but a lot of the the technology in SW is actually impossible, riding the line of realism and believability. It also exists mostly to facilitate the story, or as Lucas says about hyperdrive for example, to cut down on the traveling.
I wouldn't say the technology in the films is a projection of our possible, achievable, foreseeable future, like with most sci-fi, but rather a fictional documentary of someone else's past - who happened to have an advanced technology. And I think that flip is what makes it so interesting. Even the lightsabers, as you mention, were created to make a space age type sword, sure, but they also specifically denote a more elegant and civilized era of chivalry, and the more spiritual and honorable side of fighting. And I think the fact that we can't figure out how they work,is what makes it so fascinating.
Even THX 1138, though it is sci-fi, it's a film from the future, as Lucas says. And likewise I'd say SW is from another galaxy's past. It's in space, but that's just the modern setting Lucas wanted for this fairy tale/myth.
The classic romantic music also helps distinguish the films from what could be a more futuristic sci-fi tone.
Star Wars exists in a compelling limbo. Or as George says:
Well, Star Wars isn't sci-fi at all, it's a Space Opera which is a sub-genre. It's sort of halfway between science-fiction and fantasy. The motif I use to tell these stories was the Saturday matinee serial, which is a particular genre that was very popular in the '30s and '40s. It wanted it to look just like that. Those were, at least the Flash Gordon, Buck Rodgers kind of things, were Space Operas. Some people like to call them comic book stories, but they aren't comic book in the superhero genre, they're comic book in the very early part of the century, when adventure serials first started.
- ESB commentary
I had to struggle very hard on the Star Wars films to make them appear to be realistic even though they're totally fantasy. And they aren't science-fiction, they're fantasy, so that they're not even based on scientific principles but yet you still believe that this could actually happen.
-TPM commentary
Basically I was saying, "A long time ago in a kingdom far away..." That was my way of saying this is really more like a fairytale than it is a piece of science-fiction. And I really thought you needed to do that, to say don't worry about the scientific part of this, because there isn't any. This world is a world I've made up, and in this world spaceships can have noise, and you can do anything you want.
- Star Wars: Behind The Magic CD Rom
And Mark Hamill from interviews in 1977:
I think that Star Wars is really more than science-fiction. It's a wonderful, romantic fantasy story like Wizard of Oz and any of those, so to me it's more than science-fiction.
The opening credit says "A long time ago in galaxy far, far away", that's as close as they can come to saying "Once upon a time".
What bothers people sometimes; they see a spaceship and they say it must be science-fiction. And if instead of spaceships we were traveling in pumpkin coaches drawn by six white horses, everyone would say that every element in this film - we have our big bad wolf, we have our fairy princess, we have a wizard, we have a callow, innocent youth, we have a cynical space pirate - the elements are not just from fairy tales but from comic books, from classic literature like Ivanhoe, Treasure Island, Wizard of Oz...
When it comes to technology in SW, I think the futurism and advancements come more in the filmmaking technology. Where it's not so much, "How does that thing in the movie work?" as it is, "How did they film that?"
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