Photo courtesy offwhitehouse

There she was, in that skimpy bikini outfit, chained to keep her as a pet. You remember the scene - Princess Leia held by Jabba the Hutt in “Return of the Jedi”. That’s one level of fantasy in science fiction.

But Jim over at Auxiliary Memory is musing about the whole idea of science fiction in the first place. While we can’t really get into the heads of other species, what is is that gets ius dreaming about other worlds, other universes, other realities? The example above has in its roots a sexual component. But the Star Wars films themselves are a different motivation. What is it that gets us thinking about space?

I think a good portion of it is the fact that science fiction allows us to suspend disbelief completely. In historical fiction, procedurals, thrillers, there is a modicum of sticking to reality. Move into the realm of something made up and you are likely to lose a reader/viewer. But in science fiction and fantasy writing, anything is possible. Time travel, warp speed, cloaking, simulated gravity, flying dragons, sorcery - all are not only possible, but often necessary elements of good science fiction and fantasy stories.

I also believe that the need to understand the bigger picture is as great if not greater now than it was centuries ago. The Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Babylonians, et. al., created numerous deities to explain the mysteries of the world. Now, we understand a great deal more than our ancestors, but have just as many questions. We can’t find them here, so maybe they’re out there.

What do you think?

Tags: Opinion by Leo
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