User:Karsten Sill

I study history and English Lehramt Gymnasium, 11th semester

Possible Final Essay Topics

More brainstorming...

SF Genre Theory

• What is Science Fiction?

Star Trek vs. Star Wars

• A comparison of genres taking ST and SW as examples
• Can Star Wars be classified as fantasy? Science Fantasy? Space Opera?
• Why do people (fans) need/use genres? What do they expect from a certain genre? Are genres really that bad?
• How does/does not recent scholarly discussion on genres reflect general views on genres and/or the categorization of media (literature, film etc.)
• How do the views of fans and scholars differ? What do they have in common?

General Overview (very very rough)

Based on scholarly literature...

1. The history/origins of sf (Gernsback: Wonderous Stories, H.G. Wells, Poe, Hegel etc.)
   1. sf media (literature, comics, art, film, cinema, television) (Johnson-Smith, Jan, 2005; King, Geoff/Tanya, Krzywinska, 2000)
2. What is sf? (definition by content, Formalism & Realism, defamiliarisation and estrangement, novum, postmodernism, metalinguistics and neologisms, themes, the gothic and the sublime, narrative themes)
   1. genre theory and Darko Suvin's thought on sf (Suvin, Darko, 1977)
3. sf and fantasy? genres, subgenres...???
4. Star Trek (various readings/analyses: postcolonialism, gender, race and racism, ethnicities, aliens, utopia, other ideologies, narrative structure)
5. Star Wars. Case study: Episode I: The Phantom Menace (Geoff/Tanya, Krzywinska, 2000)
6. more to come

Genres (summary)

• various defintions of SF as a (literary) genre
• SF borrows/draws from a multitude of cultural and literary influences => hybrid genre
• the permeability of the SF genre seems to be a current issue in recent discussion of the genre
• according to Manfred Nagl there is a close relationship between SF, Fantasy and Horror. All three genres abandon reality in different ways. SF constructs alternative worlds, Fantasy and Horror on the other hand achieve abandonment of reality (or estrangement) through their narrative forms: marvelous and/or uncanny stories.
• the attempt to demarcate SF from its neighbours may not appreciate the interplay of magic, religion and science that is present in almost (with exceptions) every SF story/film
• a disassociation from Fantasy elements may not take place due to the tension between neorealism and "out-and-out" fantasy

Religion/Magic

DS9's story arc is very much focused on Bajoran religion, Sisko's prophetic role, the Dominion wars and other alien forms of religiousness. Similary, though in a much more simply way, Star Wars covers the conflict between good and evil and the Force as the ultimate, "magical", natural religion that somehow is used by good and evil forces. So, one prominent question in this context might be, is the Force a religion and/or straightforward fantastical magic. Additionally, I may verify how DS9 religions work and if those religions involve forms of magic.

This is indeed an interesting topic - especially as it promises a close analysis and interesting background reading. --Olaf Simons 10:53, 19 November 2007 (CET)

Politics

Star Trek got the Federation and the Prime Directive, Star Wars the Republic, the Empire and a broad range of independent 'kingdoms', 'tribes'. Do SW political systems resemble medieval feudalistic structures?

Technical Devices

Also, this might provide enough material for a long and fruitful discussion talking about starships (death stars, borg cubes, star destroyvers, starfleet ships), clothes (uniforms vs. cloaks, body armour), weapons (lightsabers, axes, the sand people/phasors, photon torpedos), droids (protocol droids vs. Data)

...

Old Stuff

Star Trek and the American frontier

• the American frontier (myth) reflected/represented/mirrored in Star Trek

Current reading list

• Kanzler, Katja, 2004: 'Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations'. The Multicultural Evolution of Star Trek. Universitätsverlag Heidelberg.
• Pinsky, Michael, 2003: Future Present. Ethics and/as Science Fiction, Associated University Press London.
• Johnson-Smith, Jan, 2005: Amercian Science Fiction TV. Star Trek, Stargate and beyond. Tauris London.
• Gentejohann, Volker, 2000: Narratives from the Final Frontier. A Postcolonial Reading of the Original Star Trek Series. Frankfurt am Main.
• for leisure: William Gibson: Spook Country/John Irving: A Son Of The Circus

Resources

• Science Fiction in the Information Age: http://tinyurl.com/ysvsk5