Science Fiction is a Sub Genre of Fantasy

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BridgeConsoleMasher
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Re: Science Fiction is a Sub Genre of Fantasy

Post by BridgeConsoleMasher »

BridgeConsoleMasher wrote: Sun Apr 18, 2021 2:10 pm It's like comparing the unit circle and trigonometry.
Or like the unit circle and the general from of a triangle, both for trigonometric purposes.
..What mirror universe?
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Winter
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Re: Science Fiction is a Sub Genre of Fantasy

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Madner Kami wrote: Sun Apr 18, 2021 10:38 pm
Winter wrote: Sun Apr 18, 2021 8:15 am Sci-Fi and Fantasy are settings not Genres. Romance is a genre, horror is a genre, action is a genre but Sci-Fi and Fantasy are not genres. A genre is, by its definition, a category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter. Romeo and Juliet, Twilight and Prince of Persia are all romances but latter two are set in a fantasy setting while the former is set in the real world. To go over to Superheroes for a moment Ant-Man and the Wasp and the, IMO, criminally underrated Hudson Hawk are action-comedies with a sci-fi setting.

So, I have to disagree that Sci-Fi and Fantasy are sub-genres of each other, because neither of them are a genre, their just settings for genres to take place in.
I agree with you in all instances, but particularly your assessment of Hudson Hawk. Geez, do I wish it would be shown on TV as often as Home Alone...

As for the general topic, there's a simple distinction that I feel Winter gets perfectly right, while Mithrandir does not. Genre describes the basic plot-structure of a given story. Setting does not. SciFi or Fantasy are obviously the later.
Thank you, and to help further illustrate that let's take a look at Romeo and Juliet. R&J is a romantic tragedy, that's the genre, and I believe takes place in the 1400s, which is the setting. Take Romeo and Juliet and set it up as a space opera or place it in fantasy world like Middle Earth and... it's still a romantic tragedy but now has Sci-Fi and Fantasy as the backdrop. The Sci-Fi and Fantasy doesn't change the nature of the story and I know this because Romeo and Juliet has been set in both Sci-Fi and Fantasy and the story usually remains unchanged.

Hell, there is a little known sequel to the play called With a Kiss I Die which turns Juliet into a Vampire after she and Romeo die. It's not a great film, the acting is mixed, the plot is convoluted as Hell and there's not much chemistry with the cast but the idea of one of the two Star-Crossed lovers surviving and finding a second love is a GREAT idea.

But back to the nature of this topic. You can set R&J in modern times like West Side Story or Romeo + Juliet did, have it in a fantasy world Romeo × Juliet and, again, have a sequel where one survives and becomes a vampire and finds love again and it would be fine because romance and tragedy are genres that can work regardless of where it's set.
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MithrandirOlorin
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Re: Science Fiction is a Sub Genre of Fantasy

Post by MithrandirOlorin »

Winter wrote: Mon Apr 19, 2021 2:05 am
Madner Kami wrote: Sun Apr 18, 2021 10:38 pm
Winter wrote: Sun Apr 18, 2021 8:15 am Sci-Fi and Fantasy are settings not Genres. Romance is a genre, horror is a genre, action is a genre but Sci-Fi and Fantasy are not genres. A genre is, by its definition, a category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter. Romeo and Juliet, Twilight and Prince of Persia are all romances but latter two are set in a fantasy setting while the former is set in the real world. To go over to Superheroes for a moment Ant-Man and the Wasp and the, IMO, criminally underrated Hudson Hawk are action-comedies with a sci-fi setting.

So, I have to disagree that Sci-Fi and Fantasy are sub-genres of each other, because neither of them are a genre, their just settings for genres to take place in.
I agree with you in all instances, but particularly your assessment of Hudson Hawk. Geez, do I wish it would be shown on TV as often as Home Alone...

As for the general topic, there's a simple distinction that I feel Winter gets perfectly right, while Mithrandir does not. Genre describes the basic plot-structure of a given story. Setting does not. SciFi or Fantasy are obviously the later.
Thank you, and to help further illustrate that let's take a look at Romeo and Juliet. R&J is a romantic tragedy, that's the genre, and I believe takes place in the 1400s, which is the setting. Take Romeo and Juliet and set it up as a space opera or place it in fantasy world like Middle Earth and... it's still a romantic tragedy but now has Sci-Fi and Fantasy as the backdrop. The Sci-Fi and Fantasy doesn't change the nature of the story and I know this because Romeo and Juliet has been set in both Sci-Fi and Fantasy and the story usually remains unchanged.

Hell, there is a little known sequel to the play called With a Kiss I Die which turns Juliet into a Vampire after she and Romeo die. It's not a great film, the acting is mixed, the plot is convoluted as Hell and there's not much chemistry with the cast but the idea of one of the two Star-Crossed lovers surviving and finding a second love is a GREAT idea.

But back to the nature of this topic. You can set R&J in modern times like West Side Story or Romeo + Juliet did, have it in a fantasy world Romeo × Juliet and, again, have a sequel where one survives and becomes a vampire and finds love again and it would be fine because romance and tragedy are genres that can work regardless of where it's set.
Fine then you can rephrase as this. That the kinds of Settings we think of as Sci-Fi fit under the umbrella of the kinds of setting classified as Fantasy.
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