Hi everybody!
I am from Turkey and yet new to this list -actually totally new to the
list business-. For now, the whole idea and past discussions seems great,
especially for a sociologist like me always having academic interest in
SF.
There is a paper in my head to write about ecologist utopias in science
fiction and their cultural, ideological, or who knows, political-economic
implications. I consider criticizing the "gaiaist" position in ecology
which holds that the human species is a point -rather a big one- in the
organic continuum of Nature, being no different than, say, an old oak tree
or a pretty badger.
I plan to analyse first the theoretical aspects of "Mother Earth" kind
of ecological thinking, relating to the deconstructionist and metaphysical
touches on the paradigm. Next, I think, I will use the SF texts to hold my
point.
Specifically, though I have made up a long list of ecological SF books
and stories, I ask to those who are interested to help building on my
list.
And for my argument here.
I believe what Theodor Sturgeon has told us is true: 95% of all SF is
junk (or has he said "thrash"?). The majority of SF books, stories, films,
computer games, journals, zines, etc. have successfully been integrated
into the capitalist market for culture. The "cultural industry", now
preaching that "the end of ideology", "the end of history" has come, and
that there is no alternative to capitalist world-system, is making a
perfect use of SF: Just think about the millions of imbecile "Trekkies",
or those incurable Star Wars fans, buying, watching, CONSUMING every junk
big firms throws at them.
SF utopias, to be good fiction, to have literary value -though "literary
value" is dangerous waters- must not be in _stasis_. They must not lose
their dynamism. Take Orwell's _1984_: The time seems stopped at 1984,
nothing moves, nothing changes. Even for a so-called "totalitarian"
communist society, be it in 20th century or in 24th, stasis is improbable.
Or take the wonderful _The Dispossessed_, Le Guin's masterpiece (by the
way, is she still an anarchist, or an utopian socialist?): A most
essential part of an organized society, social control, is mostly ignored.
Why do not the masses revolt during the periods of hunger? What prevents
them from crime? In Anarres, it seems that some mystified virtues of the
human nature, like "freedom", "sharing" has been turned into a kind of
religion. Anarres's fate seems to rot in stasis.
Oops. I have written too much. I think that is enough for now.
Thanks for reading.
Emrah GOKER
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:36 PDT