-- [ From: David Christenson * EMC.Ver #2.5.3 ] --
> I believe what Theodor Sturgeon has told us is true: 95% of all SF
is junk
> (or has he said "thrash"?).
To be more specific, Gor novels are "junk," Pat Cadigan novels are
"thrash." (I know it's bad netiquette to joke about typos, but I
couldn't resist.) :-) Anyway, Sturgeon's Law is that "95 percent
*everything* is crap."
> 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.
But look at the fantasy they're consuming in Trek: a future where
capitalism is no longer the driving force, and the capitalists are
typically the villains or clowns. (BTW, I think you've just called most
of the people on this list "imbeciles.")
As for suggestions, I've recently finished reading "Ammonite," which
jostles up against some of the points brought up here. I've been
pondering whether the all-woman Jeep functions as a sort of utopia, but
there are nagging social disruptions and conflicts - it falls short of
utopian standards. I don't think it was intended as such. I do think it
presents a fantasy vision of people working in concert with nature,
given the Jeep natives' ability to sense the planet's rhythms and, for
example, plant gardens more appropriately through this sense. This sense
engenders sympathy with nature: a woman who hunts for trophies is
considered to have a deep personality flaw. Worth reading for your
research, and for many other reasons.
I hope someone more familiar with Le Guin and with feminist
environmentalism can tackle the other questions...
-- David Christenson - ldqt79a@prodigy.com"Yet, throughout the book there exists the whole gamut of strange facts which we ourselves had been aware of for years, all carefully mustered to support a theory doomed by every process of logic to be forever incomprehensible." - Ray Palmer
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