My understanding of this dichotomy has alwys been that it is not a matter of
quality, but of semantics. By which I mean, those people who are real fans,
who know SF and love it, refer to it as SF. There's even an adjectival form
of the word, "SF-nal." "Sci-Fi" is used by people who neither understand SF
nor like it, but occasionally try to jump on the bandwagon and cash in on it.
Like the people who made Battlestar Galactica or the movie Starship
Troopers. This is the only distinction I've ever made. But I suppose, by
extension, "sci-fi" could then refer to bad SF movies and TV shows made by
mundanes masquerading as members of the community.
On a related note, I've always felt since I was a small child that there was
a very clear division of people in the world (or in the US anyway) -- fans
and mundanes. Two fundamentally different types of people. My secret
criterion as a young woman for a potential future husband was that he would
have to be a fan. (Thank Goddess, he is!) I was always very aware of this
difference in people. Does anybody else feel this way? Or am I just a
hopeless geek? =:0
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:07:34 PDT