According
to Le Guin, science fiction and fantasy have similarities but they are
different. Most science fictions have future time frame. It pretends that future
is the present or the past, and then tells us what happened in it. Science
fiction is the outcomes of imagination; but so is fantasy.
However,
fantasy bases on fictiveness more than realism, compared to science fiction. Fantasy
commonly uses magic and supernatural phenomena. Fantasy does not impose a limit
on the imagination. Fantasy, there are heroes who act heroic deeds by using magic
or special talents. But in science fiction shows heroes who use modern
technology like duplication, modern weapons and so on but no magic. I think the
differences between fantasy and science fiction are existence of heroes. Science
fiction’s heroes are just heroes and they cannot be super-heroes.
Plausibility
Revisited Wha Hoppen and What Didn't Ursula K. Le Guin (2005). Retrieved
October 19, 2012, fromhttp://www.ursulakleguin.com/PlausibilityRevisited.html.
Hi, Jihye. "Science fiction’s heroes are just heroes and they cannot be super-heroes." This is because we have a fixed idea which is super hero must have power like magic, and this is an unrealistic thing, so it is distinguished as a fantasy. What I want to say is that I think the major difference between science fiction and fantasy is as this question says "according to Le Guinn", science fiction is based on the real world and this world has been changed while fantasy create a totally different and unexplainable world from the real world.
ReplyDeleteHye-Young makes a good point that the main factor that distinguishes science fiction and fantasy is that sci-fi is set in a world and has people that are plausible, in the future perhaps. Sci-fi is based on scientific things such as time, space, hardware. Relatively quantifiable items. Whereas fantasy, is something that is so far beyond the possibilities of the world as we know it, like people having super powers or can use magic.
ReplyDeleteTo say that "Science fiction’s heroes are just heroes and they cannot be super-heroes" would be jumping the gun. For things such as The Avengers, surely it's clear to say that it's a sci-fi genre but if you consider the characters of Thor and Captain America, wouldn't you call them super-heroes because Thor can use a type of magic and Captain America's powers are created from that magic?
Hello, Julie. I think both fantasy and science fiction inspire readers’ imagination. However, science fiction is more likely to be based on facts and the settings in sci-fi are scientifically possible. On the contrary, fantasy usually involves fate, romance, being chosen…
ReplyDeleteThat's true. I guess fantasy is really just something that is out of the ordinary or something that can't exist in our perceived reality like traveling to Mordor. After all, one does not simply walk to Mordor haha. But as I've pointed out, for stories like Spider Man or The Avengers, they are technically scientific because the powers of the character are technologically manufactured with the exception of the characters stated in my previous comment.
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