Dissertation on Science Fiction? As part of an English Literature degree?
Interesting.
(dozers, do fuck off ur a nob m8, Wed 31 Aug 2011, 22:23, 1 reply, 14 years ago)

no
it was the dissertation for my Masters in Photography and was a discussion of the representation and role of 'other' as represented by aliens and androids in sci fi

(it fits with photography because it was all linked with contemporary cultural theory which is the theory part of the course)
( Citizen Cavy Admires your passion for conformity, Wed 31 Aug 2011, 22:25, Reply)

I probably don't help my case
by pointing out my phd proposal was loosely based on time travel in sci fi. Never did it, mind
( Citizen Cavy Admires your passion for conformity, Wed 31 Aug 2011, 22:30, Reply)

I'm not totally dismissing it as a genre.
There have been some phenomenal science fiction works, like Neuromancer and Blade Runner. Where they fit in to canon though is part of other literary traditions. Your bog standard garish covered Sci Fi novels are pointless, geeky doggerel.

Alfred Bester- The Stars My Destination is fantastic, but The Demolished Man is terrible. All due to how well he wrote them.

Didactic fictions are ironically among the most intellectually impoverished of all- and that is where a lot of sci fi falls down. You also need to look at what happens when serious authors dabble in it. If you apply The Breeders test to Ian Banks for instance, he comes out Frank Black rather than Kim Deal.

trufax from the dozerman.
(dozers, do fuck off ur a nob m8, Wed 31 Aug 2011, 22:32, Reply)

I think your missing a lot of what sci fi is currently
yeah there is the boring rockets and heroic spacemen thing, but there are far more interesting things going on that get overlooked. You can't judge a genre on its worst examples - otherwise all genres would be shit.

Oh and 'real' authors can fuck up sci fi pretty bad, or at the very least not do it justice. Iain Banks is pretty awesome, but he's a proper sci fi nerd, too, and knows his shit.
( Citizen Cavy Admires your passion for conformity, Wed 31 Aug 2011, 22:39, Reply)

Ian Banks is nowhere near as good as he thinks he is.

(dozers, do fuck off ur a nob m8, Wed 31 Aug 2011, 23:04, Reply)

Ooh, also the use of bright white, surgical type areas in the Alien films against the 'other' as represented by everything else there.
Alien was fantastic.
(dozers, do fuck off ur a nob m8, Wed 31 Aug 2011, 22:37, Reply)