Final Blog Post

For our final assignment for Literature of Horror, Fantasy and Sci-fi, we were invited to do a final blog post that either revisited ideas we brought up in our previous blogs or was a sort of culmination of what we learned throughout the entirety of the class. I think for me a blog post that touches on all the genres that we have looked at in this class would be more satisfactory and so I intend to do just that starting with horror.

I think the horror genre was perhaps one of the more fascinating ones we’ve done this semester, I’ve never been an avid reader of this genre personally but I was intrigued by the symbolic nature behind it. Starting with gothic horror we were exposed to the idea of a very anthropomorphic creatures as the monsters we were meant to be afraid of, I think something in that lies in the idea that we as a people are terrified of the monster within. Another big facet of the genre is the idea of a monster who cannot easily be killed or is somehow immediately related to death, for instance Frankenstein himself is a mere assembly of reanimated dead body parts, Dracula is an undead being and so on. I think this all comes from a natural human curiosity in death and the monsters that live within us as people, the genre can be seen as a manifestation of what we could become when faced with death and dying. Another great factor of the genre is the fact of the damsel in distress, especially in gothic horror. The damsel in distress is such a key factor, which is not surprising because a good number of gothic horror is written by women, for women and thus would ultimately star female leads. It was explained to us that the reason for that could be the idea of women being constantly trapped or held captive by the male figures in their lives. A good number of these stories involve women escaping their captivity by the monster character and running off with their true love, an ideal fantasy for the women trapped in arranged marriages.

           

Another genre visited this year would be the fantasy genre, which is perhaps the most idealistic of the three we have covered. Out of the three however, fantasy is the one that I have the most knowledge of. When thinking of fantasy I would characterize it as a genre of escapism. This is the definitely the genre I would label as the most imaginative and fantastical (hence the name) that incorporates many of the themes of folklore and mythology. This is the field of epic battles and knights and magic that many times has strong allegorical and metaphorical context. I think this category of literature lends itself to being the one that could teach people the most because essentially it is so farfetched in nature that the authors have a much easier time in making metaphorical connections with other things through fantasy stories, and we see this constantly with works such as C.S. Lewis’ “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”, “Harry Potter” by J.K. Rowling and even “Twilight” by Stephanie Meyer is a big allegory to her Mormon lifestyle. I think the beauty of fantasy fiction is that it helps paint a picture through which the author can relay a message of some sort without it coming across as preachy or condescending.

           

Admittedly Sci-fi was my least favorite of the genres we read this year. I do enjoy watching science fiction but I think I like watching it more than reading it. What I did take away from the genre however is its visionary yet conceivable ideals. I liked that science fiction authors conjure up these planets and worlds years ahead of our own and they think it through to the extent that they make 100% sense. Much like fantasy, I think science fiction, as a genre is very metaphorical. The authors do send a message to their readers but rather than messages of religion or moral standing many of the messages told to us through science fiction deal with the politics of the world today. For instance “Dune “ by Frank Herbert had a lot to say about the oil industry today if you think about the context of the story, and how he sees religion playing into the politics of the future. I think the most fascinating moment for me when reading the science fiction texts we did, was when I read “nanny Day” by Leah Cypress. The reason for that is because she took a very alternative approach to what is science fiction and her short story read, to me, like a human-interest piece. Up until that point science fiction was all gizmos and gears and outer space and that short story opened my eyes to what the genre could be. She took the approach of addressing the future of social sciences rather than just technical engineering science and for me that was a very profound realization as to how far this genre could be pushed.

            This class has been a very rewarding one. I think I have learned a great deal about these 3 genres and what categorizes them holistically and how they shape up next to one another. I have always been intrigued by literature and I’m glad that I had an opportunity to take an in depth look at three genre I never necessarily looked at on my own time.

Nanny Day: Leah Cypress

Nanny Day was an interesting read. For this week of sci-fi related things, this was one of our options, an award nominated short story that was featured in an issue of last year’s Asimov sci-fi magazine. That being said the short story was completely devoid of anything that would possibly tie it to, at the very least, a superficial look at what makes science fiction, science fiction. It was very strange reading it because at face value I didn’t think the story provided me with much in the way of what I thought was science fiction, as a matter of fact it seemed very much like a human interest type of work. Not to sound stereotypical, but when I think of science fiction my immediate response is to think of computers and different planets and scientific rationalizations of seemingly impossible feats. The science fiction of yester year leant itself to this world so completely advanced from ours that it didn’t seem like it could be real. In other words I always had this notion of sci-fi being a fantastical world full of technological advancements and progress where their problems were far superior to the every day mundane problems we in our lives face today. This is why the “Nanny Day’ story was so completely left field. This story has to do with a single mother facing the challenge of a nanny who wants to sue her for custody of her child, in a world where “bioist” laws were being challenged as to whether or not the person who birthed the child is necessarily the person who is best fit to raise the child. In this way the novel is about more social aspects of progress rather than technological ones. The science being analyzed and challenged in this story is of a more anthropological sense than the science of the typical sci-fi genre. Really throughout the story the only thing that cements it’s place in a futuristic world, or even hints to the sci-fi nature of the story is the fact that the mother on several occasions uses a sort of holographic telephone device. I really struggled with trying to place this story as a sci-fi story in my head, because of this I tried to think kind of eclectically about how the themes within the story applied to the themes I know to be true within the sci-fi genre. One thing that I’ve surmised is the possibility of the story being a metaphor for the concept of the “others”. Based on Octavia Butler’s story from the previous readings I’ve realized how vital the idea of the “others” is within this genre. I think Cypress more or less utilized this idea with the advent of the nanny figure as the proverbial other who is trying to take over our world, the world in this case being the son of the main character. I think that connection and also the idea of this story exploring anthropological science rather than just technology really opened the door for me as to what sci-fi could be and has become. In retrospect, I’m really impressed with the story and how it kind of pushed the boundaries on what defines science fiction because in truth there are so many layers to science and the sci-fi genre really just latches onto one as opposed to taking advantage of them all. One thing I will say about he story however is that for me the ending was a little weak. I felt like it left me wanting more and not in the “cliff- hanger” sort of way but rather I ended the story feeling as though it were unfinished and needed more to it. Overall though I found it to be a fascinating read, and probably the only sci-fi story we read that really prompted me to analyze and think about its content.

Lillith's Brood: Octavia Butler

The concept behind “Lillith’s Brood” is that there is an alien species, the Oankali, that consist of three sexes, as opposed as our typical two, make, female and ooloi that is a blend of the two genders. The novel deals with the idea of being an alien in the sense that it tries to determine what makes a species that “other” group of people, meaning what is it that causes that dividing line of us and them.  To do so the novel has to explore the idea behind what it means to be human and what it means to be alien.

The novel also explores the relationship between humans and aliens with the consensus being that their relationship is one of a slave and master relationship. I found this to be an interesting point within the story because it reflects typical human-to-human interactions as well. For extended periods of time within our own history humanity has treated “others” or people that are different in a subservient manner. We see this parallel time and time again in the case of Native Americans and also with the enslavement of native African peoples.

So reading this part in the novel I found this to be an interesting connection because that seems to be a trend in the way “otherness” is dealt with.  Another important thing to note in this series is hat Oankali alien race has taken over the human race deeming them unfit to rule themselves after they almost massacred themselves in an all out nuclear war. The Oankali are essentially genetic manipulators and when they “adopted” the human race they began to reconstruct their genetic code to reflect that of their captives, the idea being that soon they would create a new species that was uniquely Oankali and human and thereby destroy the human race all together.

This aspect of the novel reminds me yet again of historical concepts, this one being the idea behind Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny being the once wide spread belief that it is America’s right to expand their territorial holds and shape the world within their image. This series reminds me of this particular aspect of history in that the alien race felt the need to take over the struggling earth and rather than just help them rebuild their planet restructures them in their own image quite literally. While that may not be the underlining theme of the series, colonization is the one that sticks out to me the most as an apparent theme, intentional or otherwise. I think having a historical basis that the audience can identify helps ground this book in reality and gives the reader a tangible notion by which to base the book. 

Snow Crash: Neal Stephenson

My first impression of this book is that it reads like something a teenager would write about his kooky adventures as an unsung hero, I don’t mean that in a negative way, by any means, because I think it was intended to be read sort of like that. I think it gives off that vibe because of the severe lack of pronouns and also the fact that the protagonist of the story, “the deliverator” is amped up to be this superb hero despite the fact that pizza delivery boy isn’t the most lucrative of job descriptions. I think the fact that it’s written like that made the book all the more interesting to me. For one, it was grounded in a reality I semi understood and it was mildly humorous and so it caught my attention, whereas most sci-fi novels don’t typically do that for me. So the story plays out with Hiro, the protagonist and so called “Deliverator” who is a former pizza deliverator for the mafia, freelance spy, hacker and concert promoter, meanwhile the US government has collapsed with the NSA and the library of congress, as it’s only remnants. The responsibilities of government have now been taken on by different franchises causing there to be a weird overlap between business and government. During the telling of the story Hiro discovers a new drug called snow crash thanks to the help of a newfound friend Y.T.  The story continues on with Hiro using his computer hacking skills and superior abilities with swords to unravel the mysteries of this new narcotic. I found the story rather interesting, I enjoyed traipsing through this new found world and exploring the decline of cultures and societies and seeing how they rebuilt themselves, for instance Kong bucks because the inflation of the dollar was so profound. I think it was an interesting take on the world if businesses were allowed to be on the same footing as government. All in all I would say it was a very clever novelization.  

Dune: Frank Herbert

This week for literature of horror, fantasy and sci-f I read Dune by Frank Herbert. Dune, as it turns out, is a complex piece of literary work dealing with a time period in the not so distant future in which the story of Paul Atreides, the heir apparent to Duke Leto Atreides, is told. The story revolves around the family’s control over Arrakis a desert planet which happens to be the only known place to obtain Melange, a type of spice that is the most important, valuable substance in the entire universe. The story explores a lot of fascinating themes like religion and power and the ability for humans to have control over the environment. I thought it was an intriguing notion that “Dune” addressed religion in a way that it was such a prominent feature within the novel. Thinking about it more, I realize how little other things within the sci-fi genre touch on religion. Looking more into it I realized that Herbert actually held a different outlook on religion as an institution, as opposed to his contemporaries. Hebert’s outlook on the future and religion’s place within it has religion and politics heavily intertwined whereas other science fiction writers took the approach of religion being an outdated institution that would lose all functionality when the future approached. I think it’s fascinating that Herbert took such a different approach when it came to religion; I think in part that’s why  he’s such a critically acclaimed author because he wasn’t afraid to point out that religion wasn’t just a faint or new idea and that years in the future it could very well still be a crucial player in our day to day affairs. I also think it’s brilliant how the his story seems to be making observations about life even though it’s told through the efforts of a futuristic story. For instance the idea of the Fremen being controlled by religion seems to be a good way of highlighting the way cults work and how charismatic religious leaders can sometimes exploit the religious for their own ends. Herbert’s outlook on religion, as implied by Dune, is that when mixed with power and greed it could be the most detrimental thing to a person’s way of life. A leader like that really seems to be unstoppable to his followers and it’s that belief that makes the leader all the more powerful.

 Another interesting concept that Herbert addresses within “Dune” is the idea of humanity having power over the environment. Within the novel an ecologist by the name of Kynes is determined to altar the harsh desert climate of Arrakis into a more lush tropical one, a dream that Paul is more than happy to continue with after Kyne’s death. No one seems to question whether it is right to completely altar the eco-system and typical planetary conditions, that have kept numerous animal lives alive on the planet. This brings to mind the way we, as a whole, treat the planet we live on today. Herbert seems to be trying to point out that things like the damaging of the rain forest and the ozone layer for our own benefit in the here and now, will only hurt us  in the future. Although the repercussions are blind to us presently we mustn’t take it upon ourselves to completely altar the ecological makeup of our environment because we will surely pay for them later.

It’s themes like these that I think propelled Herbert’s book far above it’s time and is why it has gained the reputation as one of the greatest sci-fi writers. He addressed ideologies that I don’t think a lot of science fiction writers were thinking about at the time.