Without a doubt, the two biggest popular genres of the 20th and 21st century are science fiction and fantasy. Though these two genres have been met with ridicule and disrespect for the bulk of their existence, they’ve managed to endure and rise above their expected rank. Today, though they still get a lot of flak, science fiction and fantasy are much more respected in pop culture, and are the most popular genres in film, literature, and more.
The Differences
Often, among fans of one, or both of these genres, you will hear the debate about whether science fiction and fantasy should fall under the same umbrella. After all, fantasy deals with magic and sorcery, while science fiction deals with technology so complex, that it might as well be magic and sorcery. However, some people staunchly believe that these two should remain separate.
More often than not, it is science fiction fans that build a wall of separation between fantasy and sci-fi. Their main argument stems from the fact that science fiction deals with possibilities (no matter how unlikely), whereas fantasy deals with impossibilities.
A popular example of this would be the sci-fi stories in the past, that talked about a digital network that connects all humans in the world. In this digital network, they are capable of communicating, locating any information they need, and even playing games. Of course, today, a story like that would hardly be science fiction. All of us recognize that as the internet.
On the world wide web, we can communicate through social networks, locate all the information we could want or need through Google or Wikipedia, and play our favorite games at online casinos. Even the payment methods for these websites may seem like something out of a science fiction novel. Gamblers can find guides to the best PayPal casinos that require quick and easy transactions through the world’s premier digital wallet.
Specific Differences: Aesthetic
Science fiction fans are not the only ones that attempt to create a wall of separation between fantasy and sci-fi. On the side of the fantasy genre, there are those who claim that aesthetics is an important aspect of a genre, and that science fiction and fantasy have wildly different aesthetics. For the most part, this is absolutely true.
Of course, when one talks about fantasy, the first thing that comes to mind is massive castles, sprawling kingdoms, knights, and fantastical races like elves, dwarves and more. Basically, most people think of Lord of the Rings. On the other hand, when discussing science fiction, most people think about the ever-expanding void of space, massive ships that traverse said void, and alien races.
Apart from the surface level aesthetics being different, science fiction and fantasy simply value different things, from an aesthetic point of view. Science fiction is about progress, not just in tech, but in aesthetic. Writers tend to do their best to uncover what the aesthetics of the future may look like.
On the other hand, fantasy writers are more concerned with the past. What were the aesthetic fascinations of our ancestors? More importantly, if magic were real, how would that impact aesthetics? And just what kind of aesthetic philosophy would elves, who live hundreds of years follow, if they were real?
Specific Differences: Philosophy
There is also a different philosophy going into writing fantasy and writing science fiction, or at least there was in the 20th century. Writers were concerned with the ever-progressing advancement of technology. Some thought of it as a problem, that would lead to said technology being abused by the powerful. Others viewed technological progress as the ultimate good.
We can see how a person with the former beliefs might be drawn to fantasy, whereas a person who believes the latter would rather engage with science fiction. Tolkien famously was concerned with the unchecked industrialization that plagued his cities. Indeed, The Lord of the Rings could be seen as an allegory for the destructive power of industrialization.
On the other hand, Isaac Asimov was fascinated by technology, and in his works, even predicted many inventions that we freely and openly use today. It is to be expected from a man who was a scientist himself, that science would fascinate him above all. Of course, not all science fiction writers viewed unchecked technological progress as good, just like not all fantasy writers idealized the past.
The Script Flips
In the late 1970s, and early 80s, a lot of sci-fi creators saw the writings on the wall, regarding scientific progress and how it relates to capitalism. When Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner hit theaters, it completely changed the public’s view on what science fiction is, and what it could be. However, it wasn’t until William Gibson released his impeccable novel, Neuromancer, that tackles the topic of AI and its impact on our own perception of reality.
Cyberpunk is all about the advancement of technology, but the decline of society. Indeed, “high tech/low life” is one of the taglines of the genre. For the most part, this was a genre created by disenfranchised authors, who viewed the advancing of technology from a far more cynical lens. Perhaps it was these books that led to changes in the fantasy genre as well.
By the mid-90s, most fantasy fans were sick of the Tolkien clones that dominated the libraries. In the early 90s, The Eye of the World (the first book in the Wheel of Time series) had breathe new life into the genre, and had also given writers a card blanche to experiment with some darker themes. In 1996, George R.R. Martin released his seminal book, A Game of Thrones.
The novel seeks out systematically dismantle all of the classic tropes of the fantasy genre, and give a much grimmer take on the past, and on fantasy in general. Heroes are killed, villains get their way, and dragons are not noble creatures or evil villains, but rather neutral, savage animals, that one can tame in pursuit of conquest. This new direction still persists to this day, though modern fantasy seems to be moving away from the “grimdark,” and reclaiming the tropes of the past.
