Dear Sci-Fi and Fantasy fans, Stop Arguing over Labels!
-By Jacob Foxx and Paulie Spiceflow –
Visit any sci-fi convention, fan club, book club, author panel, or discussion forum and you will find it. Grown men and women, many of them highly educated, arguing over labels. “I don’t consider BLANK science fiction” or “that isn’t really space opera” or “that is totally hard science fiction, you are an idiot to think otherwise!” It is sad that so many fans and readers waste time and energy trying to assign labels and define genres for the work, rather than talk about the works themselves.
Genre fiction is more beholden to common thematic constructs. In normal person speak, that means there are more patterns in it than mainstream, literary fiction. They aren’t rules but rather recognizable patterns that make it easier for readers to identify and connect with what they are reading rather than be frustrated by a convoluted narrative with unfamiliar themes, characters, or an unsatisfactory ending. After all, being unique doesn’t mean it’s better. These patterns form the basis for many of the subgenre labels.
So why are these labels so contentious? Well, because the system of genre and subgenre classification isn’t a well-defined system. There was no vast conclave of literary masters who laid down the code of how literature would be classified. Instead, the terms we use today are largely marketing taglines, slogans, terms derived from famous quotes, or sometimes insults. It is a myriad of ill-defined and arbitrary terms with plenty of overlap.
Take space opera for example. The term space opera was coined by Wilson Tucker, who meant it as a pejorative term. It was a play on the term soap opera, which we use as a label for those cheesy melodramas on daytime television. The first ones were sponsored by soap companies, hence the name. At least there, you could see the connection between these TV shows and an actual opera. The leap from soap opera to space opera, must mean it is cheesy melodramas in space.
Perhaps in the early days they were more akin to actual operas but more recently there seems to be nothing operatic about them other than their scale. The label has been used to cover space adventures, which are hardly operatic or have any relation to the musical stage productions. Sure they take place in space, but do we call all stories that take place in space, space opera? If so, why do we still bother with the opera part of the term?
Fast forward to today and we have fans arguing over what is and what is not space opera, and what it takes to be a successful space opera. To them, it isn’t a nonsensical or meaningless word, they are merely inserting their own definition to the term. If two people cannot agree on the definition of a term, any attempt to apply it or banter it about is pointless.
From an intellectual standpoint, you need a working vocabulary before you can have serious intellectual conversations on a given topic or discipline. It is why academics spend so much time working to fully develop and articulate their ideas, theories, or hypotheses in clear language.
Does speculative fiction need some sort of convention to work out the definitions of the genres and subgenres? Probably not. After all, the terms are usually used for marketing purposes, where strict definitions don’t matter. If anything, marketing experts love to see consumers insert their own definitions to these terms regardless of whether it is consistent or accurate. Their job is to illicit a positive impression of the product. It also helps to relate it to a predecessor. If a book is similar to a bestseller, marketers try to find ways to present their own as “just like that famous one!”
Literary experts love to find similarities so they can plot literature along an intellectual genealogy. Fiction becomes a tree of primary, secondary, and tertiary branches all originating from base archetypes. For example, some believe space opera has its roots in old westerns and sea adventure stories. These older works were about distant or fantastic places. The difference is only that space opera uses space rather than the west or the ocean, which requires the addition of futuristic space travel technology.
You could also build a system based on other characteristics. Some like to classify something as hard SF or soft SF depending on what scientific disciplines are portrayed. Theoretical physics would be hard while psychology would be soft. Another way is to define a story based on its setting, whether near future or far future or alternate reality. Others like to use groups like first contact, alien invasion, military, post-apocalyptic, dystopia, and zombies.
There are problems with both systems. Literary archetypes suggest that speculative fiction is dependent on existing traditions and has nothing substantive to offer. For the characteristic system, many novels have several, while others may have an element that is very little to do with the story itself. Is the post-apocalyptic story about the catastrophe and survival, or is it just the setting?
For those who have a love of reading and fiction, the literary archetypes probably works better. For the scientific and fandom types, elements or themes are preferred. Labels become personalized and hence not worth arguing about.
In the end, we are arguing about what we love about each book or movie. That is why labels differ and why normally intelligent and mature people can devolve into a petty children. The funny part is most agree that different people can love a book or movie for completely different reasons. The differences have nothing to do with merit, although some psychologists would perhaps read a little into a person’s reaction to a dramatic piece.
So please, do not get yourself into any more arguments about labels. Most of the time you’re merely battling over marketing and advertising taglines. Other times, you’re self-defining and futilely attempting to impose your definitions on someone else. Finally, these arguments do not help better understand or get better insight into a favorite sci-fi book or movie. Enjoy yourself!
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