Common themes in classic science fiction

[D_Davis]

What are some of the common themes you've noticed in classic science fiction?


Lately, in some of the stuff I've been reading, I've noticed a longing for multiple intelligent species. If there were more than one intelligent, humanoid species on the planet Earth, imagine what we might accomplish. Imagine the ideas we could bounce off of each other. Imagine the new kinds of wars we would fight...

Exploration of telepathy also seems to be a common theme. Why is this?

It is my hypothesis that the fantasy of telepathic communication, a superior and intensely intimate form of direct, mental communication, is a reaction to the decentralization of modern society. As people moved out into the suburbs, away from the common areas of the small town center and the public squares of the larger downtown areas, people started to feel more isolated, more alone, and more distant from one another.

Just as the move towards the suburbs reflected a drastic change in the psyche of modern society, so, too, were the fantasies of the authors examining their society. What better way to combat the feelings of separation than with the ultimate form of oneness, of direct contact with another being's mental facilities?

 

[Fried Egg]

A common theme seems to be going out and colonising (or attempting to colonise) other planets and start systems. Encountering alien species and how we and they might react to such an encounter.

 

[iansales]

Most of the themes popular in sf at any one time reflect the preoccupations of those times. Prior to the two world wars, it was science could solve any problem, and so most sf featured scientists as the main character - e.g., Richard Seaton in EE 'Doc Smith's Skylark series.

But science led to the atom bomb, and so science as a universal solver was no longer popular. Instead, you had the Cold War and HUAC... which led to a lot of us vs them type sf, such as Robert Heinlein's The Puppet Masters. The Space Race saw a return to optimism - but there was also some cynicism, mostly from the New Wave.

It's probably telling that in the last decade of the 20th Century, and the first decade of the 21st Century, that dark and often brutal fantasies and space operas have proven popular. We are no longer confident about our place in the world, or our survival. But unlike during the Cold War, we can't point directly at our enemy - in fact, we're not even sure if they really exist...

 

[Fried Egg]

Another theme prevelent in the 60's and 70's was apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic. Disaster was going to hit in one form of another and how would mankind react and survive?

 

[Connavar]

There are too many popular themes to mention them all.

The ones i know and prefer most are PKD like themes: mental problems,whats human or not human. Empathy he used well in Do Androids. I like his timeline or alternate reality stuff. What happens if you know the future and can you change it or not. He used that well in Now Wait For Last Year,Minority Report that i have read so far.

That i find very interesting, which is why i read PKD and enjoy him so much.

Time issues and human condition theme is great to read. They must be very common.

 

[D_Davis]

I think that PKD's overall theme was examining the authenticity of human emotions.

 

[Toby Frost]

And the authenticity of reality in general, I think.

 

[Steve Jordan]

Since most of those themes tended to reflect existing social issues, you can use that to identify "classic" themes, and to guess at what will be classic in the future.

The old "universe of intelligent aliens" theme was a 20th century reflection of the globalization of our world, and the need to cooperate with different countries/races that were different from our own. The "colonization" stories were extrapolations of Manifest Destiny as we ran out of available frontiers to take. And "alien wars" will never go out of style, as long as wars are fought on this planet.

As technology thins the line between human and machine intelligence, the distinctions between humanity and machines are being challenged. The Japanese, ever-mindful of the perceived lack of control over our lives, have given us "human robots", humans who essentially are robots, and explored the concept of "slavery over machines". Terminator and The Matrix took those concerns to their extreme, when the machines have enslaved us.

And the seventies' concerns over the environment have returned, so we can expect more "global environmental collapse" themes to resurface.

 

[Quokka]

How about the Mad Scientist?

Or more broadly the idea that if left unwatched and unchecked science will lead to our downfall. Including the scientist playing god and the misguided scientist so stories like Frankenstein, Forbidden Planet, The Lathe of Heaven (the psychotherapist not the protagonist), Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain (actually alot of Crichton), Flowers for Algernon? - maybe, Blood Music, Godzilla? and a lot of others.

All promote the idea that science has such a narrow focus that it will one day lead us running off the edge of the cliff without stopping to see the danger (ok Blood Music was about extreme change not ending but still). Probably a bit of an extention on Iansales' post but like most themes though its popularity and details change there's examples of it from any period.

 

[Toby Frost]

To which I'd add The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells. Not so much science leading to downfall, but science going off in reckless directions that challenge what humanity really is. Moreau is a good example of trends in sci-fi: a lot of the ideas it hints at were raised much more obviously in post-war SF. It talks about religion, what it is that makes people human and even a sort of genetic engineering, but most of all about the dangers of science going wild (literally!).

 

[Little Rascal]

Hi All! Newbi here! The recurrent theme I notice more and more (particularly in Film) is the bottom line! It seems that if a TV Series or Film doesn't make $$$$$, it's scrapped. If a Film has a history of success, it is re-hashed. Again and Again.
On a more critical note, the early Sci-fi books and films were Space Westerns, crime stories and the evolution to Space Opera. nb: Star-trek, Star-Wars and the classic, Blade-runnner.
The Homo-Supremist attitude evident never fails to Amaze Me either!
In StarTrek & Wars the basic Human form that is the dominant Carbon Based life form.
Surounded by strange looking Aliens, it is we Humans that run things.
Energy based L'forms are Enigmatic god-like beings and the villans are reptilians, horned beasts or what-ever. ie the Idirians in IMBanks Culture series, the Shadows in (Bab'5) Alien, Predator, take your pick!
So much, (too much really) 60's Sci-fi was Western or crime. Kubrick's 2001 was the first Sci-fi film that did away with the confrontational Alien that was the Staple Diet of Sci-fi films and Books till then.
Telepathy????? We assume that We the pinacle of evolution, so Super-Sapienism is the next logical step in the progression, re-evolution of the Species, .......or so We like to Believe.

My first posts in a New Forum aren't usually so...... "opinionated",
so ..... Hello ALL!
I like your style and taste in Fiction!

 

[CharleneHaines]

I've noticed (and quite enjoy) people (and/or animals) with super abilities... Wizardry... and, something I think is quite intriguing, is the "oops, I didn't see that coming" twists that moreso surrounds mystery/suspense genres.

 

[Jeffbert]

Perhaps I should start or find a more appropriate thread, but I have noted that ARENA in particular has inspired more than a few imitations in TV series ranging from ASTROBOY to THE OUTER LIMITS, with I am guessing STAR TREK's version being perhaps, the most well-known.

The hapless guy being grabbed and teleported to a desolate planet whereupon he is required to fight to the death a creature that was also grabbed. In Frederic Brown's ARENA & in STAR TREK's version, two warring races were about to engage in combat when near-omnipotent interlopers stepped between them. In Brown's original story, the interlopers believed that though one side would surely prevail, it would be a Pyrrhic victory that would leave the civilization all but ruined, and therefore stepped in to prevent the destruction of both. STAR TREK's version had the interlopers not motivated by the same factors, though. As I recall, the Metrons' objection to the Enterprise engaging the other ship was merely based on an abhorrence of any violence. Both preferred that two combatants should go one-on-one rather than their entire forces, but the losers were to be destroyed, planet & all.

So, anyway though the species in THE OUTER LIMITS version was simian, the reptilian creature in Trek did bear a strong resemblance to it. Likewise other classic themes, whatever they are. The original may even be eclipsed by a derivative work. Time-travel has become such a staple of modern science fiction. Could H.G. Well's have, in his wildest dream, ever imagined that his TIME MACHINE would become so influential? Likewise with any of the many writers who made even what they believed were minor elements in their tales that have become widely imitated. But this trend goes beyond science fiction, and covers all literature.

 

[Extollager]

The Outer Limits version of "Arena" to which Jeffbert refers was "Fun and Games" --

--a favorite of many of us, I'm sure, who like that old series. Interestingly, the Outer Limits version of the "Arena" plot features couples, not a single human and a single nonhuman, in combat.

The earth woman is, at first, unwilling or unable to engage in violence against the fearsome nonhumans:

 

[Jeffbert]

As I said, I think the Gorn bears as resemblance to this creature, though it is simian. Thanks for the images, Extollager.

 

[psikeyhackr]

A theme that got repeated more subtly in Bijold's Komarr is the idea from Tom Godwin's The Cold Equations. Getting your concepts of how the universe works wrong or not knowing can get you killed.

psik

PS - A little forum archeaology.

 

[galanx]

I remember reading a couple of reviews in SF magazines way back in the sixties dealing with this.

In one, the reviewer says that he's kind of tired of stories where the hero has to figure out the entre ecology of the new planet to get his foot out of the mess he it got it stuck in on page one.

And the other, commenting when you get a story that begins something like "Xeexpakrrzzglenneeeq Roogkwappoonz, Assistant Vice-minister Plenipotentiery to Primitive Star Systems, had a long name and a longer title" you know he's going to get his snotty attitude pinned back by his tentacles by some uppity Earthman spouting simple down-home common-sense.

He went on to talk back about the endless flood of stories where a menber of the Galactic Council voices his alarm about how those amazing Terrans have gone from coal and oil to atomic power in one generation, finishing with the statement that just once he'd like to read a story where the Alien Overlords say "These guys on Earth invented the steam engine a hundred years ago and they still don't have interstellar flight? What are they, retarded?" (un-p.c. term in original )

 

[psikeyhackr]

I remember reading a couple of reviews in SF magazines way back in the sixties dealing with this.

He went on to talk back about the endless flood of stories where a menber of the Galactic Council voices his alarm about how those amazing Terrans have gone from coal and oil to atomic power in one generation

Clarke may have helped start that with Rescue Party in 1946. Probably lots of peoplecould not do it nearly as well.

Rescue Party - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

psik

 

[Toby Frost]

This thread is so vague that coming up with an answer is quite tricky. But how about:

- A dystopia particularly oppresses one group of people, in a characteristic way - women, readers/intellectuals, the young, the talented etc
- The responsibilities and difficulties (and often the fall) of a vast space empire
- The social issues of the time transposed (often quite crudely) into SF terms
- Adventure stories about war: often WW2 transposed (often quite crudely) into SF terms
- Philosophical stuff about war: whether it can be avoided, whether mankind is naturally warlike/evil, whether war is necessary for the species, etc.
- If we're talking about classic SF, psychic powers and mutation as a source for good seem to have enjoyed a brief vogue in the 50s.

 

[Adam Stubbings]

A common theme i always come across is a crazy scientifically incorrect method of travelling huge distances, Cherenkov drive in Starship Troopers or the black hole type things in the forever war, its so much schlock its unreal!