Why was there a stigma against sci fi in the early 2010s?

[CmdrShepN7]

Sci fi has recently come roaring back on TV. The Expanse, Westworld, Star Trek, The Orville, Foundation, etc but it wasn't always that way. Back in the early 2010s sci fi on TV was rare if not dead. Reality and cop shows dominated.

I remember sci fi was common in the 90s. "Star Trek", "Babylon 5", "Farscape", etc. Why was society much more excited for space in the 90s?

Why was there a stigma against sci fi in the early 2010s? Why did society stopped dreaming of the future during that time period?

 

[Mon0Zer0]

I don't know if there was really a stigma, so much as the culture of the 00's was dominated by the fallout of 9/11, which brought certain realities about the world to light.

The mood of the whole west changed on that one day, and it introduced all kinds of anxieties that we're still grappling with, that went alongside the lies about WMD's, widespread loss of faith in our political and economic institutions, as well as a paranoia about each other. The awareness of climate change grew. The future seemed less and less likely.

You saw the sudden re-emergence of mindless inhuman destructive forces like zombies or godzilla type monsters or vampires. Post apocalyptic scenarios were the order of the day.

At the same time you had an explosion in YA fiction brought on by Harry Potter, and publishers scrambled to capitalise on the sudden profitability of this sector. YA bought the hunger games, maze runner and so on.

Widespread pirating, the internet and meant that film-makers would only invest in tent-pole movies - spectacles only really suited for the big screen - these were most suited to movies about superhuman characters with exaggerated characteristics facing threats that caused massive damage - transformers, avengers relived the destruction of 9/11 over and over.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the moral unease with them brought movies like The Hurt Locker, Black Hawk down and series like 24 and homeland.

In light of the realism of post-apocalyptic concerns, sci-fi which is essentially positive in outlook (humanity lives long enough to become space faring) seemed a little old hat. The gloomy or the cynical or the escapist were the order of the day.

The star wars prequel trilogies failed to make the expected cultural impact.

In addition there were pragmatic realities of sci-fi movies in particular - there were perceptions about their audiences that couldn't justify the kinds of budget that would be needed for special effects: too few, and too nerdy for mainstream appeal. As we've seen with the rise of sci-fi since Avatar, this turned out to be false.

So I don't think the early 2010's was when sci-fi production was at its least as that's when it started to turn around - the re-emergence of star wars etc. would have all been planned as a result of Avatar's success, as studios realised they could exploit this market.

 

[Wayne Mack]

I am not sure there was some sort of stigma as much as it was the fact that TV tends to be cyclic and now appears to be dominated by 'unscripted' reality shows. In the US, the SyFy channel did have a group of Canadian produced space-faring series during the 2010s. One of the challenges, though, is that simply having a science fiction hook is really insufficient to maintain a series. A series usually tries to hook the viewer by relating to the characters. Trying to hook viewers on 'what if' scenarios requires a lot of creative writing. Doing that for thirteen stories a year, year after year, is a difficult task.

 

[psikeyhackr]

I don't know if there was really a stigma, so much as the culture of the 00's was dominated by the fallout of 9/11, which brought certain realities about the world to light.

The mood of the whole west changed on that one day, and it introduced all kinds of anxieties that we're still grappling with,

I have got to admit to a problem here. And it does kind of bug me that it is a science/physics problem.

How do you build a 1360 foot skyscraper without figuring out how to distribute the steel and concrete? Try finding that data on any skyscraper in the world.

I guit watching Star Trek Enterprise when they had the Xendi terrorist attack on Florida episode. In 1940 it only took 4 months to model the Tacoma Narrows bridge in a wind tunnel to study the oscillations. In 6 weeks it will be 20 years since 9/11. When have you seen a scientific physical or virtual model of the of the North Tower collapse? When have you heard someone ask about the center of gravity of the tilted top portion of the South Tower?

Do science fiction fans do science?

 

[Mon0Zer0]

Interesting article about Chinese SF and a recent trend to move away from utopian SF, that was linked on facebook, relevant to the discussion. They mention "Chinese dream" by Ma Jian -a phrase (中国梦） which you'll see everywhere in China, on billboards, adverts etc - that was pushed after the current state chairman came to office, following some speeches about his vision for the country.

The current trend for dystopian fiction could be linked to economic woes and the worsening relationship between China and the US.

Chinese Science Fiction's Disaster Dystopias

Sydney. London. Toronto.

quillette.com

 

[paranoid marvin]

For me , sci-fi has always be under-represented in terms of tv time. Yes there were a few shows in the 90s, but compare that with the number of cop dramas (which never seem to have gone out of favour). Always represented well in the cinema but not on the small screen.

It's only now that we have loads of streaming channels shows loads of new programmes that we have loads of sci-fi shows.