Getting Out of the Ghetto

When you think of science fiction and fantasy, most people think of the same type of person initially. That fat, man-child with pimples all over his face who lives in his parents basement and probably obsesses over Doctor Who, Star Wars or Star Trek. He probably plays games like World of Warcraft  and the Final Fantasy Series. Oh, and the person interested in science fiction and fantasy probably also doesn't shower often.

I know you get that picture in your head. You can't help it. You hear Lord of the Rings or any comic book title and the same thing happens: the ugly basement monster appears in your head and one of his pimples gets just a little bit larger. Oh, and look, he wiped his runny nose on his sleeve. How quaint!

Why do we have this image in our heads?

Well, it started with a bit of a contradiction. You see, most people in the past have agreed that most science fiction and fantasy is too complex for most people (the quintessential "mainstream" audiences) while not being sophisticated enough for critics and academics. So, you have the highly intelligent basement monster with bad hygiene and an obsessive disposition.

It's sad really, because I've already covered the fact that I'm a fairly attractive girl who sadly does live with her parents but I'm not overweight and I shower every day if I can help it. I do wipe my nose on my sleeve, though.

I remember once reading The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffery. It was this wonderful series of books about these people who rode dragons to save the world from this threat called "The Threads" or something like that. Everything was good about this series. It introduced me to a lot of new ideas and everything was wonderful. Some of the storytelling was a bit iffy, but I didn't really think about it. Then I read something where and Anne herself talked about the series. It really weirded me out for one reason: Anne McCaffery stressed that all of her books were science fiction, not fantasy.

I don't know about you, but a book about dragons--genetically engineered or not--is fantasy in my books.  She had another series about a girl who seemed half-human, half-unicorn. Not in the centaur way either! I think she was more like a satyr with a horn and three-fingered hands? Either way, that was science fiction too.

There was a unicorn humanoid in it! UNICORN!

Because, no matter how bad science fiction is, at least it has some grounding in science which is a real thing, right? Fantasy draws on fairy tales and stuff. That's for kids!

That, my friends, is the science fiction/fantasy/horror ghetto.  I live there. It's a blast!

The cool thing?

Either more and more people are frequenting my ghetto or me and all my science fiction/fantasy/horror friends are getting out of the ghetto and being allowed to interact with "normal" folk. And these people aren't so bad even if they are idiots who find the science fiction of Transformers more stimulating than Frank Herbert's Dune.

Yeah, I went there.

I'm really sad I had to grow up in the 90s when this was just beginning to happen. I mean, if you were into Madeleine L'Engle, K.A. Applegate (also Katherine Applegate for Animorphs fans), any Star Wars or Star Trek books, Brian Jacques, Edward Eager, C.S. Lewis, and all the other books I read or saw my fellow nerds reading at the the time you were a nerd and probably a bit of a social pariah for the most part.

I know I was, but then I always had trouble "fitting in" for various reasons.

I was in seventh or eighth grade when Harry Potter began to become a big deal.  And I didn't like it at first!

Then Lord of the Rings came out and it was critically acclaimed!

Then, all those superhero movies began to actually have... quality.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charmed were very big. Most people liked one or the other.

Then the whole Firefly issue happened.

Now, we have movies, books, and TV series that are very popular and all have either science fiction, fantasy or horror elements.

What about crime dramas?  Well, they typically show crime scenes where horrible, frightening things happen to people.  What's horror again?

Let's face it, there is no "science fiction/fantasy/horror ghetto" anymore. It's all become mainstream. This leads to two problems. First of all, there's now a hell of a lot more low-quality works out there hoping to make a quick buck. Two, some works that deserve academic and critical acclaim still won't get it because the typical, everyday person can't possibly like something with quality high enough for that.

So, science fiction/fantasy/horror fans, welcome to the rest of the world. I know the basement was comfortable and dark and you didn't have to worry about idiots running around, but don't worry. We can all hide behind our couches together now.