I think some people know of the Sci-Fi Ghetto, they just don’t know its called as such.
The Science Fiction Ghetto is the term for the near universal shunning of the genre. Directors, Authors, Actors, Reader, you name it. They hear Science Fiction, they shun it at first thought.
This is due to the dorky stereotype people have when they hear the term, of course. Really, think about it. When you think Sci-Fi Fans, you think of sweaty fat kids in Star Trek shirts with nasally voices who snort and talk about Captain Kirk. Its okay if you do, you’re just going by the media delivered image that’s been around for years. Its not your fault.
Anywho, you should see the effect of this. Too often does a work of fiction find itself unable to escape being called a Science Fiction work and it in turn winds up being not taken seriously or simply ignored because of it. Regardless of depth, content, or quality, it’s “Just another Sci-Fi trash” and is cermoniously dropped in the Ghetto. Further more, even though everything has a genre, a Sci-Fi work will be regarded as Genre.
Do NOT debate this with a creative writing teacher! I learned this lesson the hard way.
However, for a wallbanging part of this, note that anything considered to be deep or a classic is mysteriously “not science fiction”. You’d be surprised how many people say Ender’s Game or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button are not Sci-Fi.
Another terrible stigma is the notion of what qualifies as Sci-Fi. Originally, Science Fiction was exactly what was said on the tin: There was to be science and thesis within this work, which would be explained alongside a story. Science + Fiction. Many a people ignore this however, giving the more universally accepted “If it can’t happen in real life, it’s science fiction,” along side “Robots”, “Aliens”, “Spaceships”, and “Lasers.”
(This also occurs with Fantasy and Comics, by the way. Both of which having their own works with the same amount of depth of anything Jane Austen or Herman Melvil have ever written. Granted, with Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, Fantasy seems to be climbing out of this.)
Anyway, now you know what the Ghetto is and why it’s bad to think of Sci-Fi as Nerdy Crap. Lets get to the brass tax.
House M.D. is Science Fiction.
Let’s say it again.
HOUSE M.D. IS SCIENCE FICTION.
“No it’s not,” you say. “Everything in House could happen in Real life!”
Sure. Maybe. So could everything in Dr. Black Jack, which is House written as a manga 30 or so years ago. And the Truman Show could happen right the hell now too. Hell, Donnie Darko could happen to someone with a screwed up enough mindset, it’s all a case of what happens inside of a guy’s head.
Scroll back up, will you? Science Fiction is Science in Fiction, not “Stuff that could never happen ever.”
Besides, half the stuff that happens in House? Pshaw, that’d never work in real life. And even if it did, House would lose his liscence and be kicked out of that hospital so fast that the show wouldn’t have lasted a season. If anything, the Medical Science of House sits as deep in Speculative Science as it can for the sake of entertainment.
Don’t believe me? Watch House with a doctor. Tell him to point out everything that would either be illegal or simply fail to do anything. You’d be surprised.
There’s also the fact that Doctor Greggory House is a Mad Scientist.
Really. His methods fit the case. He goes in with the sake of experimenting until he finds something that works. Patient’s lives are important, yes, but they fall after “Seeing what makes them tick” in the line of priorities. His assistants are pretty much his Igors and the hospital is a huge lab.
Think about it. House is very well written mad scientist and you know it. But, if you need examples, He:
- He has shot a corpse in the head
- Broken a patient’s fingers as a means of torture
- Got an ailing patient drunk
- Sliced open a patient without anesthesia
- Subverted and obstructed the law at every opportunity
- Forged medical records of cancer in order to apply for prescription narcotics
- Stole drugs from a dead man
- Stolen drugs from a living man
- Stolen drugs from his best friend
- Surreptitiously fed drugs to his best friend while at work
- Constantly bullies his boss
- Killed a baby in an illegal medical experiment
Did I mention he would’ve been fired for all of this? And that doctor friend of yours who’s watching with you is probably gnashing his teeth between the entertainment value of all this. I bet he’s on the balcony by now screaming how none of that would ever work ever.
But wait, there’s more! House even commits to the tried and true formula of any good Sci-Fi show: The Monster of the Week!
Well, not monsters so much as diseases. Horrible diseases. Horrible, horrific diseases you don’t want to catch. Horrible, horrific diseases you don’t want to catch and never have to worry about catching because spotting these diseases is like looking a sasquatch in the face.
But, you know, this is done for the sake of entertainment. As are the treatments that would kill the patients. You really should check on your doctor friend.
So, we got Speculative Science, a Mad Scientist main character, and a Monster of the Week formula. Good House, you look kinda cool Sci-Fi!
And guess what, that doesn’t make it any better or worse of a show.
Enjoy the season premire, folks.
G. W. T. / LetLifeLoose 