Visiting the Sci-Fi Ghetto or How House Is Science Fiction

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.