Science Fiction: What Is It and What Do I Like About It.

For a while now I've been wanting to write out what it is about science fiction that I like and some examples of why. Part of this is help explain to my friends who get confused when they think they have me figured out and expect me to like something or dislike another. I have many thoughts on that but they are not yet organized properly. I thought I would try to lay out the ideas here and see how it flows or comes together. Since there is a lot to say I'll just start with the first couple thoughts in this post and will work more and post more of it later.

What is science fiction? There are many answers to that question. I've seen many different definitions for it depending on who you ask. Because of people not always agreeing that a specific story or series is science fiction the term speculative fiction is being considered. I tend to lean toward a similar thought as listed here: http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Science_fiction

The science fiction I tend to like more is when it is about how technology and advanced or unknown science impacts man on a personal level and on the societal level. Part of the reason I like this approach is probably because my life has been impacted by science and technology, specifically medical science and technology. The reason I say this is based on a conversation I had with my mother. When I was very young, the first movie I remember seeing in the theater was Star Wars and became a big fan. I was about 7 when I saw it. I was born with a very serious heart defect and have watched cardiology and pediatric cardiology advance over the years. My favorite character in Star Wars was Darth Vader. Vader is probably one of the top cinematic villains ever. He permanently wore a suit that kept him alive and his limbs were cybernetic. I used to always play as Vader as a kid with a towel safety pinned to what ever shirt I had on. I asked my mother why I liked the bad guy and tried to emulated him. She told me that she asked me that back then I responded that "there was something wrong with him and they fixed him." In the past years I had an ICD implanted and my mother said that they are turning me into the 6 million dollar man. My wife said no, they are turning him into his childhood hero, Vader.

One of the other popular uses of science fiction is to disguise a sensitive subject to make a statement about it. Star Trek did that a lot and was one of the main reasons the show was created. Sometimes science fiction is used to tell an existing story in a new or interesting way. Examples of this type are the Star Wars movies that are about the hero's journey and Battle Beyond the Stars which is a retelling of a western called the Magnificent Seven that was the retelling of a samurai story called the Seven Samurai. In each version of the same story technology and location affected the way the story was told and helped make it fresh and interesting.