The Science Fiction Story as Life Metaphor

Although I believe this personally, other understandings of reality exist. In addition to the subscription to moral absolutes—to which I am inclined—there is moral relativism, to which I am not opposed as secondary within certain well-defined parameters and to which many subscribe wholly in its own right.

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Science fiction enables us to explore not only these models but various conceptualizations of reality ranging across cultures and times. Most science fiction authors, particularly those who use elements of fantasy, will research extensively to create their worlds, meticulously assembling the beliefs, practices, histories, social hierarchies, and struggles of their characters. Who has time to both live and write?

Experience is informative, but empathy is fundamental, and it requires the total dissolution of the ego. Empathy is not a temporary mask to transform ourselves into the Other. Empathy is to liquefy into particles.

Empathy is a metaphor, not a simile. It is to forget oneself entirely. This is why science fiction novels operating on simple inversions of existing prejudices are prone to failure. In the place of empathy, we sense pretension, a desire not to understand but to own. The aesthetics of the monster, which evoke descriptions non-white women, is closely tied to British preoccupations with massacre. The novel—and this has been an endless source of amusement for me—is simultaneously brilliant and poorly-written.

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My theory is that narratives are successful when we write not to redeem ourselves, but to heal ourselves. There is a reason individuals who are marginalized, whether by the intersections of sex, race, sexuality, or disability, grow frustrated when characters who resemble them are consistently abused or murdered for plot progression. It is not sufficient—or empathetic—to parade these disturbing narratives under the guise of social critique, because we then evade the powerful, transformative next step in science fiction: The short story describes women inventing flying cars and harnessing the power of the sun solar power —early blueprints of technology that would come to exist.

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It does not seek to redeem men, with whom it is generally unconcerned; rather, it mends the wounds of its female characters. And it accomplishes this because of the perspective of the female author and by extension, the narrator.

Could a man have written this to the same effect? And that is why Save the Pearls , absorbed with alleviating the miseries of settlers rather than envisioning a world where the formerly enslaved can prosper, failed to serve a literary purpose higher than catharsis for guilt-ridden readership. After all, empathy is only a substitute for perspective, for experience when it is lacking. If empathy is a metaphor, it is then not enough to simply liken like a simile oneself to having the struggles of another without exercising compassion for that person with her struggles.

We cannot merely invert dynamics of history, switch the threat for the threatened so that they are packaged in more consumable forms, and expect to reach some sort of enlightenment.

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If empathy is only a substitute for perspective, this means that the ego must be shed, which entails, for authors who are not marginalized, re-envisioning the marginalized as human, rather than costuming ourselves in struggles that are not ours for a duration in the narrative. A few weeks ago I was getting to know someone over dinner. I had been thoughtful without thinking. Superheroes are unimpressive to me for this reason. The superheroes that are the most globally well-known Batman, Superman, etc.

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Most often, superheroes are wealthy characters who just as readily view the very population they seek to aid as disposable for their agendas as the villains to whom they object. Are we truly to believe that a dark-skinned character with the ability to fly and with superhuman speed, vision, hearing, etc. Her situation and her character are poignant, and her nature as a vampire and its accompanying powers both liberate and isolate her… a too-familiar combination that strikes a resounding note on the heartstrings of any Muslim woman.

Woman, 25, Seeking Planet I am looking for a planet located outside of the Milky Way, preferably with at least two moons and vaporous oceans that harbor intricately crowned sea creatures with telepathic abilities. Planetary rings are mandatory. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account.

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