Some of the main features of the science fiction tale are the development of history in the future or in fiction and the existence of technologies related to science but not scientifically proven or non-existent even today.
Science fiction is a genre that arises from the narrative of fiction, and that had its main origin in literature.
Today science fiction is present in other forms of expression where it has found a higher level of popularity, such as film and television. However, it was in literature, through the short story and the novel, that this genre marked more than a precedent during the twentieth century.
Science fiction encompasses the creation and representation of imaginary universes whose foundational values emerge from the sciences: physics, biology, technology, etc. It can take elements of the reality known so far and develop other completely new ones.
The position of the human being in front of the advance of the technology; The existence of other universes and beings; The intervention of natural elements to ensure human superiority, are some of the issues that science has addressed throughout history.
At first science fiction fascinated the audience by presenting, with some foundation, exciting themes that adhered to the illusion of the future.
The development of a science fiction narrative has generated different strands and focuses on these stories, some focusing more on the astonishing, and others on the scientific nature of hypothetical situations.
Main features of a science fiction story
1- Existence of fictitious technologies or still to be developed
In science fiction tales, there are often technologies - such as the time machine - that are fictitious or have not yet been invented.
2- Greater impact on fewer pages
Due to the limitation that has to the novel, the science fiction story can not be extended in the description or explanation of the environment in which it develops.
It should focus on a fundamental action that the character must perform (if there is one), providing all the necessary elements of atmosphere and atmosphere.
3- A plausibility pattern
The story of science fiction clarifies in its first paragraphs, whether it will create a narrative totally removed from the known reality or if the plot focuses on some scientific, biological or physical element with greater relevance in the story raised than in reality.
4- Presence of fictitious or non-existent characters
The presence of a character facilitates, in almost any narrative genre, the continuity of a story, and science fiction is no exception.
This one has the peculiarity that, although in the beginning importance was given to the human being in front of situations and astonishing environments, the personage of a story can be any one that adapts to the guidelines of the science fiction (an extraterrestrial being, a robot or Computer, an animal with interaction capabilities, etc.)
5- Future, spatial or fictitious environments
Science fiction has played with galaxies, planets and dimensions. However, the construction and significance of these elements for the reader can be very complex for the length of a story.
The science fiction short story may be more focused on exploring the whys of a given established society.
It is common that science fiction is a genre that uses the elements that present the utopian or dystopic scenarios, which give the character, and the reader, a new look at something that could resemble a latent reality.
6- Minimum scientific support
Even if it were a story that occurs outside our planet or another time plane, there are certain laws that must be able to be applied and sustained to provide a greater level of verisimilitude in the narrative, providing greater emotion to the reader.
Any science fiction story that wants to expose a novel universe, whose characteristics are not yet found in other genre stories, must be able to do previous research, which allows it to add certain phenomena to its narration.
It is left to the author to give him the name and form he wants, but at least part of a principle, even if it is not known, may be possible.
7- Continuity capability
The most popular stories of science fiction have transcended its unique condition. From stories and novels come chapters that are later transformed into sagas and other renditions, in literature as well as in film and television.
The literary and narrative wealth provided by the creation of a universe of science fiction proposes multiple elements and edges that can be exploited.
The narrative line and the character do not have to be the same, but you can continue creating stories from elements mentioned or handled in the first.
8- Geographic versatility
Narrative texts are influenced by the social experiences and the environment of their authors.
Science fiction does not escape these elements; The management of gender and the stories that are born of it, are not the same in the United States, as in Russia, for example.
Some regions provide stories of greater entertainment, while others seek introspection or psychological deepening in futuristic environments.
9- Didactic and reflective capacity
The science fiction stories of the twentieth century have been considered premonitory as to the treatment of the future that they did at that time.
Elements were visualized that would facilitate the life in society and how the technological advances would have a great weight in the day to day.
Today much of this is perceived most normally; Something that at its moment of creation could be considered unthinkable outside the story.
Science fiction then allows a look at the past, the historical context in which the story was created, the future that he conceives within his stories, and the reality that is currently lived.
Allows to weigh the influences of fiction through spatial, technological and physical elements with those of the current reality.
10- Can help to innovate
In the same way science fiction lays the groundwork for continuous innovation in real society.
If something that expresses a story sounds profitable enough to be applied in real life, with some scientific basis, it is very likely that it is already working on new innovations of various kinds.
Like everything else, the intentions behind the characters in a science fiction tale, as well as those of the participants in today's societies, can be both positive and negative for the future.
References
- Bleiler, E. F. (1990). Science-fiction, the Early Years: A Full Description of More Than 3,000 Science-fiction Stories from Earliest Times to the Appearance of the Genre Magazines in 1930. Kent State University Press.
- Cano, L. (2007). Flashing recurrence: science fiction and the literary canon in Spanish America. Ediciones Corregidor.
- Hinds, H.E., Motz, M.F., & Nelson, A.M. (2006). Popular Culture Theory and Methodology: A Basic Introduction. Popular Press.
- Moylan, T., & Baccolini, R. (2003). Dark Horizons: Science Fiction and the Dystopian Imagination. Psychology Press.
- Rivarola, S. R. (1979). Fictionality, reference, type of literary fiction. Lexis , 99-170.
- Vaisman, L. (1985). Around science fiction: proposal for the description of a historical genre. Chilean literature review , 5-27.