4 ms·
> SF is pretty much always about the current day. I'm not sure that's true, although in the past two decades or so it may have been. But going back to the cla
by p-e-w 3y ago
> SF is pretty much always about the current day.
I'm not sure that's true, although in the past two decades or so it may have been.
But going back to the classics of 1960s and 1970s SF, I just don't see it. Sure, The Forever War is a thinly veiled allegory of Vietnam, but how are Lord of Light, Dreamsnake, The Left Hand of Darkness, or even Dune about their "current days"?
Dune seems prescient today because of its focus on natural resources, but back when it was written (long before the Oil Crisis) that wasn't really a political hot topic, or even something that most people thought about at all.
- ShinTakuya 3y agoDune very much commented on the contemporarybproblems of its day. A big theme was around the scramble for Africa which, while over, was still affecting the continent in various ways as decolonisation continued. I agree that the extent of the commentary varies, and Dune is light handed in terms of political hot topics, but it was certainly there.
- SideburnsOfDoom 3y ago> A big theme (of Dune) was around the scramble for Africa An extractive industry moves into in the desert for an extremely valuable substance that is vital for transport, while the indigenous inhabitants are overlooked. Religious fervour and holy war. I think that the Middle-east and oil are the most obvious parallels. It is indeed "commenting on the contemporary problems of its day".
- weregiraffe 3y agoIn The Left Hand of Darkness, Genly Ai is at one point sent to a prison camp, in what is basically a communist country by a different name. Basically gulag, in Siberia.