SciFi vs Horror vs Fantasy

[jsmoody]

I've always been somewhat annoyed how some people tend to lump these three categories together when they are entirely different genres. Books stores tend to do that and even The SciFi channel seems to as well. There are a very few cases where they may overlap or where the dividing line is unclear but for the most part they are distinctly different.<br /><br />Personally, I prefer scientifically oriented science fiction. Where the science is there and is believable.<br /><br />Horror usually has none of that. Fantasy...not much either.<br /><br />On occasion I may read a horror or fantasy novel or watch a movie, but my first love is pure SciFi. <br /><br />Which do you prefer? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> No amount of belief makes something a fact" - James Randi </div>

 

[lsbd]

Give me a unicorn with a laser blaster for a horn that kills and eats people. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <br /><br /><i>to add</i><br /><br />dang it...shoulda copywrited it first...now you'll see that idea on a "made for" movie on SG1...I mena SCI-FI channel in a couple of months.

 

[a_lost_packet_]

I like them all when they are done well.<br /><br />However, for something to be called "Sci Fi" it has to be within the purist's definition of the term, IMO. That means it has to involve some technology that hasn't existed before and people/societies interacting with it in some way. I can stretch that definition to include certain social concepts ala "Brave New World" or "1984."<br /><br />I would say my favorite of the three is Sci-Fi followed by Fantasy and Horror in that order. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="1">I put on my robe and wizard hat...</font> </div>

 

[jmilsom]

I agree. If SciFi is narrowly defined as having to be 'hard' and scientifically oriented - it restricts and narrows the genre. For me SciFi is essentially 'future' fiction that looks forward just as historical literature looks to the past. It provides an important lens with which to dissect our society look where it is going, where is may go and assess its health. <br /><br />While I enjoy hard scifi - it would not be what it is today without writers such as PKDick, and LeGuin and Bester to name but a few that make comments on society as a whole - and whose technologies are fantastic rather than grounded in reality.<br /><br />That being said, I put them in this order: SciFi, Fantasy and Horror. <br /><br />Actually I have hardly ever read a horror novel. Both films and books I have always found boring and predictable. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[yevaud]

<i>I put them in this order: SciFi, Fantasy and Horror.</i><br /><br />Pretty much the same. First love was and will always be hard SF. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Differential Diagnosis:  </em>"<strong><em>I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are</em></strong>."<br /> </p> </div>

 

[5stone10]

<font color="yellow">include certain social concepts ala "Brave New World" or "1984."</font><br /><br /><br />... or 'Children of Men'. I watched the end of that again last night. A great film !

 

[kerberus]

Fantasy, Horror, SciFi in that order<br /><br />My favorite SciFi is from the thirties and fourties, the Golden Age. Modern SciFi, in my completely biased and arbitrary opinion, sucks worse than anything that has ever sucked.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[astralith]

I think shows like Star Wars (Sci Fi? Fantasy?) and Aliens (Horror? Sci Fi?) have blurred the lines were "Old Classic" Sci Fi was more defined.