[ SECRET POST #3538 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3538 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 56 secrets from Secret Submission Post #506.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 1 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Re: Fantasy or sci-fi living?

[(Anonymous)]

Even setting aside the aesthetic and storytelling and intellectual differences, which maybe don't matter in a strict worldbuilding sense, I think they generally do work in importantly different ways.

It's only a very specific variant of magic - where it's very widely available and rationalistic and systematized - that I think you can really say it functions the same as magic. But there's a wide range of magic outside of that.

Re: Fantasy or sci-fi living?

[herpymcderp]

Since when does the advancement in sci fi have to be widely available or systematized?

What if the story is about alien technology (e.g. Roadside Picnic) or extreme cultural hierarchy (as is sometimes the case).

...And yes, I realize I'm just being contrary at this point, but I feel that too often the difference between the two genres is fairly moot.

Re: Fantasy or sci-fi living?

[(Anonymous)]

First of all, even in the cases where they function similarly in the world, I would say the aesthetic and rhetorical and thematic differences are still massive.

Second, I think, yes, there are extreme edge cases where they do genuinely look alike in world terms. But those are still, you know, edge cases. There's one specific subset of technology that looks like magic, and one specific subset of magic that looks like technology. That doesn't mean they're the same.

Re: Fantasy or sci-fi living?

[herpymcderp]

Well, yes. In my first comment I acknowledged the aesthetics are different. I'm not entirely certain about thematic differences given the way the genres have evolved... but I guess I could give you that one.

I'm also not sure that it's specifically edge cases.

Like, take Stranger Things. Definitively science fiction, but you could just as easily do exactly that premise as modern fantasy if it had just a slightly different lens and some minor story tweaks. I won't spoil it for people who haven't seen it though.

Re: Fantasy or sci-fi living?

[(Anonymous)]

I think Stranger Things would have been dramatically different if they had attempted to do it as modern fantasy tbh

STRANGER THINGS SPOILERS COMMENCING NOW

[herpymcderp]

Oh man no way.

Change alien to demon/other monster, keep the D&D trappings, 011 becomes an actual mage... everything about the story stays exactly the same and you basically have an X-files spinoff.

Re: STRANGER THINGS SPOILERS COMMENCING NOW

[(Anonymous)]

But once you make those changes, it has to dramatically change the nature of the Other Side (otherwise it's still science fiction, just more explicitly Lovecraftian science fiction). And it also changes the character and the motivation of the Matthew Modine character, who now is specifically engaging with magic rather than making experiments in particle physics, and that changes the character and his intentions - really significantly, in my mind. And it also has to change the nature of his organization and its relationship with the broader world.

So, like, yeah, the plot structure wouldn't be affected at all. But the content would change significantly, and therefore, the thematic resonances would change a lot. Which is what we're talking about here!

Re: STRANGER THINGS SPOILERS COMMENCING NOW

[herpymcderp]

the thematic resonances would change a lot

See, I'm not convinced they would need to.

Maybe that's where the disconnect lies here. I think the same themes could be present in either setting, Maybe I'm out to lunch and no one else is really seeing what I'm seeing... but for Stranger Things especially, I could personally think of ways to do it within that narrative layout that wouldn't be dramatically different from the set point.

Plus, I don't know that a subdimension based on magic is all that concretely different from one (supposedly) based on physics. Fuck, imo quantum physics lecture really aren't that god damn far off from reciting some runes and incantations into a microphone in the first place lol.

Re: STRANGER THINGS SPOILERS COMMENCING NOW

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think I emphasized enough how much I think Lovecraftian horror is still science fiction, basically. And I think most of the ways of changing it that don't affect the themes end up with you in that Lovecraftian territory.

Re: STRANGER THINGS SPOILERS COMMENCING NOW

[herpymcderp]

Ohhhh ok. I see what you're getting at now!

Totally valid opinion. I personally think something like Lovecraft could go either way depending on what aspects one chose to emphasize, so there you go lol.

No one's opinion is wrong here, imo. It's just neat to talk about.