Fantasy, Science Fiction and Escapism

There's a really interesting discussion going on at Benford & Rose and the significance of the recent rise of Fantasy (thanks to SFSignal for bringing this one to my attention). The trigger for this discussion seems to be the recent realization that fantasy novels have been winning the Hugo Award (which was founded as a science fiction award) a lot recently.

Many of the opinions expressed in that thread center around the notion that while science fiction is progressive and forward thinking, fantasy tends to hearken backwards rather than forwards. The implication (or at least my inference) is that if people are turning away from science fiction this is a bad thing for society. That got me thinking.

Now, I realize that here I am wading into a debate with people who are far better qualified than I am to write on the subject. On the other hand that never has stopped me before. I think the whole line of argument is flawed on several fronts.

First lets just put aside the notion that fantasy novels winning Hugos is proof that the audience has changed. While that is one possible interpretation, an equally valid one would be that science fiction writers simply aren't producing sufficiently interesting books. I'm not saying that either statement is necessarily true, I'm just pointing out this is a big hole in the whole argument.

My next problem with this line of thinking is that it seems to me to be overly dismissive of fantasy. Yes its clear that the dominant form of fantasy involves a medieval world, plus some variants on elves, dwarves, orcs etc. But that is not the sum total of fantasy. To suggest that if someone is enjoying fantasy then:

"But who can create a better society when you spend your free time thinking about really big problems like dragons?"

So fantasy can't look at social problems now? I'm not saying that much of it does, but it can't? A silly claim quite frankly. Fantasy can in fact be used to address current social issues just as well as science fiction can. Rather obviously, it's not so useful when it comes to addressing science. However not everything about creating a better society revolves directly around new technology.

But here is my big problem with this whole line of argument. The notion that if we aren't reading hard SF then its a sign that western civilization is stagnant just doesn't add up. There are many reasons for thinking that western civilization may have hit some sort of peak (rightly or wrongly). The popularity of science fiction isn't even at the bottom of that list.

Why do I make that claim? Because the current popularity of fantasy is not anything fundamentally new. For as long as there has been fiction people have been drawn towards escapism. Thinking up solutions for a better society is all well and good, but sometimes you just need to chill out and give your brain a rest!

Fantasy fiction is a form of escapism. As is sci-fi (for convenience I'm using that to apply to Star Wars and the like, lets not start that debate again please), as are detective novels, as is romance literature, as is CSI, as is ER, as House etc. etc.

Escapism is the dominant form of entertainment (be it written or broadcast or acted out live). There's a reason for that. People need that release and they need that downtime. So yes escapism is more popular than hard science fiction. It always has been and it always will be, big deal.

Society is not driven forward by the thoughts of an entire population. It takes small jumps as a result of small groups of forward thinkers. We are a creature that likes the familiar. The majority of us live in safe mediocrity. Don't expect the fundamental nature of the beast to change.

If we were to judge the future of western society by the popular entertainment of the 1800s rosy do you think the future would look?

As I noted earlier, the people involved in this debate are certainly better qualified to discuss it, and probably smarter than me too. But I thought it was time that someone stood up for escapism. Solar Flare openly embraces escapism. If a book, movie or tv show is entertaining that justifies its existence in my mind.

If someone can transcend entertainment and provide depth of insight or a radical new vision then that is to be lauded, but there's nothing wrong with just providing entertainment, and I'm very tired of having such work dismissed.

Link: Benford & Rose - What Does The Rise of Fantasy Mean?
Link: SFSignal.com