Main Scifi Ghetto Discussion

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GewoonDaan

topic

04:34:17 AM Sep 24th 2010

I don' ghetto what a ghetto has to do with all this?

JohnnyAdroit

04:17:57 PM Nov 4th 2010

A ghetto is where an "undesirable" minority is segregated from the rest of the population (Jews in Nazi Germany, poor African-Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities in inner cities, etc.). Science Fiction and Fantasy are often segregated (literally in bookstores, metaphorically by the reading public) from "real" literature.

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Drolyt

topic

11:24:32 PM Dec 22nd 2010

I'm confused. At certain points this page seems to imply that Fantasy has it even worse than Sci-Fi. Maybe among academics that is true, since literary Sci-Fi is seen as a way to write about real world problems, but among the general public it is quite the opposite, with great works like The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and the Chronicles of Narnia justifying Fantasy in the public's eye, while Star Wars and Star Trek are still ridiculed and made fun of despite bringing in billions of dollars.

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exia

topic

11:06:38 PM Jan 26th 2011
edited by exia

I think I understand why the Ghetto exists, and it's quite simple. In general, after they reach a certain age, Males don't read Books anymore unless it's their profession.

On the contrast, Girls are likely to continue reading Books well into their Old Age. Not to insult any girls, but usually they prefer thing's that are more Character Driven, with more Emotion, Character Depth, and Interpersonal Relationships then Hard Speculative Explanation of So and So along with what's usually a Plot Driven Story. There are exceptions to these, of course.

HOWEVER, there is a market, especially among Geeks that enjoy Science Fiction in Literature, but it is wholly separate from the "Mainstream".

It also explains why Lo TR, Harry Potter, and Narnia enjoy considerable success as Literature even though their technically Sci-Fi/Fantasy. The fact the former are hotbeds for Shipping also does not hurt either.

gfrequency

10:38:50 PM May 24th 2011

You're making some incredibly generalized assumptions here, and I'm not sure where they're coming from. The idea that men don't read books after a particular age is frankly bizarre. And, all generalizations concerning the reading habits of girls and women aside, the allegation that sci-fi and fantasy aren't concerned with characterization and interpersonal relationships is exactly the sort of thing that those who enforce the idea of the Sci Fi Ghetto would say.

brc2000

06:19:09 AM Dec 26th 2011

Yes, this is a bad generalization. You've pretty much said that males don't like books with good literary devices. The idea that fantasy/SF can't be character focused is just nonsense, and apart from certain hard SF fans, people want well rounded characters who drive the plot, rather than characters that just exist for the sake of the plot. The best literature will generally be about character, no matter what the genre. Plot should be secondary (and dry technical explanations are rarely, if ever, necessary). This is why writers like Ian M. Banks, Ursula K. Le Guin and Brian Aldiss, are more well regarded as "literature" than, say, Clarke.

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DaibhidC

topic

09:46:42 AM Aug 1st 2011
edited by DaibhidC

Pulled the Pratchett bit from JKR; he wasn't missing the point, he was criticising a UK newspaper article which was, and which wanted to "rescue" JK from the ghetto at the expense of both misquoting her and dismissing everything else classified as fantasy.

"And the BBC website put a nice little spin on thing on things with a headline suggesting I'm directing a tirade at J K Rowling, rather than expressing annoyance at the habits of journalists and specifically one telling phrase *clearly used by someone else*."

Terry Pratchett, Usenet

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