Posted on 03/25/2021 8:57:11 PM PDT by tbw2
So why are there so few mothers, so few fathers, so few families of any size in modern science fiction stories? As I said above, the answer is that, in the so-called modern mindset, families (especially large ones) are considered pathologies. They are considered an abnormal “deviation giving rise to social ills.” When families are portrayed at all, they are made individually and collectively the butt of tasteless jokes; this provides the social reinforcement for the ideological notion that having a family is irresponsible. These insulting stereotypes encourage the absurd notion in our collective ultra-modern hubris that children, families, and parents are passé. This ideology is propagated as the “scientific” gospel and thereby that of science fiction as well. If that does not frighten you, readers and future writers, it should.
This is why there are so few mothers in science fiction, readers and future writers. This is also why the families, large and small, from the original Star Wars expanded universe were discarded when the new timeline was formed. It is, deliberately or not, a commonly stated reinforcement of the Malthusian Nihilism so currently in vogue today, which has been proven false in every case, every time.
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I like military science-fiction.
Only modern science-fiction tv series that tried it was ST:TNG
Picard was right. Kids and families don’t belong on military vessels - the whole premise of ST:DS9 and the Borg Attack with Sisko’s psyche.
Consider Stargate: a near-military operation in SG1; a civil expedition in Atlantis; and in SG-Universe an eclectic mess of people caught in the cross-fire of an attack and who escaped through the device as the planet ate itself for lunch.
Universe did have some family as part of the story. A US Senator and his daughter. Long-distance "shore leave" to visit loved ones. The rest of the franchise, not so much. (Although the Ori arc included more families, but not as a focus.)
Then there was the early Star Trek universe, in which families were part of the crew complement on the larger starships and the space stations. On the Enterprise-D, there was a school for the kids. (And who can forget "Captin Picard Day"?) The reboot movies featured some family, although not as part of the main plot...except when George Kirk sacrificed himself so his wife and newbord boy could escape. Also, daughter Carol Markus deals a blow to dear old Dad's plot to take over.
The king of family science fiction has to be Robert Heinlein. Consider the Howard Family arc. And then there was The Rolling Stones, about the Stone family who decided to move to the astroids. (With Daddy, later Grandma writing a space thriller series remotely to keep them in rocket fuel. The big bad: the Galactic Overloard.)
The Expanse includes family elements in its plots. The Belters remind me of rural farm families, where the kids pitch in.
Actually, the comic book TV programs are doing a better job of portraying family situations -- but that's not science fiction, and so doesn't count.
Do “The Incredibles” count? Pretty high on both the ‘family’ and ‘coolness’ scales.
Science Fiction publishing was taken over by uber-woke fascists and they think families are some sort of oppressively artifact of the patriarchy so no families allowed, only gays, hedonists, and weird sexual fetishists. Anything normal is banned and blacklisted.
Like Hawkeye wanting to bring back his wife and three kids.
Why does Disney kill off all the parents?
Nonsense, at least for the classic SF.
Classic science fiction was written for the boys, teen and pre-teen, of the WW2 generation. Like me.
Teen and pre-teen boys don’t care about families LOL! (But they’ll learn soon.)
“Have Spacesuit, Will Travel”
Scifi has never been family oriented. Neither has mystery fiction. In fact mystery tends to display dysfunctional families. Scifi usually has wars or people facing technological problems. I don’t think its a sign of anything. It’s justvthexwaybthe genres roll.r
That story illustrated the dark side of many a teen’s fantasy of escaping his family and saving the world.
That book’s arc took Ender through being taken away from his family by a desperate government to be tested, trained and then to fight an interstellar enemy.
In the end Ender was destroyed by the experience.
Perhaps not a warm and fuzzy family novella but illustrative of the importance of a protective family to the development of children into happy adults.
Families don’t play in dystopia’
...
The Hugo Awards went all WOKE along time ago.
An award to celebrate excellence in the Science Fiction writing, a genre that had long been looked down on by the main stream literature culture.
If you were a white male in the SciFi writing field you were going to find it hard to get recognition from those who selected the winners of the Hugo awards because they had gone all Social Justice WarriorEE.
In a writers field that was once dominated by Libertarian types, merit became a secondary consideration when selecting books to be awarded honors.
For Sci-Fi, if it ain't from Baen it probably isn't any good.
Couple of exceptions but mostly true especially for military Sci-Fi.
Unlike androids like Asimov, Bradbury was actually a human being.
But, for a few years I bought that book. It was mostly to have something on hand for a quick read. I was going to school and didn’t have the time for a lengthy read.
I rarely read SF anymore. But, when I do it is usually classic SF from the 50’s and 60’s. Even back when I read SF it was stuff that was far older than myself. Most of the newer SF that I did read was unappealing to me.
If you have any suggestions for a SF book, I am open to suggestions. I was reading Heinlein most recently.
...awards..are rarely given for things I like except for the most astounding coincidence.
That there is some good writin’ 🏆
I recommend the book “Genesis” by W.A. Harbinson.
And then for some nonfiction that reads like syfy, the book “An Impossible Invention” by Mats Lewan.
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