What makes something sci fi

It is strongly focused on natural sciences like physics, astronomy, chemistry, astrophysics, etc. Interestingly, hard science fiction is often written by real scientists, and has been known for making both accurate and inaccurate predictions of future events. For example, the recent film Gravity, the story of an astronaut whose spacecraft is damaged while she repairs a satellite, was renowned for its scientific accuracy in terms of what would actually happen in space.

Soft science fiction is characterized by a focus on social sciences, like anthropology, sociology, psychology, politics—in other words, sciences involving human behavior. So, soft sci-fi stories mainly address the possible scientific consequences of human behavior.

In truth, most works use a combination of both hard and soft science fiction. Soft sci-fi allows audiences to connect on an emotional level, and hard sci-fi adds real scientific evidence so that they can imagine the action actually happening.

So, combining the two is a better storytelling technique, because it lets audiences connect with the story on two levels. Many stories use hard facts and truths of sciences to:. Historically it has been a popular form for not only authors, but scientists as well.

It is a particularly fascinating and mind-bending genre for audiences because of its connection to reality. A genre-defining piece of science fiction literature is H. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter…No one gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources of human danger.

Here, the narrator describes a time when mankind was naive. He is setting up for the story of when Earth was unexpectedly attacked by an alien race, and how they were completely unprepared and too proud to believe that any other force in the universe could threaten them. Though only a story, War of the Worlds addressed a scientific concern and possibility that is a mystery for mankind. It is set in what is now the United Kingdom, and shows society under tyrannical rule of a government that has their population under constant surveillance and threat of imprisonment for having wrong thoughts.

Outside, even through the shut window-pane, the world looked cold. Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no color in anything, except the posters that were plastered everywhere. There was one on the house-front immediately opposite.

Star Wars has perhaps one of the largest if not the largest fan-followings of all time; and its status in the science fiction world is absolutely epic. The Matrix is a sci-fi action film that thrilled audiences upon its release.

It tells the story of a world where human existence is completely controlled, and life on Earth is actually only a simulation occurring in our minds. Here, the protagonist, Neo, is presented with the information that his life is all an illusion, and it is almost more than his mind can handle.

Fantasy which has magic and elves. Warehouse 13, soft SF. Jurassic Park, hard SF amazingly. Being Human, don't know. The Hunger Games, soft SF. Vanilla Sky, don't know. Left Behind Series, fantasy pure and simple. Ghost Hunters, fantasy. Weird Science, the 80s movie? Lord of the Rings, uh Twilight, pre-teen abuse porn. Inception, soft SF. Sharktopus, soft SF. War of the Worlds, soft SF.

Harry Potter, fantasy. Chronicles of Narnia, Christian allegory, fantasy. Cowboys vs Aliens, fantasy. The Twilight Zone, depends on the episode. Superman, superheroes are their own speculative fiction subgenre.

Batman, ditto. Spiderman, three-peat. The Village, don't know. Loerwyn Staff. Joined Jun 16, Messages 6, In the vast majority of cases, I define SF and Fantasy like this: Science-Fiction: Situations or components that can be explained in a scientific not necessarily wholly accurate manner.

Time travel, FTL ships, steampunk, alien contacts, post-apocalyptic settings, dystopias and so on. Fantasy: Situations or components that have little-to-no basis in science as we know it and are only explained in non-scientific terms. Magic, other realms, etc. So Spider-man, as a character, would be science fiction as would Batman but Thor would be fantasy. Fantasy can have science fiction elements e. Modesitt, Jr. Loerwyn said:.

Omphalos Orthodox Herbertian. Joined Dec 7, Messages Gadgets and tech figure pretty big into Batman. For some that's connection enough. There's nothing fantastical about Batman as a character. He's rich, highly trained in combat and other things, and pretty much everything he uses is a sci-fi gadget.

The same extends to a lot of his enemies, too - the majority of them are science-fiction inspired. Seli Registered User. Joined Mar 14, Messages This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results.

University of Pittsburgh Library System. Search this Guide Search. Science Fiction - Greensburg Campus This guide is for undergraduates conducting research in the area of science fiction or enrolled in English Lit Science Fiction.

What is Science Fiction? ULS Homepage.