Aversion to science-fiction

[Salt The Fries]

I'm sure some of you experienced it either in your immediate environment or on the internet forums. I mean the fact that some people stubbornly refuse to watch anything science-fiction or even something that isn't science-fiction per se but has some speculative elements in its premise. This may escalate and lead to such situations as when I recommended a movie "Repo Man" to my female friend, she just superficially looked up its tags on Rate Your Music and she saw "science-fiction" there while the only science-fiction element was a "MucGuffin" which was never shown! Eventually I assured her there's almost nothing sci-fi about it and she shouldn't pay attention to this tag and eventually watched it.

From my anecdotal but not entirely superficial experience, and I believe it's the truth in general, females have a lot stronger aversion towards this genre, not taking it for what it is but attacking it with a lot of preconceived notions. But this is not exclusive to females, though. All people with an aversion towards it behave more or less in the same way. (Although it should also be noted that my two female friends who are into avantgarde music and auteur / artistic movies rated films like Alien, etc. only 7/10., so they might acknowledge them as masterpieces of a genre but they don't enjoy them per se that much)

I'm not sure if I'd consider myself a science-fiction fan but it happens that films such as 2001, The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Tetsuo, Videodrome, Alien, The Thing to me rank as one of the all-time masterpieces, and not just science-fiction masterpieces. The critical esteem of those movies among professional critics seems to mirror my sentiments.

To me, giving up on this genre completely (or just about any genre based on preconceived notions) is quite simply missing out on some of the most challenging films ever made. And there you have films that are only superficially science fiction like Stalker which are very poignant and profound masterpieces, and mutatis mutandis...

To not watch Blade Runner solely based on the fact it's sci-fi and by definition it must be ridiculous is a cultural disgrace.

But what is actually funny, the same kind of audience may not want to watch science-fiction but watches comic book adaptations and is totally fine with it, and sometimes they might not even be aware they watch a comic book adaptations (same point for comic book haters watching comic book adaptations and not knowing it!)...

Of course there's the geeky side of it that some people find ridiculous and eschew being associated with it, but again, basis for such criticism if that's anyone's sole reason against the genre is as superficial as everything else I mentioned before.

Anyway, what's your take on this?

What might cause such aversion?

[OmegaZilla]

Some people only like films to be entirely grounded in reality without too much imagination infused into them, I guess.

[Sylizar]

We call those people boring.

[Magegg]

I guess many people despises science fiction because unlike fantasy, sci-fi is supposed to be "grounded in reality" or be "plausible", but sometimes they create arbitrarly inconsistent plot devices.

[Alienseseses]

I don't know why there's such an aversion to science-fiction, but if I had to guess one factor:

In fantasy, the given is usually pretty simple: There's magic, it works, don't question it. Whereas in science fiction, the given is: There's technology, it's like magic, but here's what you need to know about it for it to make sense, so pay attention.

[Magegg]

I'm not trying to be sexist, but what Alienseseses is saying is probably the reason women generally don't like science fiction.

They prefer fantasy so they could swallow anything that comes out from the screen, than thinking much and get confused.


Really not trying to be sexis, it's only men are more analytic and have deconstructing minds by nature. They generally love to have things and learn how they work, it's a challenge they're glad to take.
Females could like that too, but they generally don't bother trying to learn how fictional, non-existing things work, because that has no purpose for them.

[OmegaZilla]

They prefer fantasy so they could swallow anything that comes out from the screen,

Ha, um.

[DJ Pu$$yface]

I'm not trying to be sexist, but what Alienseseses is saying is probably the reason women generally don't like science fiction.

They prefer fantasy so they could swallow anything that comes out from the screen, than thinking much and get confused.


Really not trying to be sexis, it's only men are more analytic and have deconstructing minds by nature. They generally love to have things and learn how they work, it's a challenge they're glad to take.
Females could like that too, but they generally don't bother trying to learn how fictional, non-existing things work, because that has no purpose for them.

I'm not trying to be sexist

[Cvalda]

I'm not trying to be sexist, but what Alienseseses is saying is probably the reason women generally don't like science fiction.

They prefer fantasy so they could swallow anything that comes out from the screen, than thinking much and get confused.


Really not trying to be sexis, it's only men are more analytic and have deconstructing minds by nature. They generally love to have things and learn how they work, it's a challenge they're glad to take.
Females could like that too, but they generally don't bother trying to learn how fictional, non-existing things work, because that has no purpose for them.

And yet your superior male brain can barely string a f**king sentence together.

[Magegg]

I'm not saying males are superior. They simply have different tastes and leanings.

[First Blood]

 

[Alienseseses]

I'm not trying to be sexist, but what Alienseseses is saying is probably the reason women generally don't like science fiction.

They prefer fantasy so they could swallow anything that comes out from the screen, than thinking much and get confused.


Really not trying to be sexis, it's only men are more analytic and have deconstructing minds by nature. They generally love to have things and learn how they work, it's a challenge they're glad to take.
Females could like that too, but they generally don't bother trying to learn how fictional, non-existing things work, because that has no purpose for them.

That makes an awful lot of generalizations and assumptions.

--------

I was talking to a friend earlier today about the main difference between sci fi and fantasy... Generally, fantasy is mostly about the characters and the worlds they inhabit and their conflicts, and science fiction is usually asking a question, or positing a 'what if'. It's more speculative, it's more about how things work and what would happen if they worked a certain way. Or some variation of that.

That's why I see Star Wars as Fantasy and not Sci-Fi. It uses the vernacular of Sci-Fi, but at its heart, it's about the characters and their personal conflicts that could easily be transplanted to worlds of magic. The how isn't important, the what is.

[OmegaZilla]

Of course SW is fantasy. The Force and stuff.

Fantasy in a Sci-Fi context.

[ShadowPred]

I'm not trying to be sexist, but what Alienseseses is saying is probably the reason women generally don't like science fiction.

They prefer fantasy so they could swallow anything that comes out from the screen, than thinking much and get confused.


Really not trying to be sexis, it's only men are more analytic and have deconstructing minds by nature. They generally love to have things and learn how they work, it's a challenge they're glad to take.
Females could like that too, but they generally don't bother trying to learn how fictional, non-existing things work, because that has no purpose for them.

This is the stupidest f**king thing I have ever read. The ignorance of this post is f**king insulting. Idiotic bullshit.

[Salt The Fries]

Random proven fact: watching Blade Runner on a date with a chick will never give you pussay.