This is a thread about the political stance of a large body of works of fiction, so I feel that Whitehall is the place for this thread rather than Spacebattles Main.
One thing that I can say with reasonable certainty is that over the two centuries or so of it's existence Science Fiction has far more often come from a left leaning source or has adopted a position that was left leaning (at least by the standards of the time). Let's look at a sampling of Science Fiction Works and Authors that most people would consider significant and were financially successful.
This is not to say that these works are all the products of Perfect Leftists (especially given the argument you'd get in trying to define what constitutes a "Perfect Leftist") or are 100% Left Leaning even considering that the world they came from. Nor are we saying that Conservative Science Fiction does not exist, but it is a lot less common and a lot less influential. The most Right Leaning form of science fiction out there would probably be military Sci-Fi, but even that is not a hard and fast rule. Leaving aside the occasional reactionary like Kratman most military Sci-Fi for a long time has been onboard with a feminist idea of women serving alongside men in the Space Navy or as Space Troopers which was something many IRL conservatives oppose. A lot of military SF has roots in Robert H. Heinlein's Starship Troopers and Heinlein and while Heinlein at that point did have a lot to say about military service as a positive thing and all that he was also not a conventional conservative by any means. Some of the Post Apocalyptic stuff has a Right Wing bias to it, but post-apocalyptia is a more contested field since the cause of said apocalypse is usually something such as climate change or nuclear war brought about by militarism. Not to say there are not exceptions elsewhere, but those exceptions are less common and more marginal.
As for why this is the case, I can't say for certain. One possible factor is is that science fiction had been a more niche product for much of the twentieth century which was other than the norm, either current or historical. In "The 50-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek: The First 25 Years" there are some comment about how a writer in the 1960s should quit that weird childish new Trek show and write some Western, though this is more of a historic reason. Maybe it's because people on the left tend to think more about where society is going in a more proactive way where things might be good (UFP, The Culture) or bad (Polluted Cyberpunk Dystopia**) but either way they'll be different from the status quo while conservatives think about an idealized present or romanticized and often mythological view of the past. But I would posit that there is some reason for this either in the subject manner or the culture which is prone to consuming it which leans left.
Would you agree with this or not?
*While there is a whole lot of fantastic elements in both their worlds, Superman is an Alien and Captain America is the product of advanced drugging/genetic modification/something vaguely on that line that would qualify as SF beings. Wonder Woman for that matter has always been a Feminist character, but she's a fantasy being.
**Insert "that's today!" Joke Here.
Zor
Source (Members only)
One thing that I can say with reasonable certainty is that over the two centuries or so of it's existence Science Fiction has far more often come from a left leaning source or has adopted a position that was left leaning (at least by the standards of the time). Let's look at a sampling of Science Fiction Works and Authors that most people would consider significant and were financially successful.
- Frankenstein: written by proto-Feminist Mary Shelly.
- Jules Verne: wrote works critical of Imperialism (Captain Nemo, an Indian who'd lost his family to British Imperialism and who hates the strong who oppress the weak).
- HG Wells: Socialist with a lot of Socialist Ideals manifesting themselves in his work (The Time Machine is the big obvious one, but also the Invisible Man and The Sleeper Awakes) and was critical of British Imperialism (The War of the Worlds).
- Issac Asimov: Prolific SF writer, atheist, feminist, die hard new dealer, supporter of LGBT rights when it was unpopular.
- Superman*: Lead Character is an Immigrant, was used against the KKK.
- Captain America*: A comic created in 1940 designed to embody everything American who's villain were Nazis. Unpopular run as a Anti-Communist figure got retconned into being an imposter. Often pitted against US Nationalists.
- Twilight Zone: a lot of episodes were highly critical of society, usually from a left wing perspective.
- Star Trek: has as an idealized future a techno-socialist society which a vast number of peoples have set aside their differences and strive together in which in which diplomacy and science are positive traits.
- XMEN: Allegory against Racism and Prejudice in General.
- Ursula K. Le Guin: Acclaimed SF writer from a Feminist and Environmentalist Perspective.
- Star Wars: A dictatorship arises due to militarization and strong man politics and it and it's runaway military/industrial complex needs to be resisted by a rag tag group of teenagers. The basics of this came out just after the Vietnam War.
- Alien Franchise: Has women in traditionally male roles as well as a corporation willing to send people to their deaths to gain control of the xenomorphs.
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Highly popular and influential anime which has a distinct anti-war message as a core theme.
- Terminator: US military builds a superintelligent AI which proceeds to start a nuclear holocaust and plans on exterminating all of mankind on top of feminist themes.
- The Matrix: Made by a pair of Transgender Women with Transgender Themes woven into it.
- Avatar: Ferngully in Space.
This is not to say that these works are all the products of Perfect Leftists (especially given the argument you'd get in trying to define what constitutes a "Perfect Leftist") or are 100% Left Leaning even considering that the world they came from. Nor are we saying that Conservative Science Fiction does not exist, but it is a lot less common and a lot less influential. The most Right Leaning form of science fiction out there would probably be military Sci-Fi, but even that is not a hard and fast rule. Leaving aside the occasional reactionary like Kratman most military Sci-Fi for a long time has been onboard with a feminist idea of women serving alongside men in the Space Navy or as Space Troopers which was something many IRL conservatives oppose. A lot of military SF has roots in Robert H. Heinlein's Starship Troopers and Heinlein and while Heinlein at that point did have a lot to say about military service as a positive thing and all that he was also not a conventional conservative by any means. Some of the Post Apocalyptic stuff has a Right Wing bias to it, but post-apocalyptia is a more contested field since the cause of said apocalypse is usually something such as climate change or nuclear war brought about by militarism. Not to say there are not exceptions elsewhere, but those exceptions are less common and more marginal.
As for why this is the case, I can't say for certain. One possible factor is is that science fiction had been a more niche product for much of the twentieth century which was other than the norm, either current or historical. In "The 50-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek: The First 25 Years" there are some comment about how a writer in the 1960s should quit that weird childish new Trek show and write some Western, though this is more of a historic reason. Maybe it's because people on the left tend to think more about where society is going in a more proactive way where things might be good (UFP, The Culture) or bad (Polluted Cyberpunk Dystopia**) but either way they'll be different from the status quo while conservatives think about an idealized present or romanticized and often mythological view of the past. But I would posit that there is some reason for this either in the subject manner or the culture which is prone to consuming it which leans left.
Would you agree with this or not?
*While there is a whole lot of fantastic elements in both their worlds, Superman is an Alien and Captain America is the product of advanced drugging/genetic modification/something vaguely on that line that would qualify as SF beings. Wonder Woman for that matter has always been a Feminist character, but she's a fantasy being.
**Insert "that's today!" Joke Here.
Zor
Source (Members only)
You should read the book anyway too, it's probably my favorite and I read a bunch of his other stuff, Ringworld, Draco Tavern, The Known Space stuff...
