Good morning/afternoon everyone.
Science fiction (or Sci-Fi) is a sub-genre of fiction and is difficult to define because of the similarity to the fantasy genre and how much it has changed over the years. The science fiction genre is often used by directors and authors to portray stories about science involving technology and the future. These stories involve partially true-partially fictitious laws or theories of science. It should not be completely unbelievable, because then it ventures into the fantasy genre. SCIENCE FICTION ASKS “WHAT IF?”
There are many elements that make science fiction what it is. Setting is an important component of the sci-fi genre. The setting of a science fiction film/book, is often in the future, the extended past, in space, a different world, or in a different universe or dimension. The plot is also very important and events are to be in chronological order. It must include humans, and explain what effect new discoveries and scientific developments will have on us in the future. There also needs to be some kind of conflict, either human, mechanical or extra-terrestrial. All science fiction stories contain a protagonist, and an antagonist. Extrapolation is also a key aspect to include in anything science fiction. Extrapolation is when a writer takes a known scientific fact and imagine what might occur if certain events or circumstances take place.
Science fiction and Fantasy, while they are both very similar, both have different characteristics and elements that divide each into its own specific genre. Fantasy stories are stories that involve things and events that do not and will never exist in our reality, fantasy has no rules at all, meaning that anything is possible, and fantasy stories may or may not start realistically, but they always evolve into tales that could never really happen. Science fiction literature focusses more on real or imagined developments in science or technology and late contains elements of fantasy. Science fiction takes real scientific ideas and advances them so far into the future that they become fantasy. In science fiction, there needs to be some possibility that the events could possibly happen. In fantasy however, the author can be as fa-fetched as they like.
The film that I have chosen to speak about today is ‘Jurassic Park 1’. The basic story line for this movie is that John Hammond, a scientist, discovers a way to biologically bring dinosaurs back to life. All of the dinosaurs he brought back to life, are all placed on a remote island, far from civilization. Hammond invites two more scientists (Dr. Alan Grant and Dr. Ellie Sattler) and his two grandchildren to take a tour of the park. Also joining them are Hammond's lawyer Donald Gennaro and chaos theorist Dr. Ian Malcolm. When they arrive at the island, they are amazed that somehow they are seeing real life dinosaurs, however they all have their doubts. Suddenly all power on the island is cut off by Nedry, who wishes to steal embryos from the park to give to a secret buyer. In the process of this happening, many dinosaurs escape their designated paddocks including the dangerous Tyrannosaurus Rex, who, during a thunderstorm escapes his paddock and attacks the children and eats Gennaro. Ian is injured from the attack and the children are lost in the park along