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Sci-fi is booming and bigger than ever in China. Every original hit sci-fi piece has been Chinese for a long time. The only sci-fi the West produces are endless adaptations and remakes of the same 50 year old books.
It’s the West where it has disappeared.
Precisely, and it’s because China is where genuine progress is happening right now. People see technology evolve at a breakneck pace and that’s inspiring them to imagine advances in the future. Also, love some of the sci-fi art that’s been coming out of China. https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202205/1266254.shtml
I think it’s a slow change of different beliefs. The enjoyment of fiction evolves much like religion does. Every 30 or 60 years new trends show up, and the older trends shrink.
And while there could be a massive loss of hope in all ages, it might be unrelated to a decline of science fiction
I’d argue literature, as all our ideas, is a product of the material conditions first and foremost. In an age where you have a lot of technological advancement, you see literature that extrapolates into the future. It’s inevitable that people seeing rapid technological advancement all around them would think about how it will reshape society and open up new frontiers.
And this is precisely what we see happening in China right now where popularity of sci-fi is exploding https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202411/1322883.shtml
But in the west, technological progress has stalled. There are no grand technological projects being pursued. There’s no collective vision for the future. And so you see literature reflect that with escapism into fantasy or post apocalyptic fiction.
The sci-fi we do get is dystopian, for obvious reasons in late-stage caopitalism.
Exactly, The Silo is a perfect recent example.
I grew up believing in the power of technological advancement. This is what I was taught. Consequently science fiction made sense to me.
My kids, when young, were not given the same treatment and schooling I was. I did not read stories of moon exploration to them, instead I read about other things.
I noticed after they grew up, that they remained interested in the stuff they were shown to them when small
Right, there’s a cultural shift at work here, but it is driven by the nature of the material base. The US has become deindustrialized, most jobs are in service industries, entertainment, and software development. And most people aren’t seeing any positive progress around them. So, positive sci-fi about apace exploration, or some grand advancement of humanity is simply not relatable in these conditions.
I look to the changed practices in child rearing first, and then see how what happens now alters the outlook of what was learned in early years.
My point is, should there be sudden renewed hope in technology and advancement again, or if there is still hope, or better jobs, there will not be a resurgence of science fiction in the west.
Instead there will be new literature trends
I don’t see why there wouldn’t be. Sci-fi might have a new flavor, the genre has evolved this whole time after all. However, the basic dynamic of people seeing the progress around them and thinking what it means for the future will be the same.
That’s what spurred the genre into being in the first place. And as I’ve pointed out, we can see the same dynamic in China right now for the same material reasons.
What kind of new science fiction do you think would happen should it become popular in the west again?
I think it’ll depend on the direction technological progress takes. People will extrapolate based on what’s being built in the real world.
