History and Science Fiction
Science fiction and fantasy share a strong bond with history and archaeology. Not only do science fiction/fantasy writers find inspiration in the past — they find some vindication in the new discoveries and realizations that arise from our study of the past. When one is speculating about how a culture might evolve, new discoveries about our own real ancestors may radically confirm or dispute our speculations.
Fantasy, it can be argued, need not rely so much upon science for aid in constructing a social framework. But it seems to me that the fantasy that works best is the fantasy that makes sense. If a fantasy world is not fundamentally relevant to human sensibility, then the reader/viewer’s mind is tasked with too much effort to relate to the fantasy world.
That is why many pseudo-medieval fantasy stories seem dated and shallow. The writers are relying upon the mystique of pseudo-medieval assumptery to fabricate a logical world for them. Their castles exist for no reason other than the story. Their societies function only to provide some impetus for their plots. They don’t explain why a group of characters came to be in a given situation.
Even in a fantasy world there must come a moment where the “higher race” defines a purpose for itself. Historically humankind defined a purpose for itself by creating communities. When family groups stopped wandering around the African savanna long enough to build shelters and gaze up into the sky to think about what they might do in the tomorrow, they became purposeful.
Thinking ahead is a sign of purpose. Not purpose in the sense of “intent” but purpose in the sense of “we have a reason to be here — we intend to get to tomorrow because tomorrow is important to us”. It’s the value we place on tomorrow that gives us purpose, not our desire to reach it.
In a science fiction world, a sentient race rises from non-sentience to become purposeful. In a fantasy world, the sentient race is almost always “simply there”. Writers like J.R.R. Tolkien tried to explain that this wasn’t always so — that there was some sort of beginning.
Mythologists would quickly point out that in any religious mythology there is an attempt to explain the beginning — where the people who have purpose came from. Fantasy writers sometimes borrow from this principle but in many cases they cop out and create a pantheon of gods who whimsically create a world full of Orcs, Elves, Men, Dwarves, hobbit-like creatures, and assorted sentient beasts like dragons, unicorns, and whathaveyou.
Gods of whimsy who have no purpose in creating their creations don’t make for very interesting stories. It has been argued by many through the centuries that God doesn’t seem to have communicated his purpose for creating us, his children. But then, there is no natural law that says God has to explain himself. His creative work may seem whimsical, but we have history to show us that tomorrow is important to a lot of people.
It is our own sense of purpose that makes up for our lack of insight into God’s purpose. In a fantasy story, if the characters have a sense of purpose — a value they place on tomorrow — then they don’t have to know why they were created any more than we do. But they still need a beginning. There has to be a reason why a castle stands on a cliff overlooking the sea on some remote island, other than that the writer think it looks really cool in his or her mind.
Such historical fortresses were built for reasons, not necessarily all of them sound. Insanity and political motivation have both led to the construction of otherwise bizarre things, such as Caligula’s ships on Lake Nemi. They were luxury barges with no purpose other than to sit on the lake and allow the Roman emperor and his companions to “dine at sea” — or do whatever it was they did — in a relatively safe setting.
People have sometimes asked through the years why SF-Fandom has a history forums section. The simple answer is “because history and science fiction/fantasy belong together”. They are inseparable, unless you want to create bad science fiction and fantasy. There is certainly plenty of that going around.
And in this way, we welcome you to our history blog here at SF-Fandom.