Howdy! Welcome to the inaugural post of the PoliSciFi Blog, a blog devoted to analyzing the portrayal of politics, government, and social science in speculative fiction.
To be clear up front, there are more than enough science fiction and fantasy fan pages out there. Individual show fan pages, franchise wikis, sub-genre pages, TV Tropes, etc. PoliSciFi Blog is not that. This is a critical – critical as in analytic rather than disparaging – look at how speculative fiction depicts politics, government, and society.
So, why examine how the science fiction & fantasy genres portray government and society? Well, first, I’m a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science living in the nation’s capitol and before grad school, I was a lobbyist, a Hill staffer, a federal bureaucrat, and a campaign worker. In short, I need something to do when I’m not writing my dissertation and outside of government and politics, I’m pretty clueless.
Except when it comes to science fiction fandom. I’ve been an avid reader of speculative fiction since before I could walk.[1] I’m a longtime con attendee, a once and future DM and PC in multiple RPG systems,[2] and I used to work at the Texas Renaissance Festival. In deference to everyone’s mental health, any requests for pictures of me in tights will be ignored. Long story short, this blog is meant to combine my dual interests in politics and speculative fiction.
So, doubled-sided geek cred established, back to the question of why write about how sci-fi and fantasy writers depict government and society? From Asimov’s Foundation novels and Hari Seldon’s psychohistory[3] to Orwell’s autocratic state in 1984 to the rather nebulous government of the Shire in Tolkien’s The Hobbit[4], the organization of government and society often plays a strong background role in science fiction and fantasy but cedes the spotlight to more interesting things[5] like dragons, FTL drives, and alien races. However, how authors depict the societies of the far future or entirely imagined worlds offers insight into how people think politics and society work in the here and now.
In short, speculative fiction is the genre of imagination, the genre of extrapolating from reality and creating something novel, engaging, and occasionally allegorical. But too often the same creativity that invents dragons and magic spells falls short when building imagined societies and governments. Governments are simplistic; societal conventions contrived. Many times authors violate the fundamental tenants of how we understand political systems and societies work. It must be similar to how astronomers cringe when authors describe ‘desert’ planets or ‘ice’ planets.[6]
To be clear, PoliSciFi Blog is not meant to disparage how speculative fiction portrays social behavior and institutions, so I’ll provide a positive example. Take the commonly used trope of a unified planetary government. Not to be too critical – I realize it’s often just an example of Genericist Government – but rarely do authors explain, even in passing, how a worldwide government might come to power.
Take our own planet. Despite the paranoia of survivalist militia types, the emergence of a world government is pretty far fetched. There are one hundred and ninety plus sovereign nations and one United Nations that serves primarily to antagonize the far right. The European Union could be argued to be a more likely predecessor than the United Nations, but still the birth pangs of the current loose affiliation of countries that are tightly bound historically and geographically required several major wars, the persistent intervention of one military and economic superpower, and the ongoing threat from another. And you still only get a geographically limited, primarily economic union that can’t agree on a founding document or compel the participation of its members, which is why you have still have to use pounds in Great Britain.
One of the few authors who has directly addressed the evolution of the planetary government is Orson Scott Card. Long, poorly written Mormon philosophical dialogue aside, Card’s post-Ender’s Game books are novel for both their inclusion of the emergence of the planetary Hegemony and proposing a plausible[7] story for its establishment. Seriously, if you’re interested, read Shadow of the Hegemon. Again, if you can get through the character-destroying dialogue between Peter Wiggin and his parents, the discussion of how Ender’s elder brother ascends to the Hegemony is pretty well thought out.[8]
Anyway, those are the types of topics I intended to address in this blog. Generally, I’m likely to focus more on books rather than movies or videogames because it’s what I’m more familiar with. Also, no one wants me to get started on the organizational chart (or funding source) for S.H.E.I.L.D. in the Marvel film continuity. Or the comics for that matter. How is S.H.E.I.L.D. funded? What is their connection to the U.S. military? NATO? How do they recruit? Are retired S.H.E.I.L.D. agents – assuming they survive the disturbingly frequent alien invasions – eligible for VA benefits? Hell, the actual U.S. Military refused to cooperate with The Avengers over the depiction of U.S. forces answering to a literally shadowy world government that seemed to be solely comprised of four folks that looked like they were testifying in a mob trial.
But let’s leave that as a discussion for another day. Suffice it to say that the devil is in the details (Are The Avengers compensated according to the GS scale? Who pays Captain America’s salary? What is the chain of command here?). Oh, and don’t assume I disliked the movie. I thought The Avenger’s was great; I’m merely commenting on its lack of clarity on how S.H.E.I.L.D. operates within a governmental context. I did love how Iron Man 2 included Congressional hearings, although Tony Stark is likely to be held in contempt of Congress, no matter how entertaining his shenanigans.
Let’s leave it there for now. I hope this blog will be of interest to some folks out there. Government and science fiction geeks like myself, who try and cling desperately to the narrative while the President of the United States climbs into a jet and fights aliens. And still manages to get upstaged by Randy Quaid. Leave some comments and let’s get chatting. Thanks for reading!
[1] Granted, I didn’t toddle until I was about five because of a medical condition, but still.
[2] I’m a D&D and Fate fan.
[3] I always wondered if Asimov’s name for the discipline annoyed sociologists.
[4] And don’t tell me that the Mayor of Michel Delving was really able to enact any serious domestic policy. Governmentally speaking, the Shire mirrors Jefferson’s agrarian ideal of the yeoman farmers, ignoring, of course, that that vision is almost as fantastical as Smaug. This will all be the subject of a future post.
[5] Things normal people find really interesting. I personally find politics and government fascinating, but I’ll grant you it doesn’t make for particularly riveting television. Except The West Wing. That show was awesome.
[6] *cough* Hoth *cough*
[7] The definition of ‘plausible’ has obviously been adjusted for this being a blog about science fiction and fantasy novels, etc.
[8] Given the introduction of several dozen military super-geniuses and an alien invasion, but if those are the issues that bother you, you’re probably not reading this website.
To be clear up front, there are more than enough science fiction and fantasy fan pages out there. Individual show fan pages, franchise wikis, sub-genre pages, TV Tropes, etc. PoliSciFi Blog is not that. This is a critical – critical as in analytic rather than disparaging – look at how speculative fiction depicts politics, government, and society.
So, why examine how the science fiction & fantasy genres portray government and society? Well, first, I’m a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science living in the nation’s capitol and before grad school, I was a lobbyist, a Hill staffer, a federal bureaucrat, and a campaign worker. In short, I need something to do when I’m not writing my dissertation and outside of government and politics, I’m pretty clueless.
Except when it comes to science fiction fandom. I’ve been an avid reader of speculative fiction since before I could walk.[1] I’m a longtime con attendee, a once and future DM and PC in multiple RPG systems,[2] and I used to work at the Texas Renaissance Festival. In deference to everyone’s mental health, any requests for pictures of me in tights will be ignored. Long story short, this blog is meant to combine my dual interests in politics and speculative fiction.
So, doubled-sided geek cred established, back to the question of why write about how sci-fi and fantasy writers depict government and society? From Asimov’s Foundation novels and Hari Seldon’s psychohistory[3] to Orwell’s autocratic state in 1984 to the rather nebulous government of the Shire in Tolkien’s The Hobbit[4], the organization of government and society often plays a strong background role in science fiction and fantasy but cedes the spotlight to more interesting things[5] like dragons, FTL drives, and alien races. However, how authors depict the societies of the far future or entirely imagined worlds offers insight into how people think politics and society work in the here and now.
In short, speculative fiction is the genre of imagination, the genre of extrapolating from reality and creating something novel, engaging, and occasionally allegorical. But too often the same creativity that invents dragons and magic spells falls short when building imagined societies and governments. Governments are simplistic; societal conventions contrived. Many times authors violate the fundamental tenants of how we understand political systems and societies work. It must be similar to how astronomers cringe when authors describe ‘desert’ planets or ‘ice’ planets.[6]
To be clear, PoliSciFi Blog is not meant to disparage how speculative fiction portrays social behavior and institutions, so I’ll provide a positive example. Take the commonly used trope of a unified planetary government. Not to be too critical – I realize it’s often just an example of Genericist Government – but rarely do authors explain, even in passing, how a worldwide government might come to power.
Take our own planet. Despite the paranoia of survivalist militia types, the emergence of a world government is pretty far fetched. There are one hundred and ninety plus sovereign nations and one United Nations that serves primarily to antagonize the far right. The European Union could be argued to be a more likely predecessor than the United Nations, but still the birth pangs of the current loose affiliation of countries that are tightly bound historically and geographically required several major wars, the persistent intervention of one military and economic superpower, and the ongoing threat from another. And you still only get a geographically limited, primarily economic union that can’t agree on a founding document or compel the participation of its members, which is why you have still have to use pounds in Great Britain.
One of the few authors who has directly addressed the evolution of the planetary government is Orson Scott Card. Long, poorly written Mormon philosophical dialogue aside, Card’s post-Ender’s Game books are novel for both their inclusion of the emergence of the planetary Hegemony and proposing a plausible[7] story for its establishment. Seriously, if you’re interested, read Shadow of the Hegemon. Again, if you can get through the character-destroying dialogue between Peter Wiggin and his parents, the discussion of how Ender’s elder brother ascends to the Hegemony is pretty well thought out.[8]
Anyway, those are the types of topics I intended to address in this blog. Generally, I’m likely to focus more on books rather than movies or videogames because it’s what I’m more familiar with. Also, no one wants me to get started on the organizational chart (or funding source) for S.H.E.I.L.D. in the Marvel film continuity. Or the comics for that matter. How is S.H.E.I.L.D. funded? What is their connection to the U.S. military? NATO? How do they recruit? Are retired S.H.E.I.L.D. agents – assuming they survive the disturbingly frequent alien invasions – eligible for VA benefits? Hell, the actual U.S. Military refused to cooperate with The Avengers over the depiction of U.S. forces answering to a literally shadowy world government that seemed to be solely comprised of four folks that looked like they were testifying in a mob trial.
But let’s leave that as a discussion for another day. Suffice it to say that the devil is in the details (Are The Avengers compensated according to the GS scale? Who pays Captain America’s salary? What is the chain of command here?). Oh, and don’t assume I disliked the movie. I thought The Avenger’s was great; I’m merely commenting on its lack of clarity on how S.H.E.I.L.D. operates within a governmental context. I did love how Iron Man 2 included Congressional hearings, although Tony Stark is likely to be held in contempt of Congress, no matter how entertaining his shenanigans.
Let’s leave it there for now. I hope this blog will be of interest to some folks out there. Government and science fiction geeks like myself, who try and cling desperately to the narrative while the President of the United States climbs into a jet and fights aliens. And still manages to get upstaged by Randy Quaid. Leave some comments and let’s get chatting. Thanks for reading!
[1] Granted, I didn’t toddle until I was about five because of a medical condition, but still.
[2] I’m a D&D and Fate fan.
[3] I always wondered if Asimov’s name for the discipline annoyed sociologists.
[4] And don’t tell me that the Mayor of Michel Delving was really able to enact any serious domestic policy. Governmentally speaking, the Shire mirrors Jefferson’s agrarian ideal of the yeoman farmers, ignoring, of course, that that vision is almost as fantastical as Smaug. This will all be the subject of a future post.
[5] Things normal people find really interesting. I personally find politics and government fascinating, but I’ll grant you it doesn’t make for particularly riveting television. Except The West Wing. That show was awesome.
[6] *cough* Hoth *cough*
[7] The definition of ‘plausible’ has obviously been adjusted for this being a blog about science fiction and fantasy novels, etc.
[8] Given the introduction of several dozen military super-geniuses and an alien invasion, but if those are the issues that bother you, you’re probably not reading this website.