2019 Why Read Sci Fi

1) What have we learned about the border? Where is it? How stable is it? How might these revelations about the nature of the border connect to the larger theme of climate change in the novel? 2) The California Mastadon roamed the land on which we sit right now up until the end of the last Ice Age, along with sabercats, giant ground sloths, and other megafauna (large versions of the animals you see today such as bears, etc). Discuss specific moments throughout the novel when the theme of transformation of the earth and landscape are prominent. What literary tools does Vandermeer use to remind us that the earth is constantly transforming, and always has been? 3) Reread the biologists experience staring at the destroyer of worlds starfish on page 175, then reread her experience staring at the Crawler on 177 and 178. Why does the biologist say that she cannot truly "see" the Crawler? What might be the deeper implications of her being unable to process what she is seeing? ...

Exercise: As a member of this future expedition, write your journal entry upon discovering the pile of journals and tell us how Area X has continued to evolve . C onsider particularly how  the environment has continued to change and how it has continued to change the people who come to visit it .  All the main elements are there: the lighthouse, the tower, the village. But w hat  else  is there? Fill in some of the spaces not currently "on the map."   You may choose to use some of your climate change research as inspiration, particularly if you are seeing this place as the result of "The Event." 

1) Re-read the story of the origin of Area X on page 94, and "The Event." What do we know about it? What do we still want to know? What types of narratives in our world does this origin story remind you of? 2)  How does this origin story connect to the larger theme of climate change in the novel? 3) Continue discussing the theme of the uncanny in the novel. What other moments, situations, or circumstances employ use of the uncanny? Why might the uncanny be a good literary mechanism to use in a book about climate change? 4) How does the role of the reader change on page 106? What multiple discoveries do you make on that page, looking into the pit of journals? How do these discoveries alter our understanding of Area X? 5) Discuss the Crawler and the discovery that its body is made up of human brain tissue. What might be significant about that? What is significant about the fact that ecosystems live inside its words, and that is is an organism inside a larger organism? H...

1) Discuss how the characters understanding of the tower/tunnel changes over time. What might be significant about the fact that the biologist is the only one who can see the Tower's true nature? Why is it important that its true nature is not revealed to her right away? What has to happen first? 2) Discuss the disciplines of the main characters, their fields of study. Why is it significant that they are not named directly? What is meaningful about their fields of study in relationship to Area X? 3) What is uncanny about the environment of Area X? (See definition on board). 4) What might be significant about the fact that the map is not accurate from the moment the characters enter Area X? What does this tell us about what kind of place this is? 5) Jeff Vandermeer is from Florida, a place that is under high threat from climate change. How do you see the climate and environment of Florida reflected in Area X?

The ANTHROPOCENE is an unofficial, debated term between geologists and environmentalists that describes the epoch (time period) we are living in. It assumes that we have moved out of the Holocene (the epoch that began 11,700 years ago after the last Ice Age) and into a new epoch where humankind has caused significant changes to the environment, such as  mass extinctions of plant and animal species, polluting the oceans and altering the atmosphere, among other lasting impacts. It has sometimes been linked to the start of the atomic age (1950s) or the start of the Industrial Revolution (1800s).   Meaning: Anthro-man  Cene -new   Vandermeer: "I wanted to provide a glimpse o f mid-Collapse in the Anthropocene—a transitional state in which those affected may not even realize the progression of decay  in the moment ."    Vandermeer  talks further about how weird fiction in particular can help us to understand a concept like c...

1) Describe the Machine at the center of the story. What are its functions? List as many as you can. 2) This story was written in 1909, prior to the advent of much of the communication technologies we have today. For example, the radio was not mass used then, the telephone existed but was not in every home, there were no televisions, etc. However, Forster was able to see these forms of technology of his day and project them into an imagined future. He also looked at industrialization itself, and saw how it changed the lives of people (in the story, he mostly focused on negative changes.) The Industrial Revolution, which took place from the 18th to 19th centuries, was a period during which predominantly agrarian, rural societies in Europe and America became industrial and urban. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain in the late 1700s, manufacturing was often done in people’s homes, using hand tools or basic machines. Industrialization marked a shift to powe...

1) Describe the technological device at the heart of the episode. What is "immersive nostalgia therapy"? What or who is it supposed to benefit? What are some of its dangers? How do the people in charge of it attempt to mitigate those dangers? 2) What forms of technologies in our world does immersive nostalgia therapy remind you of? 3) Compare and contrast this form of technology with the technologies of 15 Million Merits, Nosedive, and Be Right Back (the other three Black Mirror episodes we have watched). Why does this one have such a positive result, while those had negative results? Be Right Back in particular also dealt with death and grief, so why is this tech not as negative as that tech? 4) Can you see any potential problems with this form of tech? Does the episode hint at it? 5) The human desire for immortality is common and known. If this form of tech or a similar one were developed in your life time, would you use it? Why or why not?

1) Does the writer pick one central issue to focus their report on? Is this issue something that can be researched? (I.E. homelessness in Los Angeles, stem cell research, etc). 2) What form does their future report take? Snapshot or warning? Is that the best form given the focus of their project? 3) Importantly, the writer should see their topic evolving into the future. In 100-200 years, the way that issue plays out should be an evolution of the present day issue. Do they have good reasons for how their topic evolves? What other aspects of its evolution could they consider? 4) What world-building aspects might they consider? Consider the physical environment, political environment, technologies of the future, etc. Additionally, the writer should make sure to set their future in a specific place in the US to ground it in reality.

For Tuesday's class, bring with you one page (approx., longer is okay), typed and double-spaced. On that page answer the following: OVERALL QUESTIONS: What primary issue did you decide to focus on, and why? (Ex. homelessness, a shift in attitudes toward capitalism, etc). Tell us about your character. Give as many details about them as you can in one paragraph (no more than 200 words). Who are they? Age, gender, species, race, home, goals, personality, family, vocation/job, skills, etc. Will your Report from the Future be a warning, or more of a snapshot (window into the time period)? Why did you choose this method? What is your version of our world in 100-200 years like? What is its economic system, its environment, its politics, its technologies, etc? Describe it in as much detail as possible. How does your future connect to our world today? What is your primary issue (social problem, invention, etc) that you have projected into the future? Why do you thin...

1) One of the greatest open secrets about science fiction novels is that, while they can sometimes offer a warning of a future that might come to be if we continue down the path we are on, they more often provide a window into better understanding the present day. They show us deep truths about human nature, truths that can be understood in a new way via their parallel worlds to our world. If Omelas is not a portrait of a possible future but instead a portrait of our world, what truths does it reveal about our world? 2) Consider the POV of the story. What is significant about the fact that the narrator addresses the reader directly? What is significant about the fact that the reader is made conscious of the fact that they are reading this story? 3) What might this story have to teach us about the limits of the human imagination, and the consequences of those limits? 4) The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas is not science fiction, exactly, though it is not fantasy either. It is a s...

Why don't Katniss and  Peeta’s action at the end of the games result in their safe return to District 12? What is the ripple effect of their actions on the Capitol?   How do Katniss and Peeta’s actions throw into question the Capitol’s power? What do they reveal about the nature of that power? What keeps it strong?   What are some of the G amemakers'  “strings” they pull inside the game to keep things interesting for spectators? How do they function to get the tributes to play the game and fight one another? Do these remind you of any elements of video games or other forms of mass media you've witnessed in our world?  The Hunger Games is a YA novel, and therefore has been critiqued as sanitizing some of the violence in the book. It has also been critiqued for becoming a consumer-capitalist franchise in its own right, one that ultimately reinforces the systems of power in our world it claims to critique. Do you agree with these criticis...

1) What forms of mass media in our world does the episode explore? List as many genres and sub-genres as you can. What is it trying to say about them? 2) What dystopian control mechanisms do you see? 3) What utopian qualities does this world have? What makes it a dystopia instead of a utopia? 4) How is our world like this one? 5) What parallels do you see between the system of this world and the system of Panem/The Hunger Games? What about that of Farenheit 451? 6) Who is ultimately responsible for the system being what it is? Is it the judges? The audience? Someone else? 7) Can this system be dismantled or overthrown? Why or why not?

A significant control mechanism in many literary dystopias is propaganda. As we defined it last class, propaganda is intentionally misleading, biased information used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view. It can appear in the form of slogans, speeches, false histories, etc., and is manipulative in nature. It often presents facts selectively, omitting information that would allow a fuller more complex picture of events. It often appeals to positive emotions, such as loyalty, sacrifice, and faith in a authoritarian power. It can also appeal to fear. For this exercise, you are Gamemakers for the next Hunger Games. Your task is to create a poster advertising the games to the citizens of Panem, specifically the districts who will be participating in the games. You will want to come up with a slogan and a poster design that encourages people to participate and see the games as a positive thing, something that keeps the peace. Elements of your poster to co...