chicafrom3 | in which Chica rants about genre classifications

Here is one of my pet peeves: "This show [or book, or whatever] isn't sci-fi [or whatever genre] because [reason that essentially boils down to "I like it and I don't like sci-fi [or whatever genre]"]"

...clearly brackets are not one of my pet peeves.

This is an attitude, unfortunately, that I have encountered quite a lot. Sometimes it is dressed up in other reasons. "Firefly isn't sci-fi! There's no aliens!" ...aliens are not the defining quality of sci-fi. "Well, it's not sci-fi!" Why do you say that? "Because I like it! And I don't like sci-fi shows!"

That is not a reason.

It's still sci-fi.

I have heard this argument in other contexts than sci-fi, obviously. "It's not a kids' show, because I like it, and I'm not a kid." "It's not romance, I hate romance." "I hate musicals! ...that doesn't count, that's not really a musical."

How much would you laugh if someone told you, "Ugh, I hate baseball. The Red Sox don't play baseball! Because I hate baseball but I love the Sox so obviously they are not playing baseball." It's the same dumb justification. It's still baseball.

It's still science fiction, even if there's no aliens. It's still fantasy even if there aren't wizards swinging swords at dragons. It's still children's fiction even if there's not a tidy moral at the end. It's still Genre A even if it overlaps with Genre B, even if it doesn't have all of the trappings general-you associates with Genre A, even if you don't generally like Genre A but like this one particular example.

And in response to the most recent argument I have encountered: YES. IT IS STILL SCI-FI EVEN IF IT'S MORE FOCUSED ON THE CHARACTERS THAN THE TECH. THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE IT PARTICULARLY UNUSUAL SCI-FI.

I really don't know if this springs from genre snobbery (Genre A is inferior to this high-brow stuff that I like so this one thing I like that might be considered Genre A clearly isn't) or absolutism (I don't like Genre A! Ever! None of it! Therefore this one thing I like that might be considered Genre A clearly isn't) or just a misunderstanding of how genres work (This one thing doesn't have every last trope that I associate with Genre A so clearly it isn't!)

There was probably a more coherent ending to this rant, but I forgot what it is and I'm done ranting now, so...[/end]

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Yes! My mother was in this short film recently that a friend of hers wrote and directed, and he is submitting it to all these festivals, but is hesitating about submitting it in the sci-fi category, even though it's about time travel and half of it is set in the future. He's claiming that it isn't sci-fi because there is an element of domestic drama in it. It REALLY annoyed me - I was at this dinner party with my mother and him and some of their middle-aged friends who work in the arts and so forth, which is the kind of event that tends to rile me anyway (it just reminds me of those Bremner Bird & Fortune sketches), and they were all displaying their profound ignorance of the genre and I didn't say anything because I wanted to fit in and then after we left I bitched to my mother about it, because it really got on my nerves. SO IN CONCLUSION I agree with you.

In case you haven't seen BB&F this is the sort of thing I mean:

..oh my God I know people like that. D: I am wearing my horrified face on your behalf, I hope you know. D:

My dad amuses me he loves the Sarah Jane smith adventures but argues "well it not really a kids show is it?" because he can't possibly admit to watching a kids show. Yeah I agree it does appeal to adults too I love it, and I know you do too, but that doesn't change the fact it's aimed at and marketed as a children's show.

Although I will admit to asking a book store why the Doctor who novels were in the children's section once, but seriously next to the real little kids stuff not teens or anything, they have some fairly difficult words for a littlen.

*lolz* I love SJA and think everyone should watch it and love it, but man. It's a kids' show. :D

..yeah, DW novels should not be shelved in the little kids' section. YA, sure. (...assuming we're not talking about the Quick Reads or whatever they're called that I haven't ever actually seen much less read but are supposedly aimed at very young audiences.) (...and also assuming we're not talking about, like, the Eighth Doctor novels. Which should be shelved in adult SF, because, wow, those are not YA or kids' literature.) (...hi, parentheses and ellipses!)

Ugh. I agree so, so very much. I have this argument with my family about science fiction all the time. They don't like shows simply because they're part of the genre, and when something comes along that breaks through (the new Star Trek movie and Fringe, recently), it's because they're "not really science fiction."

Mom confuses me even more, though, because she's constantly telling me that she doesn't understand why people only read in certain genres, it's "all stories," and she's the worst one to discriminate against films/tv shows.

It drives me crazy. It's okay to like something in a genre that normally doesn't appeal to you. That doesn't automatically make it not that genre! *flails*

...I think my most dramatic story of dealing with this was an argument I had in college with someone who insisted that Moulin Rouge! wasn't a musical. I mean. WHAT?

Sometimes it's just a very narrow view of a genre, and sometimes it's just a stupid superiority complex, because genre fiction can't really be GOOD, dontchano. That's why the scifi classics are in the Literature section.

That attitude drives me crazy. :( Just because they're classics doesn't make them non-genre.

in which Chica rants about genre classifications

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