The glove has been thrown: is Ghostbusters Scifi?
Per podcast 81 place your vote and let us know if you think Ghostbusters is Scifi or not! I’ll post my reply below as to not include my opinion in the initial post.
My thinking on this is pretty clear:
Paranormal activity = Not Scifi (ghosts, zombies, vampires, werewolves, etc)
Paranormal activity hunters who use nuclear (how do you pronounce that?) accelerators strapped to their backs to trap ghosts? = Science Fiction
I admit, it is a fine line. If this movie was about ghost hunters who used crosses and holy water…not science fiction. Without this thread unraveling into “what is science fiction” I would posit that science fiction is the portrayal of something not real with a futuristic element. To follow this thought:
Scifi (in my mind)
[ul]
[li]Ghostbusters[/li][li]Terminator(s)[/li][li]Real Genius (satellite based lasers that can vaporize a person on the surface? Hell yeah!)[/ul]Not Scifi[/li][ul]
[li]Van Helsing[/li][li]Dracula[/li][*]Anything by M. Night Shamalyan[/ul]
Personally, I move away from the actual term Sci Fi - especially when dealing with anything not directly related to science. I prefer the term speculative fiction - that way it’s all encompassing. I think the term came from Summer Brooks over at Slice of Sci Fi, but can’t be sure.
Actually, I think the classic brands of Sci Fi, Fantasy, and Horror have become blurred over the last several years. In an attempt to reach as wide an audience as possible, studios have crossed genres multiple times (in this example, GB is horror and comedy, with a sci fi bent).
Spec Fiction just works in my opinion. But to answer the question…
GB is Sci Fi.
It’s got laser beams! What else is there to say?
Only one thing else to say:
seems like a good litmus test to me so long as there all cool Blaster lasers, like Johnny five and not the laser that run’s my DVD player
Agreement, but additionally…
Cool science-based tech=SciFi
Just Paranormal (including tech that works on paranormal rules)=Not
Ghostbusters-Yep.
Poltergeist-Nope.
Hellboy-Yep.
Lestat-Nope.
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen-Yep
Blade-Nope (standard vampire killing tools with fancy delivery systems)
Buffy-Mostly I think nope… But there are Cyborgy thingies & human-animal hybrids… You tell me.
Meh. FTL isn’t fantasy?
The genre war has begun.
I would place Ghostbuster under the broad genre of Fantasy. Same with Star Wars. Where that line gets blurred for me is something like the Matrix. Although, the Matrix gets pushed closer to fantasy because of what Neo can do in the “real” world.
Sci-fi for me: Blade Runner, Star Trek, Mad Max, A Clockwork Orange…
BSG is also a perfect example. Is it the future, is it possible?
Sci-fi is actually an off-shoot of Fantasy so the lines often intersect, hence the sci-fi/fantasy genre 
It depends on how much of a purist you are. Me not so pure.
sciencefiction sci’ence-fic’tion (sī’əns-fĭk’shən) adj
n.
A literary or cinematic genre in which fantasy, typically based on speculative scientific discoveries or developments, environmental changes, space travel, or life on other planets, forms part of the plot or background.
Try to categorize these:
Jules Verne - early scifi or 19th century fairy tales?
Batman - he’s got lots of “speculative scientific” gadgets - is he, therefore, sci?
1984 - it’s got no high-tech stuff, but it is definitely a vision of the future (written in 1948)
Do NOT cross the streams! Its SF.
Isn’t SciFi extrapolation? If this is possible, then might not this be possible as well?
FTL is fantasy now. But black holes can possibly bend time. There may be other, more harnessable, ways.
And sure, BSG may be take place in an alternate universe, but that’s covered by quantum physics.
I’d place BSG squarely in SciFi.
Oh…
Or is that’s your point?
PS: Agreement-All Sci-Fi & Horror are subsets of Fantasy, the genre in which that which is impossible, happens.
In general, yeah, good definition. Pretty much the one I roll with.
BUT when someone starts throwing down, I drop back to “is it impossible given our current understanding of our 'verse?” So, that’s where I was coming from with the FTL quip.
Jules Verne—of which novel of his do you speak? Regardless, most of his works were regarding forms of travel that yet to be achieved in his lifetime—Air travel and submarines. So, in that context, yeah, it’s Sci-Fi.
Batman—no. is the technology far advanced of our own, and is it really “speculative?” No.
1984—never read, and never will. I have had too many conversations with too many stoners that went something like this: [insert stereotypical stoner voice] “It’s just like 1984 dude. Open your frackin’ eyes! The frackin’ [generic politician or government] trying to control you man….wake up!” INMO….Books+New Ideas=good. Books+rehashed political statement/ideology=Yawn.
woah, Lucky … 1984 WAS a pretty radical political idea when it came out! but never mind the political side, it’s worth reading because it’s THE dystopian vision! it’s such a bleak world, it made me shiver. or you could just skip all that and read the interogation scenes, awesome stuff, how they eventually break him … FIVE LIGHTS! compare further STTNG Chain of Command, Part II…
Well believe me, I might eventually give the book a chance, but to be honest I hate politics, and like I said, I have had fools trying to force a political viewpoint on me while they used this book as a justification. That kind of stuff, really, really irritates me, but no offense to people who enjoyed the book! From my limited knowledge of the book, it’s a cautionary story about totalitarian governments which sounds interesting enough, but now i stubbornly refuse to read the book as matter of principle.
You know, when you boil it all down it is ultimately Fiction or Non-fiction.
I have read a few pieces on the different breakouts of fiction and have come up with a fairly standard categorization:
Science fiction, fantasy, horror fiction, supernatural fiction and alternate history.
Although I understand someone saying, “scifi is part of fantasy” as the definition of fantasy is that which is not real. However, my analytical and process mind like the idea of the highest level, the parent being simply, “Fiction”. The sub-genres are peers of each other. There can be obvious confusion because many stories combine and overlap the sub-genres…however, they are distinct.
For reference for a conversation that I am sure will continue cast this post, I’ll create a small description of each type.
Science fiction - Speculation on future, science and technology (BSG)
Fantasy - Mythic, Magical, Other/parallel world (Lord of the Rings)
Horror - Things that make you go, “Aiieeeee!” (Halloween)
Supernatural - An occurrence in violation of the known laws of nature. (Ghost, Bruce Almighty)
Alternate history - Answers the question, “What if history developed differently?” (Time Bandits, Voyagers, Journeyman)
Well, think of it as a cautionary tale. A grim(m) fairy tale, if you will, rather than a political rant. It’s certainly something that every educated adult should have read. Definitely one of the most prescient books I’ve read, unfortunately.
There are some movies that fit neatly in a category. Star Trek is science ficture. Zoolander is a comedy. 3:10 to Yuma is a Western. But some movies straddle multiple genres. And Ghostbusters is an example. It’s probably first and foremost a Comedy, but it’s got Paranormal elements and sci fi elements.
So I guess I’d have to say, yes it is Sci Fi, but it’s not only a Sci Fi movie.
Incidently, I checked Netflix and it places Ghostbusters in these six categories:
Comedy
Action Comedies
Family Comedies
Alien Sci-Fi
Fantasy
Ages 11-12
-Thot