The Rhetoric Of Science Fiction
Essay Preview: The Rhetoric Of Science Fiction
Report this essay
Sutton and Sutton claim that Science Fiction is a “self-conscious form of myth in which man intentionally mythologizes scientific narrative” (Sutton 236). They begin to shed new light on what science fictions role is to technology. Most science fiction myths “deal with variety of relationships possible between the human and machine thinkers” (Sutton 236). The robot is a definitive representation of the refinement of technology. Robots are normally common in science fiction and ultimately define the humanistic approach between technology and myth.
To support their claim that science fiction is a specific form of mythology, Sutton and Sutton move deeper into their claim by quoting critics such as Levi-Strauss, Arthur C. Clarke, Rudolph Bultmann and Jung. Sutton and Sutton speak on views by Levi-Strauss and if we can accept it, “Levi-Strauss suggests that both myth and science be considered as modes of structuring the universe” (Sutton 231). In Clark’s short story “The Star”, Sutton and Sutton states “as myth, such a story is certainly conscious and literary than early myth…rather it is the mythology concocted for the delight of technological man” (Sutton 237). After speaking on the view of Bultmann, Sutton and Sutton explain, “an example of the reverse process is provided by science fiction in which the scientific mode of thought is intentionally mythologized” (Sutton 233). All of the many critics attempt to demonstrate how myth and science are, in many ways, quite similar. This helps Sutton and Sutton’s claim because science fiction to them is a form of mythology.
In their article “Science Fiction as Mythology,” Sutton and Sutton argue that science fiction works as a sort of self-conscious mythologya “mythology for the delight of technological man” (Sutton 237). Sutton and Sutton speak on the differences between myth and science and explain that both “provide an overview of existence