Space opera
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Space opera is a subgenre of speculative fiction or science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing powerful (and sometimes quite fanciful) technologies and abilities. Perhaps the most significant trait of space opera is that settings, characters, battles, powers, and themes tend to be very large-scale.
Before the 1970s, the term space opera was used in a negative sense, to denote bad quality science fiction, but over time it changed meaning, to describe a particular science fiction genre, without any value judgment.
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[edit] Changing definition
As David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer note in their 2006 anthology of space operas, "there is no general agreement as to what [space opera] is, which writers are the best examples, or even which works are space opera".[1] They further note that space opera has had several key and different definitions throughout its history; definitions that were significantly affected by literary politics.[1] They note that "what used to be science fantasy is now space opera, and what used to be space opera is entirely forgotten."[1]
Early in its history, the term space opera was a pejorative term for the worst, "really bad" SF, and this definition of space opera remained in force till about the 1970s.[1] In 1941, science fiction fan Bob Tucker (who was also science fiction writer Wilson Tucker) coined the term "space opera" (by analogy to "horse opera" and "soap opera") to describe what he characterized as "the hacky, grinding, stinking, outworn space-ship yarn, or world-saving [story] for that matter."[2][1] In other words, many works that today would be termed "space operas", would not have been called by that name originally.[1]
Beginning in the 1960s, and widely accepted by the 1970s, the space opera was redefined, following Brian Aldiss' definition in Space Opera (1974) as "the good old stuff": adventure stories set in space.[1] Yet soon after his redefinition, it begun to be challenged, by writers such as Leigh Brackett, Lester del Rey and Judy-Lynn del Rey.[1] In particular, they disputed the claims that space operas were obsolete.[1] By early 1980s, space operas—adventure stories set in space—were redefined, and the label attached to major popculture works such as Star Wars.[1] It was only in the early 1990s that the term space opera begun to be universally recognized as a legitimate genre of science fiction.[1] As Hartwell and Cramer note, since then, space opera means "colorful, dramatic, large-scale science fiction adventure, competently and sometimes beautifully written, usually focused on a sympathetic, heroic central character and plot action and usually set in the relatively distant future and in space or on other worlds characteristically optimistic in tone. It often deals with war, piracy, military virtues and very large-scale action, large stakes."[1]
[edit] History of space opera
Space opera in its most familiar form was a product of 1930s-40s pulp magazines.[citation needed] Like early science fiction in general, space opera borrowed extensively from established adventure, crime, and thriller genres. Notable influences included stories that described adventures on exotic or uncivilized frontiers, e.g. the American West, Africa, or the Orient.[citation needed] The imagined future of space opera included immense space liners, intrepid explorers of unknown worlds, pirates of the spaceways, and tough but incorruptible space police.
Elements of space opera can be found in late Victorian and Edwardian science fiction, for example, in the works of Percy Greg, Garrett P. Serviss, George Griffith, and Robert Cromie.[3] Authors who wrote stories related to the genre, such as Star ou Psi de Cassiopée: Histoire Merveilleuse de l’un des Mondes de l’Espace (1854) by C. I. Defontenay and Lumen (1872) by Camille Flammarion in France.
The first space opera story is generally considered to be Robert William Cole's The Struggle for Empire: A Story of the Year 2236.[4] The novel depicts an interstellar conflict between solar men of Earth and a fierce humanoid race headquartered on Sirius. The idea for the novel arises out of a nationalistic genre of fiction popular from 1880-1914, called future war fiction.[5] but mixes this genre with Wellsian science fiction to create a true space opera.[citation needed]
Despite this seemingly early beginning, it was not until the late 1920s that the space opera proper began to appear regularly in the pulp magazines such as Weird Tales and Amazing Stories.[1] Unlike earlier stories of space adventure, which either related the invasion of Earth by extraterrestrials, or concentrated on the invention of a space vehicle by a genius inventor, pure space opera simply took space travel for granted (usually by setting the story in the far future), skipped the preliminaries, and launched straight into tales of derring-do among the stars. The first stories of this type were J. Schlossel's The Second Swarm (Spring 1928) in Amazing Stories Quarterly and Edmond Hamilton's Crashing Suns (August-September 1928) and The Star Stealers (February 1929) in Weird Tales.[citation needed] Similar stories by other writers followed through 1929 and 1930; by 1931 the space opera was well-established as a dominant sub-genre of science fiction.[citation needed]
The transition from the older space-voyage story to the space opera can be seen in the works of E. E. Smith. His first published work, The Skylark of Space (August-October 1928, Amazing Stories), merges the traditional tale of a scientist inventing a space-drive with science fantasy or planetary romance in the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs;[1] but by the time of the sequel, Skylark Three (August-October 1930, Amazing Stories) which introduces the spacefaring race of the Fenachrone, Smith had moved closer to a modern space opera mode.[citation needed]
E. E. Smith's later Lensman series and the works of Edmond Hamilton, John W. Campbell, and Jack Williamson in the 1930s and 1940s were popular with readers and much imitated by other writers. By the early 1940s, the repetitiousness and extravagance of some of these stories led to objections from some fans and the coining of the term in its original, pejorative sense.
Eventually, though, a fondness for the best examples of the genre led to a reevaluation of the term and a resurrection of some of the subgenre's traditions. Writers such as Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson had kept the large-scale space adventure form alive through the 1950s, followed by writers like M. John Harrison and C. J. Cherryh in the 1970s. By this time, "space opera" was for many readers no longer a term of insult but a simple description of a particular kind of science fiction adventure story.[1]
According to author Paul J. McAuley, a number of mostly British writers began to reinvent space opera in the 1970s[6] (although non-British critics tend to dispute the British claim to dominance in the new space opera arena[1]). Significant events in this process include the publication of M. John Harrison's The Centauri Device in 1975; a "call to arms" editorial by David Pringle and Colin Greenland in Interzone[6]; and the financial success of Star Wars, which closely follows many traditional space opera conventions.[1] This "new space opera", which evolved around the same time cyberpunk emerged and was influenced by it, is darker, moves away from the "triumph of mankind" template of space opera, involves newer technologies, and has stronger characterization than the space opera of old. While it does retain the interstellar scale and scope of traditional space opera, it can also be scientifically rigorous.
The new space opera was a reaction against the old. New space opera proponents claim that the genre centers on character development, fine writing, high literary standards, verisimilitude, and a moral exploration of contemporary social issues. McAuley and Michael Levy[7] identify Iain M. Banks,[6] Stephen Baxter,[6] M. John Harrison,[6] Alastair Reynolds,[6] McAuley himself,[6] Ken MacLeod, Peter F. Hamilton, and Justina Robson as the most notable practitioners of the new space opera.
[edit] Definitions by contrast
Some critics distinguish between space opera and planetary romance.[8] Where space opera grows out of both the Western and sea adventure traditions,[citation needed] the planetary romance grows out of the lost world or lost civilization tradition.[citation needed] Both feature adventures in exotic settings, but space opera emphasizes space travel, while planetary romances focus on alien worlds. In this view, the Martian-, Venusian-, and lunar-setting stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs would be planetary romances (and among the earliest), as would be Leigh Brackett's Burroughs-influenced Eric John Stark stories.
Space opera can also be contrasted with "hard science fiction", in which the emphasis is on the effects of technological progress and inventions, and where the settings are carefully worked out to obey the laws of physics, cosmology, mathematics, and biology. There is, however (according to some), no sharp division between hard science fiction and true space opera.[citation needed]
One subset of space opera overlaps with military science fiction, concentrating on large-scale space battles with futuristic weapons. In such stories, the military tone and weapon system technology may be taken very seriously. At one extreme, the genre is used to speculate about future wars involving space travel, or the effects of such a war on humans; at the other it consists of the use of military fiction plots with some superficial science fiction trappings.
[edit] Assessment
Throughout years 1982-2002, and possibly throughout most of its history, the Hugo Award for best novel has commonly been awarded to space opera.[1]
[edit] Parodies
Fredric Brown's What Mad Universe has as its protagonist a sober-headed science fiction magazine editor who suddenly finds himself transported to an alternate history timeline where all the Space opera clichés (a larger-than-life space hero fighting evil aliens who are totally bent on humanity's destruction, etc.) are concrete, daily life realities.
Harry Harrison's Bill, the Galactic Hero parodies the conventions of classic space opera.[9] The 1987 film Spaceballs, directed and co-written by Mel Brooks, is a Star Wars parody with many space opera characteristics.[citation needed] The American animated television series Futurama, created by Matt Groening, plays with the space opera genre from time to time,[citation needed] for example in the over-the-top military officer Zapp Brannigan.
[edit] Examples
Space opera is a popular genre across many media, including novels, short stories, film, television and video games.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r David G. Hartwell, Kathryn Cramer, The Space Opera Renaissance, Tor Books, ISBN 0765306174. Introduction, p.10-18
- ^ Tucker, Wilson (January 1941). "Suggestion Dept". Le Zombie 4 (1 (36)): 9. http://www.midamericon.org/tucker/lez36i.htm.
- ^ See E. F. Bleiler, Science Fiction, the Early Years, Kent State University Press, 1990, pp. 147-48.
- ^ See Everett Franklin Bleiler, Richard Bleiler, Science-fiction, the Early Years: A Full Description of More Than 3,000 Science-fiction Stories from Earliest Times to the Appearance of the Genre Magazines in 1930 : with Author, Title, and Motif Indexes, Kent State University Press, 1990, p. 147
- ^ I.F. Clarke, Future-War Fiction: The First Main Phase, 1871-1900, Science Fiction Studies, #73 = Volume 24, Part 3 = November 1997
- ^ a b c d e f g See Paul J. McAuley, "Junkyard Universes," Locus, August 2003
- ^ See Michael Levy, "Cyberpunk Versus the New Space Opera" in Voice of Youth Advocates Vol. 31, No. 2 (June 2008), p. 132-3
- ^ SF Citations for OED, "Planetary romance"
- ^ Lilley, Ernest (August 2003). "Review". SFRevu. http://www.sfrevu.com/ISSUES/2003/0308/Space%20Opera%20Redefined/Review.htm. Retrieved on 2009-02-28.
[edit] Further reading
- Dave Langford: "Fun With Senseless Violence," in The Silence of the Langford (NESFA Press, 1996, ISBN 0-915368-62-5)
- Michael Levy: "Cyberpunk Versus the New Space Opera," in Voice of Youth Advocates Vol. 31, No. 2 (June 2008), p. 132-3
[edit] External links
- David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, "How Shit Became Shinola: Definition and Redefinition of Space Opera"
- Locus, August 2003: Special section on "The New Space Opera." Articles by Russell Letson & Gary K. Wolfe, Ken MacLeod, Paul J. McAuley, Gwyneth Jones, M. John Harrison, and Stephen Baxter. Interview with Alastair Reynolds. Interview with Charles Stross.
- The entry on Space Opera from the Grollier Multimedia Encyclopedia of Science Fiction by John Clute and Peter Nicholls, 1995.
- Gary Westfahl's chapter on Space Opera in The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, ed. Farah Mendlesohn & Edward James, Cambridge University Press, 2003.
- Interview with M. John Harrison, Locus, December 2003. Harrison discusses his view of the nature of space opera in depth.
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