Harry Potter .. Fantasy or SciFi? by WakeupSoon

OTHER SCIENCE FICTION SERIES

Harry Potter .. Fantasy or SciFi?

POSTED BY: WAKEUPSOON
UPDATED: Monday, June 22, 2009 16:50
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VIEWED: 3590
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Sunday, May 31, 2009 1:46 PM

So, I was reading SFX earlier, and it stated that the next issue would include a Harry Potter argument. This really is one of my pet peeves .. Harry Potter IMHO is Fantasy, not Science-Fiction.

I was wondering what other people thought of this ...

~WuS
This is not my signature, I have to write this every time I post.
Smile && Nod, it makes it seem like you know what's going on.

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Sunday, May 31, 2009 1:52 PM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

If you are strict about the definition of Science Fiction, then HP is definitely not SF but Fantasy. However, the term sci-fi has long been used to group the two sub-genres together. Don't forget that Forrest Ackerman, the man who coined that term, was probably a bigger fan of horror and fantasy that he was of science fiction.

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Sunday, May 31, 2009 2:47 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

Weird Science might straddle the fence between fantasy and sci fi, but HP seems to be more almost exclusively fantasy,imo.

The T.Rex they call JANE!

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Monday, June 1, 2009 1:50 AM

WAKEUPSOON

See, to me its fantasy because it involves wizards/witches, and just magic in general. Its not SciFi coz there's no actual science in it .. its all explained by magic.

~WuS
This is not my signature, I have to write this every time I post.
Smile && Nod, it makes it seem like you know what's going on.

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Monday, June 1, 2009 2:15 AM

PENGUIN

Does that make BSG fantasy???

King of the Mythical Land that is Iowa

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Monday, June 1, 2009 5:26 AM

JONGSSTRAW

Quote:
Originally posted by ecgordon:
If you are strict about the definition of Science Fiction, then HP is definitely not SF but Fantasy. However, the term sci-fi has long been used to group the two sub-genres together. Don't forget that Forrest Ackerman, the man who coined that term, was probably a bigger fan of horror and fantasy that he was of science fiction.

Forrest Ackerman, the world's greatest fan & collector of sci fi & horror memorabilia. R.I.P. December, 2008

I recently got a bootleg DVD of 1964's The Time Travellers directed by Ib Melchior. Ackerman had a very tiny part in that movie as a technician.

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Tuesday, June 2, 2009 11:47 AM

IMNOTHERE

Quote:
Originally posted by WakeupSoon:
So, I was reading SFX earlier, and it stated that the next issue would include a Harry Potter argument.

Well, SFX (if its the same magazine I'm thinking of) has pretty much always covered SF, fantasy and horror without making much distinction.

Plus - where do you draw the line? There's precious little "hard SF" in film and TV. Star Wars is just as much fantasy as Harry Potter (white magic vs. black magic) ; Babylon 5 lifted huge chunks from "Lord of The Rings"; Star Trek regularly features godlike entities with no plausible scientific explanation (including, but not limited to, anything with Q in) not to mention all the "indistinguishable from magic" federation technology.

Lots of SF authors also write/wrote Fantasy (and vice versa) - off the top of my head: Greg Bear (and he's generally regarded as a hard SF author), Stephen Donaldson, CS Lewis (!), Richard Morgan, Terry Pratchett, Andre Norton, Anne McCaffrey, Ursula Le Guin, EE "Doc" Smith (...feel free to join in - heck, they practically all swing both ways!)

Plus... superheroes... Fantasy or Sci Fi? (There's only one way to find out: FIGHT!!!!)

I suppose you could stay simplistic: if its got a dragon in it, its fantasy - if its got a spaceship in it its SciFi (er, did I mention Anne McCaffery...?)

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Tuesday, June 2, 2009 1:55 PM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

Quote:
Originally posted by WakeupSoon:
See, to me its fantasy because it involves wizards/witches, and just magic in general. Its not SciFi coz there's no actual science in it .. its all explained by magic.

I refer you to Arthur C. Clarke's famous quote: "Any sufficiently advanced technology
is indistiguishable from magic."

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Tuesday, June 2, 2009 2:25 PM

LEOPARDFLAN

My distinction between the two is how everything is explained. Harry Potter is totally fantasy, because NOTHING in the world is explained by superior technology. Anna McCaffery would be sci-fi, since all the explainations involve technology (even the dragons are a result of tech, not magic)... If you've got stuff involving both, then it's a mix (Like Triplet, by Timothy Zahn- alternate dimensions, one of them involving super-tech, the other involving demons). I'd also have to say that stuff involving demons would have to be fantasy (as well as sci-fi, depending on the story, but it has to have fantasy). Gods can also be sci-fi (like in Star Trek, they're the result of super-tech; superior beings). Kinda iffy, but given the overall sci-fi trend, I just like to classify that as sci-fi...

Hope ya'll are able to make sense of my ramblings!

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Wednesday, June 3, 2009 11:11 AM

IMNOTHERE

Quote:
Originally posted by LeopardFlan:
Anna McCaffery would be sci-fi, since all the explainations involve technology (even the dragons are a result of tech, not magic)...

I think my point was not that you couldn't tell the difference, but that there was a huge crossover and a lot of major authors had a foot in both camps (as, I suspect, do lots of fans*). The Pern books are generally accepted as SciFi - but I'm pretty sure that she has done other books that are more overtly fantasy (the other authors I mentioned certainly have).

I still think Star Wars is an interesting case - mainly because its so easy to imagine exactly the same story done with knights, castles and good & bad wizards.

I'm afraid that Trek does periodically include plain omnipotent beings with not even a particle-of-the-week explanation (Q in the spin-offs, various greek gods etc. in TOS).

Then your superheroes come and cover every point of the spectrum from gods and magic talismen through implausibly-fit humans to mutants and aliens.

(* E.g. I hear some people around here are simultaneously fans of some SciFi show about space outlaws 500 years in the future and some comedy-drama about a lapsed cheerleader who kills vampires. Even that they're written by the same guu. Does that seem right to you?)

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Wednesday, June 3, 2009 12:36 PM

LEOPARDFLAN

Quote:
Originally posted by ImNotHere:

I still think Star Wars is an interesting case - mainly because its so easy to imagine exactly the same story done with knights, castles and good & bad wizards.

Lolz, yeah. I'm inclined to classify it as as just sci-fi, mostly just because it's in a super-tech universe (and the Force could be a psychic, or ESP, thing, rather than magic- and that's been scientifically examined... small thing, but I think it makes a diff with my classification)

But yeah, if it were done in a diff setting, then it would totally be fantasy...

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Wednesday, June 3, 2009 1:42 PM

TRAVELER

Who is to say what technology is in a magic wand.
Whouldn't River's psychic powers be considered fantasy? These two worlds often melt together.

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
Traveler

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Wednesday, June 3, 2009 1:45 PM

LEOPARDFLAN

Nah- Psychic = ESP = scientifically researched and documented. Therefore, sci-fi :P

But yeah, I see your point...

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Wednesday, June 3, 2009 1:55 PM

TRAVELER

What technology does psychic powers use?

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
Traveler

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Wednesday, June 3, 2009 1:57 PM

LEOPARDFLAN

The technology of the mind- brain chemicals, electrical impulses, and such.

My point is that ESP (or psychic powers) are scientifically validated, so therefore fit in with sci-fi

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Wednesday, June 3, 2009 5:30 PM

TRAVELER

Well I wish they put those chemicals in meterologist's brains so we get an accurate weather forecast once in a while.

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
Traveler

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Wednesday, June 3, 2009 5:41 PM

LEOPARDFLAN

Lolz XD

But it's too much fun to make fun of them when they're wrong! XD

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Wednesday, June 3, 2009 6:47 PM

TRAVELER

That's true.

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
Traveler

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Wednesday, June 3, 2009 11:33 PM

MALSNARA

Yes Harry Potter is fantasy but what you seem to be forgetting is that SFX isn't just a science fiction magazine - it also covers fantasy. Therefore Harry Potter is allowed to be there.

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Sunday, June 7, 2009 9:48 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Those winged mini-dragon things they ride are not scifi. This ain't another verse or Earth's prehistory.
Can anybody specify any part of HP which would be Sci Fi?
And don't give give me garbage about witches, I'm from Madison, WI - wiccan capital of the midwest.

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Sunday, June 7, 2009 10:11 PM

SHINYGOODGUY

HP is pure fantasy. Were he and his friends to meet up with Buck Rodgers in the 25th and a half Century, then maybe it could be considered Sci-Fi.

SGG

Tawabawho?

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Friday, June 19, 2009 4:24 AM

QUAINT

ok you are all being silly http://www.sfx.co.uk/ this is the magazines website they state they cover sci-fi AND Fantasy, they also cover horror are you going to bash them for that?

my good friends gets this magazine every month it has ALWAYS covered fantasy so harry potter is allowed to be there. enough of this debate the magazine covers fantasy and shall continue to do so.

if you want pure sci-fi don't read the magazine simple as that.

"wacky fun"

please help a fellow browncoat out and join the forum he's started http://www.phpbbserver.com/fireflyforums/portal.php?mforum=fireflyforu
ms much thanks

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Friday, June 19, 2009 5:49 AM

WASHNWEAR

Quote:
Originally posted by Shinygoodguy:
HP is pure fantasy. Were he and his friends to meet up with Buck Rodgers in the 25th and a half Century, then maybe it could be considered Sci-Fi.

SGG

Tawabawho?

SciFi? Fantasy? I thought that whole thing was a 7-part non-fiction biography...

donttalkbackjustdrivethecarshutyourmouthiknowwhatyouaredontsaynothinkeepyourhandsonthewheeldontturnaroundthisisforreal

Still...what would Dumbledore do?

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Monday, June 22, 2009 12:06 PM

SHINYGOODGUY

Agreed....SFX is the Earth's Greatest SF and Fantasy Magazine (according to their banner), but I thought the question was what type of animal is HP and I voted on the fantasy ticket.

With the aforementioned banner, SFX has every right to include the young wizard in their coverage. I happen to have enjoyed the books immensely (I still have yet to read them all) so I have no problem with that. Actually I don't read the magazine.

Fantasy, when done right, could be as enjoyable as good SF. Having said that, do any of the HP movies hold a candle to Serenity?

SGG

Tawabawho?

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Monday, June 22, 2009 12:08 PM

SHINYGOODGUY

LOL WnW, you slay me!

The LMAOSGGisall

Tawabawho?

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Monday, June 22, 2009 4:50 PM

WASHNWEAR

Quote:
Originally posted by Shinygoodguy:
LOL WnW, you slay me!

The LMAOSGGisall

Tawabawho?

Thank you, thank you, I do what I can! I'll be here all week...PLEASE - tip your waitress!

donttalkbackjustdrivethecarshutyourmouthiknowwhatyouaredontsaynothinkeepyourhandsonthewheeldontturnaroundthisisforreal

Still...what would Rorschach do?

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