Speculative Fiction (1 Viewer)

[chenaniggans14]

Hey guys.... really need some help with this

"Speculative fiction locates us in places of controversy but also familiarity"

My texts were Handmaids Tale, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Star Wars IV: A new Hope along with the Wizard of Earthsea.

Its in the form of an essay... and I'm mainly stuck because handmaids tale is very tedious and takes some understanding.

Any suggestions and tips are very welcome and helpful!

Thanks

(You can either post it here or email me directly at cheyanne.girvan@education.nsw.gov.au)

 

[centuriancode]

I don't know Handmaid's Tale, but I know the rest.

LoTR was Tolkien despairing over how industrialisation was destroying the green areas and forests that he loved and can also be read as commenting on World War 1 (Tolkien specifically stated that he wasn't trying to write about WW1, but you can still draw parallels), so the controversy was about the advancement of the new to destroy the old, and the familiarity was that even though it was set in another world it reflected the real world.

Star Wars is a classic Hero's Journey in the form of a Space Opera. I'd say that it's a pro-America story in which the controversy is about how to deal with tyranny and the answer is the heroic American way with all of the sickeningly patriotic themes that you'd expect. Again, reflection of real world.

Wizard of Earthsea, apart from being an excellent book (lucky you getting to study it), is about how to understand and accept yourself. Looks a lot at the human condition ("weak/wicked as women's magic" is often repeated by the Masters of Roke), which is the controversy, and the familiarity is that Ged faces essentially the same emotional/personal problems that everyone else does even though he's magical. Look carefully at the final passages where it explains the name of the gebbeth and why Ged didn't need to hide his name from the world. In the sequels, the series looks at how modern society is less community minded and more insular as well as how people's desire for certainty is killing off the mystery of the world.

The question is weird, though, because it says "but". Controversies are inherintly familiar - otherwise we wouldn't find them controversial. As such, if Speculative Fiction places us in controversy, then it has to place us in familiar settings. I think that the question means "Speculative Fiction reflects the familiar world in order to examine controversy", but you'd want to check that.

Just one last thing, I didn't think Speculative Fiction was on the HSC syllabus anymore. I thought it had been replaced by Science Fiction. You might want to check that as well.

 

[chenaniggans14]

Yeah its not on the HSC list anymore and yes i am doing science fiction... this is just a follow up on my prelim yearly exam (it was an exam question and my teacher wanted me to do it again even though i passed it).

Ana thank you for the help!