Jovan Caggiano
12/14/16
Cover letter
Dear Professor Belli,
While in the course of writing this draft I thought that it would be easy to find sources to write about. While picking through sources I realized that most of the ones that I would be using were primary sources and I needed secondary sources to complete this draft. While searching for them I realized that maybe my topic as interesting as I think it is not something that is widely discussed among the science fiction community. Most of the works that I “thought” I had turned out to be irrelevant to my topic because they were either not based in political science fiction or they just didn’t have the substance that I was looking for.
While I was looking into more research on political science fiction I realized that most of it pulled you into the topic of dystopia and utopia ideology. I felt that if I were to incorporate that into my topic it would be overly broad and throw me off my topic. While doing my outline for this draft I realized that after I eliminated the sources that would not be of use to me, I am only left with a few primary sources and the secondary sources that I do have are hard to obtain because they are located in a book that is not available from Cuny.
This draft process I think was a reality check to me that I need more sources because without them I just won’t be able to have a complete essay that will have many details. This draft that I have is not complete because of this fact, however I did go into detail with the sources that I will be using.
Jovan Caggiano
Prof. Belli
Science Fiction
December 14th, 2016
The Controlling Power
The genre of science fiction has the ability to open the mind up to scenarios that may be foreign but in the future may be possible. One of the scenarios that science fiction has introduced its readers to are realities where the current government or social structure has taken a turn for the worst, or changed the direction of the society just by making a split decision. Politics in science fiction does many things for the reader, some examples being; it offers a view of how the government would react in certain situations, it also prepares the readers for things that may happen in the future and different outcomes to their reactions. Science Fiction introduces hypothetical situations in politics that affords readers information that will allow them to be rational as well as prepared shall the time ever come where these changes happen. With the change in politics comes changes in characters that are subject to the changes throughout a work of literature. With the immense powers of a politician or political figure, come the ability to influence and change a society and alter their behavior as well as their beliefs.
The scenery in some science fiction literature is not always explained, we simply enter into the lives of the characters after a mental or physical change. A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley draws upon a reality where groups of people are distinguished. There are the groups of savages that have been separated because they live by their own rules and are different from the civilized people in many lifestyle choices. Within the group of civilized people, there are also further breakdowns of their population. For example, there is a cast system that consists of different levels of social statuses. By different levels of social status, each person who is “hatched” knows who their equals, their lesser, are and their superiors, as well as knowing who to interact with and how to respond to each other. This knowledge of social structure and beliefs is not something that is instinctual, in fact it is something that is taught, altered, and effectively put into play by the political figures in charge. In a Brave New World, Mustapha Mond is the head politician of the civilized people and their compound, next comes the director who oversees day to day operations. The control in which is emphasized by the politicians in their government is so immense, that the alterations begin before birth. While on a trip to the dispensary, the director emphasizes just how much control they have with a single statement, “The surrogate goes around slower; therefore passing through the lung at longer intervals; therefore giving the embryo less oxygen. Nothing like oxygen shortage to keep an embryo under par”. In the position of power, the director with the approval and the compliance of the people who operate under him as well as Mustapha Mind, decide someone's fate before they were even born. That alone examples absolute control over their subjects. To everyone else who is a part of the world state, this is completely normal because this is all they have ever known. The world state knows that they are different from the savages because unlike the savages they are civilized according to their leaders. However, it is never established what it means to be civilized, just that it means “other”. The approach in this case to the other is to isolate them and send them away where they cannot affect the population with their differences. Other than the isolation of the savages, Bernard, Helmholtz and John, are sent away because they are different and the politicians cannot allow them to disrupt the order in which they have maintained their version of civilization.
Sometimes in literature, the perspective of the narrator allows for the reader to see how gradually changes occur within the government. Little brother by Cory Doctorow allows for just that type of narration. Through the eyes of the main character Marcus Yalow, the reader sees how politicians rules, guidelines and interference changes his as well as many others lives. After a terrorist attack, the government decides that they have the right to unduly implement themselves into the lives of everyone who lives in San Francisco. However at this time, there is an uproar of hacktivism going on and protests from the younger generations of people demanding to be given their rights back.
"It's our goddamned city! It's our goddamned country. No terrorist can take it from us for so long as we're free. Once we're not free, the terrorists win! Take it back! Take it back! You're young enough and stupid enough not to know that you can't possibly win, so you're the only ones who can lead us to victory! Take it back!"
Often in science fiction literature, when the government starts to abuse its power, there are people who are in direct opposition and refuse to stay quiet. In each situation when the government encounters a catastrophe, they deal with it differently. In this situation the government decides to deal with the problem by establishing authority and abolishing people’s rights to free will. While doing so it causes people to be overwhelmed with this new authority called the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Considering this new power is foreign to the people of San Francisco, they all have different reactions which causes different effects. For example, the previous quote was derived from a peaceful protest that turned violent when the foreign law enforcement intruded on a celebration causing a riot to break out. There are also times within the book in which some people are actually happy about the presence of DHS and welcome their “protection”. "What's the big deal? Would you rather have privacy or terrorists?” Having politics change your surroundings to their comfort can come in many forms and can be brought on by many ways. Each person reacts different to change, but in this instance science fiction is exploring what it would be like when change is forced upon people. Like the previous quote, some people would see it as a lesser of two evils, while others may fight it or be completely overwhelmed by the sudden changes.
- For the Following sources, I am waiting on a copy of Hassler, Donald M., and Clyde Wilcox. Political Science Fiction. Columbia, SC: U of South Carolina, 1997. Print. Within this book are 16 secondary sources that I will be using and discussing in my project.
- I will also be watching Mr. Robot and Avatar.
Sources:
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World: And, Brave New World Revisited. New York: HarperCollins, 2004. Print. (24)
Doctorow, Cory. Little Brother. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2008. Print. (55, 72)
Hassler, Donald M., and Clyde Wilcox. Political Science Fiction. Columbia, SC: U of South Carolina, 1997. Print.