Help with english language coursework, please.

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2003-07-27 03:53pm

You can move it if this is the wrong forum.

i have been reading your forum for a few weeks (although not participated) and i find some of the ideas you guys have here to be very interesting.

so, anyway, after the ass kissing is up the point of the post.

I currently doing an A level english paper studying language, and the title for my paper is "the language of science fiction and how it creates the illusion of futurism"... so yeah, i am basically looking for any essays and that sort that look into this subject, or just generally look into the language used in science fiction. I am asking your help cos google can only help so much when researching and i was wondering if anywhere in the vast repository of brains here any of you guys may have some useful links (or even smart words of advice)

Any help will be appreciated and credit given where due also.

Thanks in advance.

Companion Cube · Post by **Companion Cube** » 2003-07-27 03:59pm

Yeah, this is probably the right place to post this. As for advice, i can't really think of any right now, but good luck with your paper.

InnerBrat · Post by **InnerBrat** » 2003-07-27 04:00pm

Would 1984 and Babel 17 help?

Yes, I know they're books about language, but they may still be useful...

Sorry, I'll shut up now

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-07-27 04:02pm

Something relevant from Ebert's review of Ghost in the Shell:

The movie has a tendency, as does a lot of traditional science fiction, for its characters to talk in concepts and abstract information. Sample dialogue: ``Aside from a slight brain augmentation, your body's almost entirely human.'' Or, ``If a cyber could create its own ghost, what would be the purpose of being human?'' Or (my favorite), ``You're treated like other humans, so stop with the angst!''

I think this has something to do with what you're getting at.

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2003-07-27 04:03pm

Yeh thats the kinda thing i need, anychance of a source for that quote?

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-07-27 04:08pm

Sure.

http://suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews ... 04122.html

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2003-07-27 04:14pm

thanks

Singular Quartet · Post by **Singular Quartet** » 2003-07-27 04:15pm

Durran Korr wrote:Sure.

http://suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews ... 04122.html

I am, at present, highly tempted to start bitching about that review, because it has bits and piecies wrong... but... nah, I'm to lazy.

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-07-27 05:40pm

You got the doublespeak down pat.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2003-07-27 07:22pm

Look for "technobabble terms" on Mike's site. He discusses this in several pages, but the general idea is that they use scientific terms for unscientific concepts to create the illusion of science.

Other writers (ie. Not in ST), do something a little more sophisticated. Some of them reveal wondrous technology or spectacular achievements of science, and have characters discuss things in a "ho-hum" sort of way, showing that this incredible technology is now simply a way of life. Alduous Huxley's Brave New World uses this to great effect in the first few chapters. Even though we (the readers) are impressed by some of their technical achievements, none of the characters within the book take particular notice of anything--excepting, of course, John Savage.

Ideally, a writer would use a combination of these two techniques, but would use actual scientific terms to describe actual scientific achievements. Unfortunately, this is almost never done. The fact of the matter is the science fiction generally seeks to take us so far into the future as to make our current understanding of physics and technology grossly inadequate to properly describe, or even theorize, about how technologies within the work of fiction could actually operate.

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2003-07-28 02:58pm

thanks ossus, i just read through mikes essays, they were quite helpful