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[starlin_elvea]

Now I'm interested in the connection between genre and popularity.

A recurrent theme in my data is that fantasy is more accessible to readers than science fiction, therefore it is more popular (in the sense of "more people like it"). There are various variations of this theme, e.g. saying that in science fiction, the "science" element acts as a "

Comments

[unless_spring]

While many people tell SF and fantasy apart by "furniture" (e.g. does it have dragons or spaceships?), there was an interesting argument made at the World Fantasy Convention that the distinction between these two genres is the worldview they promote. I have an article on my website that sums up the discussion (http://www.geekitude.com/gl/public_html/article.php?story=20070117213559763), but the link isn't working, since my website is hosed for the indefinite future. But here is an excerpt:

Walter Jon Williams. I think there's an ideological difference between science fiction and fantasy. In Tolkien's "On fairy tales" he discussed a eucatastrophe, which we would call "a happy ending". Even when the quest has failed and Frodo has taken the ring for his own, and the Dark Lord has found out that the ring is right here, and reaches for it, Gollum interferes and saves the day. And then Frodo and Sam are stuck on the Mount Orodruin that's crumbling all around them, and it looks like there's no way they can escape a certain death in its destruction, but the eagles swoop in and fly them to safety.

One of the ideological statements of fantasy is that the universe is benign, and that it will arrange itself in happy endings. Science fiction says that the universe is neutral, and it can be manipulated into a happy or a bad outcome. And then there is a worldview that the universe is malevolent, and Cthulhu will rise, and he either will step on your or won't step on you, but it's not gonna be happy.

Janine Young. If [the world will come to an end because the] Sun's gonna go out, or magnetic poles are going to switch, that's science. You can't do anything about it. But in fantasy we can blame it on Sauron, and it is possible to defeat Sauron. A lot of fantasy writers use fantasy to present moral absolutes. It's hard to have a grey area in fantasy. But in SF it's easy. You say it's science! what are you gonna do?