Why Sci Fi is a Mirror on Society Essay Example

Science fiction is a mirror to the important issues humanity’s facing. We invent, prevent, wound, and heal; but never take the time to think of what the consequences of our actions are, and how they’re affecting us. Sci-Fi is our path to seeing the harsh truth we refuse to accept, that we’ve made mistakes, that we have things we need to fix now before it’s too late! To dive deeper into these stories and see the bigger picture, we need to find the allegory to every Sci-Fi story we read and tie it into our current day problems.

This genre is all about showing the bigger picture, and changing your vision of this rapidly changing world. Some may say that the main purpose of Sci-Fi is to invent and prevent. However, everything in life has a deeper meaning to it, and Sci-Fi is no different. That deeper meaning is the wake-up call to humanity. Exploring this deeper meaning, also known as an allegory, gives the stories so much more meaning. Take The Veldt by Ray Bradbury as an example of a Sci-Fi story with various allegories, as the mother Lydia said: “That’s just it. I feel like I don’t belong here. The house is wife and mother now, and nursemaid. Can I compete with an African veldt? Can I give a bath and scrub the children as efficiently or quickly as the automatic scrub bath can? I cannot.”.  Consequently, the concept of “family” is dying away; therefore some are losing their sense of belonging, and the situation is only aggravating! 

Sadly, family disintegration is becoming a huge issue in today’s society. Oftentimes, many parents are busy at work (not paying attention to their children), moreover the children make up for that lack of attention by spending hours on social media, hoping that it’ll “replace” their parents. Consequently, when everybody’s home, everyone is on electronics, eating takeout, and no one gets the chance to be heard. Ordinarily, others disagree and believe that talking to your family occasionally like an outsider is normal, and that it’s slowly becoming the new norm. Nonetheless, that’s why it needs to be solved right away! The concept of family is dying out, and we’re headed towards a gruesome world of loneliness. Do you believe that that’s normal? Should everyone just live on their own with zero family interaction?

Furthermore, others say that there’s no such thing as a kid with feelings, “they’re just a foolish species that needs to be bribed”; but that’s so inaccurate! As a matter of fact, a person’s childhood shapes 90% of their emotional well-being (according to various scientific studies in psychology) when they reach adulthood. So you as a parent could be raising an overall happy human being that has his/her feelings acknowledged, who is understood, and knows that they’re worthy of love and attention. Or you could be raising a person that’s lost their interest in life, who doesn’t believe they’re worthy of love and attention, and then gets on a vicious cycle of numbing their feelings. Dramatically, if they lose purpose, it’s all because no one took the time to try to understand them, let them open up about their true feelings, and say how they’re doing. Goes without saying that family disintegration can be avoided simply by taking the time to listen and understand one another; and to take the time to express your feelings. Science fiction amazingly illustrates this issue in the best way possible, if only we look a bit closer.

Convincingly, science fiction boldly illustrates today’s major issues of humanity. Nevertheless, it’s commonly said that Sci-Fi is a peculiar genre that’s quite boring, and I used to be one of these people. Strikingly, after learning more about what science fiction conveys and how diverse it really is, I’ve come to the conclusion that Sci-Fi is listlessly mirroring the catastrophic future we’re heading towards if we don’t fix our problems immediately! Additionally, although I spoke about family disintegration most of the time, Sci-Fi also emphasizes societal issues such as: increasing depression rates, increased teenage suicide, higher drug addiction rates, and overall deteriorating emotional health. What’s nerve wrecking is that it’s only getting worse! Presumably, these are all correlated to family disintegration. This is because family is what makes or breaks a person, nurtures or crushes a child’s skills, and most importantly it builds or vanquishes future generations. To support my point, Octavia E. Butler’s Bloodchild stated (what Gan said when his mother had some of a “fertilized egg”): “I would like to have touched my mother, shared that moment with her. She would take my hand if I touched her now. Freed by the egg and the sting, she would smile and perhaps say things long held in. But tomorrow, she would remember all this as a humiliation. I did not want to be part of a remembered humiliation.” Accordingly, the sense of family most of us have is demolishing. Our positive emotions are being hindered by sadness, anger, stress, and loneliness. This lack of emotion is truly going to hurt us all, not only emotionally, but also physically. Notwithstanding, being vulnerable, caring about your loved ones, and truly raising a good future generation is our only hope of surviving the emotional crisis we’re facing.

The guidebook to fixing our problems and giving hope to future generations is using Sci-Fi as a tool to undo the damage we’ve done to ourselves. Its main purpose isn’t to invent and prevent, but to illustrate life’s true meaning and to raise awareness of the problems we face. Dear reader, if you were to learn one thing from my paper, it would be for you to care for your family; be it you’re a mother, a father, a child, a relative, or even a grandparent. Just let them know that you care, that they can count on you, and that you’re always there for them.