I’m embarrassed to say that I have encountered this, this particular type of story on multiple occasions… So I got curious, is there a name to this trope?

  • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    Star Wars is fantasy, not sci-fi. (Technically it’s a space opera, it not at all about science or how that science might impact society.)

    Just because there’s technology, or it’s post apocalyptic doesn’t make it not fantasy.

    Shanara chronicles, too.

    • CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      Shanara chronicles, too.

      Yep, they visit ruins in one series that is pretty clearly the ruins of Tacoma or some place like it.

      Terry Brooks happens to live in that area. Coincidence? :)

    • paddirn@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      Yeah, in my mind, Sci-fi is more than just space ships or aliens or futuristic tech (though those are loosely part of it), it’s more about exploring different questions, under the guise of some sort of new technology. “Hey, we invented this thing that can remove racism from people’s brains, but it also makes people love-obsessed and creates dependency issues in people. Should we use this on the population?” It raises moral/ethical questions about what we could or should do given the chance.

      Star Wars is straight-up fantasy with high-tech aesthetics, but it has more in common with Lord of the Rings than it does with anything sci-fi. It’s about a hero’s journey and good vs evil.

      I wonder if you couldn’t do a reverse Fantasy/Sci-fi story? Basically a sci-fi sort of story with fantasy trappings. Like a fantasy story that looks at some new magic development and what the implications for humanity are of that new magic process. “We perfected an alchemical process to turn poop into gold! Should we flood the market with poo-gold and crash the medieval economy?”