After watching this weekâs lecture on New Wave SF and Star Trek and completing the assigned readings, write at least 250 words summarizing your notes and copy-and-paste your summary into a comment made to this post. Focus on what stands out to you, what were some of the important points that I made, what were interesting elements in the readings, connections between the readings and other SF that you know, etc. Remember, the weekly writing assignment is graded on best effort. I would like to know what you find notable about each weekâs class. As long as the posts relate to the class and you give me your best, you receive all the credit. Also, this serves as regular writing practice, which has been shown to improve your writing skills by simply doing this kind of work. It will help prepare you for the writing that you will do on your research essay and the final exam.
11 thoughts on “Weekly Writing Assignment, Week 11”
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After reading this week’s assigned readings and watching lectures, what stands out to me is how Star Trek served as a reference for the amazing technologies being produced today by SpaceX amongst others. Gene Roddenberry, a humanist, focused around the capabilities of what humans can do. This stands out to me because as previously mentioned, we are beginning to see space travel, expenditure, and studies beginning to formulate. During the Super Bowl this year, there were commercials about Space travel vacations starting in 2025, and then we have SpaceX as I previously mentioned who are beginning to transform the way we view Mars as a planet that can possibly offer hospitality one day. At the time Roddenbery began to write, all of this seemed like a fantasy but now it is becoming more of a realization and humans are the driving force behind it. In correlation to this week’s lecture, Star Trek marks the characteristics of Samuel R.Delanyâs Quests and fantastic voyages. As some may or may not know, Star Trek focused around the voyage of mission to discover new planets and new life in space. This is consistent with the characteristics that Samuel R.Delany focused upon. What stands out to me is how Samuel R.Delanyâs characteristic of âDamaged Charactersâ, is also a characteristic we see within the Star Trek crew. Dr.McCoy and Captain Kirk are who stands out to me as being âdamagedâ. Dr.McCoy is not trusted due to his ongoing substance abuse and the danger he placed the crew in and Captain Kirk is an all around great leader but he tends to get off track with his thoughts which minimize his capabilities of leading the crew efficiently.
Throughout this semester I have noticed a reoccurring theme in SF that brought me very fascinated with Samuel R. Delany and the concept of modernity. There always seems to be a writer who uses the ‘discomforting’ topics in our society such as sexuality and questioning traditions to post-modernism where the skeptics come back to implement universal traditional theories. In fact, we’ve seen this happening a lot because the concept of science seems to vary often and always. The conflict with modernity with post-modernism has happened with climate change over the last forty to fifty years in America. It started with the scientific discovery of global warming in a series of carbon dating and examining ice cores until it hit the political spectrum and started the skepticism movement that we are living in now. I also found interesting the overview of Star Trek. I did not realize that Star Trek had themes of social progressiveness and social criticisms because of how long ago the show was and how often it is referred to as most scientific. Nonetheless, I had no idea “Aye and Gomorrah” was about spacers that were neutered, rather I thought about sexuality and the impact of sexuality on human society that people react very badly to. The context clues from the story gave me the impression of traveling to different places and the terms ‘perversions’ made me think about sexuality especially since Samuel R. Delany is self-identified as gay, but rather he is considered to be bisexual because he was married to a woman when that might’ve just been societal pressures and unacceptance of homosexuality. “The Women Men Don’t See” was very engrossed in the sense that Mrs. Parsons was clearly a strong character and Agent Don Fenton did not understand her worldview of being alienated because she is a woman. That very factor even plays into today’s society where women are often underestimated or overlooked because they are women to men. I did not like how Fenton kept trying to figure Mrs. Parsons out as if she needed a purpose to be where she was, rather than including her presence as something to be welcome rather than an aura of pushing her away because she is a woman. I am excited to watch the Feminist SF lecture to understand this more; The short story also made me think about C.L. Moore and how her work was underlooked because of her gender and gave her husband credit for her strength.
This weekâs lecture was somewhat another continuation of New Wave SF, mentioning other known writers like Brian W. Aldiss, Thomas M. Disch, Robert Silverberg, among others. A major focus here was Samuel R. Delany, a well known SF writer and critic who is still alive today. One of the characteristics of his works that caught my attention is Damaged Characters. As explained in the video, this refers to the main characters in stories who have some form of physical or psychological scar that later plays a role in the story. I could not help but start to relate this characteristic with the concept of Chekhovâs Gun, which states that in good writing, most or every element that is introduced to the story should contribute something to it as a whole. In this case, past physical or emotional traumas can help character development feel more fluid as it gives a strong incentive to the character to become better later down the line. I feel like a lot of stories in all sorts of media make use of damaged characters as it is objectively a good writing point that provides a reason for a character to do something. On the topic of Star Trek. I never really saw the appeal to the franchise as kid. The reason being probably that as part of a childâs nature, I could not help but compare it to Star Wars which I still love to this day. For a couple years now I have learned to just accept it for what it is as I realized that there was literally no point in doing comparisons between the two franchises. I was pleasantly surprised that the series was socially progressive, which I imagine was no small gamble especially tackling the topic of racism given the time period it aired on. I also learned the existence of the term âtechnobabbleâ which I found very funny as someone who has never bothered to question the level of technological realism in any of the SF media Iâve consumed to date.
This weekâs lecture was a continuation of New Wave SF. Professor starts off by mentioning other well-known writers like Norman Spinrad, Brian W. Aldiss, Thomas M. Disch. But this lecture focus on Samuel R. Delany. A science fiction writer and critic, first novel published in 1962, The Jewels of Aptor. Some of the characteristics of his works are language/communication, quests and fantastic voyages, damaged character, sexuality and eroticism. âAye, and Gomorrahâ was the story we looked at from Mr. Delany. The story explores sexuality and fetishism. It draws ideas from the space race. The story is about astronauts being neutered before puberty so their organs are not damaged by being in space. We then move on to Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry. Aired for three seasons on NBC, Star Trek was socially progressive about the future. It was cool to learn that they did not care about being pulled from being televised in the south because of a white person kissing a person of color. Another cool thing was that MLK reached out to the actor to stay on. Other characteristics of Star Trek is that it blends fantastic with the familiar, social criticism of the here and now, alien superbeings, scientifically lax. I also learned the term technobabble.
âAye, and Gomorrahâ is a confusing story at first. I have no idea what it is about. I had to search around to figure out what Frelks and Spacers mean in this piece. This story explores the theme of sexuality. Spacers are basically asexual, and Frelks are the ones who are sexually attracted to them. This work makes me think that maybe I can write my characters in the same way; I can make them gender non-binary, or give them the ability to change gender freely; itâll make my own works just as interesting.
James Tiptreeâs âThe Women Men Donât Seeâ has a sexual theme; thereâs always that tension driving Don Fentonâs thinking. Just by reading the first half of the story, I wouldnât expect there to be aliens. It seems to me that the story is average, until I see the extraterrestrial being part. The surprise that I feel is like being cheated. I hope there could be more hints about it in the earlier part of the work. Or perhaps Iâve missed them.
Iâve only seen one Star Trek episode before, for my philosophy class. Itâs Star Trek: The Next Generation âThe Measure of a Manâ. Iâm glad to learn more about this intriguing series. I learned six characteristics of Star Trek in our class: 1. Socially progressive and optimistic about the future. 2. Itâs a combination of fantastic and familiar elements. 3. Social criticism. 4. Formulaic: each one is a self-contained episodes, no cliff hanger. 5. It has alien superbeings. 6. Scientifically lax.
In this weekâs lecture is the continuation of New Wave SF. We had gone over with some writers, such as Samuel R. Delany, Thomas Pynchon, and some ideas about Star Trek. One thing that stood out to me the most during this lecture was the introduction of Star Trek when they mentioned about âFinal Frontierâ. What is Final Frontier? I had seen this name before in a music album from a band named Iron Maiden. That album was about an astronaut heading toward to a abandon space station when he suddenly got attack by a alien creature. The concept of this music album is very similar to Star Trek since they both set place in out of space and seeking the uncharted land.
In the reading of âAye, and Gomorrahâ written by Samuel R. Delany. The story of this is about in the world where astronauts known as spacers are all being neutered. This story is kind of confusing, the main thing about this story is based on exploring the idea of sexually. So, the people known as spacers are all asexual, the purpose of this is because they donât want to be damage by the fallout radiation in space. And in âThe Women Men Donât Seeâ by James Tiptree, Jr. also has the idea of sexual concepts. Agent Don, and Parson starting to get complicated when their plane crashes. Don has no idea what is on the mind of Parson since she doesnât feel panic of what happen. The idea of âThe Women Men Donât Seeâ has some relationship with feminist SF about womenâs right.
In this weekâs lecture we learned more about New Wave SF and in particular, an important writer but also a critic, named Samuel R. Delany (1942-). Samuel was responsible for works like âThe Jewel-hinged Jawâ(1977), âThe American Shoreâ(1978) and âStarboard Wineâ(1984) and he was known to be a specialist when it came to linguistics, as he used different kinds of linguistic methods in his stories to make us question how language affects the way we view the world around us. What particularly interested me from his works, was the amount of depth that he implemented into his characters. He gave his characters social backgrounds, sexual interests and long-term goals. What interested me the most was that he also made his characters âdamagedâ meaning that they had some kind of traumatic experience in the past that shapes their personality. I am pretty familiar with this characteristic in writing because it is very commonly used in anime series in order to make the character more likeable and give them a reason as to why they act differently than normal people. Later on in the lecture, Star Trek by Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991) was also mentioned. Gene was a humanist and an agnostic, two interesting terms that I had heard before but wasnât sure what they meant. He made Star Trek mostly on the humanist belief and as depicted on the show, humans travel to the âFinal Frontierâ to find alien life and civilizations. I consider this humanist because it is assumed that humans are the most intelligent species, and we are the first ones that are looking to bring change in the galaxy by attempting to interact with alien life. Unless there is nothing out there.
Some things I have noticed during the lecture were how Science Fiction media were using more themes. For example, Samuel R. Delany is known for the use of language, mythology, sexuality, and eroticism. He also has Science Fiction that have quests or some fantastic voyage in them. One quick interesting thing is that Samuel R. Delany actually came and visited City Tech. There was a mention that most Science Fiction authors started publishing short science fiction novels before they got a bit more popular and released bigger science fiction media. The next things mentioned were about Star Trek which was written by Gene Roddenberry who was born in 1921 and passed away in 1991. Star trek ran for three seasons from 1966 to 1969. Some things that could be found in the episodes are they are formulaic. The episodes are also fantasy based with familiar things which would allow more people to get interested in watching and become a fan. The series also has alien superbeings that interact with humans. The show also criticizes society and is not really focused on science. It has some science but it is not really heavily pushed upon viewers. In âThe Women Men Donât see,â by James Tip-tree Jr, some things Iâve noticed is how in the beginning of the story it seemed kind of like a survival story with not much Science Fiction coming in. The Science Fiction part comes in later when Don and Ruth bump into aliens. The interesting thing is that Ruth is trying to convince the extraterrestrials to take Althea and herself away from Earth. Don tries to save Ruth and Althea from going with the extraterrestrials but fails to stop them. Don is left on Earth, wondering why they left. I did notice how there were expectations of women. Don was kind of annoyed at Ruth because she was not freaking out like how he assumed a female would react when they crash land and have to find items to keep themselves alive. The short story seems to cover and bring up this stereotype of women.
In the continuation of New Wave SF in this weekâs lecture we start off with the author of âAye, And Gomorrahâ, Samuel R. Delaney. He is a writer and hard science fiction critic, strict in his interrogations of the genre. His writing characteristics revolve around linguistics and semiotics. He is enamoured by the way humans interact and how language defines our perception of reality. Alongside linguistics, he is known for writing about cultural differences/ social construction of identity, social background, damaged characters, mythology, quest plot structure, and eroticism. The last being a larger theme of the work âAye, and Gomorrahâ. This short story begins with a confusing array of locations, vocabulary, and names. It begins with a fast-paced train ride across the world where it seems one thing preoccupies humans minds: how one looks at another. This social system separates Spacers from Frelks from average joes. The story furthers into an interaction between a Spacer and Frelk. The Frelk desires the Spacer because of their asexuality and their âeunuchnessâ (homophonic to uniqueness, which in this case work very well). The Frelkâs primitive desire to come in sexual contact with Spacers creates a prositution ring between Spacers and Frelks. The Spacers, in desire to be less lonely, sell their sex to Frelks who desire them. In the case of the turkish girl, she has no money and wants to have sex with the Spacer for no payment. The Spacer desires this love in a way he cannot control because of his physical alteration yet refuses due to the social demands of their self-formed identity. This story helped me question how some humans, in concerns of sexuality, work within a binary of fetishism. One thing canât exist without the other. In this case, the turkish girl says â”We have our dull, circled lives, bound in gravity, worshiping you!” She looked back at me. “Perverted, yes? In love with a bunch of corpses in free fall!” Suddenly she hunched her shoulders. “I don’t like having a free-fall-sexual-displacement complex.”â
In the week 11 lecture professor continued to learn about New Wave SF and we also talked about different writers but the major focus was on Samuel R. Delany born in 1942 and is still alive today. We talked about one of his short stories âAye, And Gomorrahâ, then we discussed the SF television series Star Trek. âAye, and Gomorrahâ is an SF short story published in Dangerous Minds in 1967. The story is about a group of beings that perform work on Mars, the Moon, and in space. Traveling to space negatively affects reproductive organs and as a result, those chosen for space traveling must have their reproductive organs removed at a young age which prevents them from maturing. It describes the relationship that exists between the prepubescent Spacers and the Frelks that pursue them attempting to satisfy their fetish. The Spacers prostitute themselves as a way of generating income but they do so also because they feel lonely. Now let’s talk about Star Trek, it was created by Gene Roddenberry(1921-1991) in 1966 and it was also aired for three seasons on NBC. It is a space opera that takes place in space where a crew and their spaceship set out on voyages to explore new worlds and meet aliens. The first episode of Star Trek is called âThe City on the Edge of Foreverâ. It is a time travel narrative where Mr. McCoy played by DeForest Kelley goes back in time to change the future. To correct this, captain Kirk played by William Shatner and Mr. Spock played by Leonard Nimoy must sacrifice a woman named Edith Kneeler.
The weekâs lecture of New Wave SF continued introduced new writers such as Samuel R. Delancy who identified has a gay male but was married and had a daughter with Marilyn hacker who identified as a lesbian. His writing was controversial due to the sexual nature of his stories. Aye, and Gomorrah published by Delancy in 1967 sexualizes astronauts called Spacers as they are hard to get since they have been neutered and cannot be aroused. This subject is like the harder something is to get the more you want it, to either say youâve had it or to prove to yourself that you could get it. The âfrelksâ were the people that wanted to be with the spacers and the spacers took advantage of it by prostituting themselves. At the end the frelks were able to engage in sex with the spacers and the spacers made money from it. “The Women Men Don’t See” published by James Tiptree, Jr. in 1973 in exchange to Delancy shows that the women were willing to be abducted by the aliens then to continue with Don and Esteban. Ruth and Althea werenât willing to just be sexual pleasures to the men and Don couldnât understand that point of view. The Star Trek episode “The City on the Edge of Forever” aired in 1967 shows that Dr. Leonard wants to travel back to the past to change history but in the process, he falls in love with Edith until he comes to the realization that for him to save his own future he has to let her die. This story reminded me of Tom Godwin âThe Cold Equationsâ where Barton had to eject Marilyn from the spaceship in order for the spaceship to make it to its final destination.