Good Sci-Fi Gone Bad

[mhinman]

A few months ago I was invited to review a book by a new science-fiction author, and after finally finishing it, I found myself wondering, "Who on earth wants to read this?"

The story was interesting enough about alien planets with interesting beings and a war between good and evil, but the characters were all deeply flawed and engaged in sadistic practices. By the end, I hated every single one of them and wished they would burn in hell.

FULL STORY: http://www.airlockalpha.com/node/7600

[glz]

WOW, a classicist! I love you!

I am in the process of writing a sci-fi book and I struggled with the very issues you describe. I finally said "uck it; I'm going classic.". While there is one scene of gore in it, it is well deserved due to some of the back story going on (implied of course).

[Detroit]

A little gore is permissible, as long as there's a story to it, the "gorist" gets properly punished, or spends part of the book seeking redemption.

But gore for it's own sake is simply - gory.

A good example of this was Watchmen, which to me was completely unwatchable. Most of the characters were completely unlikeable and some of the scenes were too graphic.

[Austin Harper]

In general, I'm with you. I hate it when a movie has extra violence thrown in for no particular reason other than shock value. And while I wouldn't really classify "A Clockwork Orange" as science fiction, I think the violence in it serves a very important purpose. It's not there just to make the audience cringe. The whole thing is a commentary on society, and the point of the violence in the movie is summed up in these two lines:

Alex: You needn't take it any further, sir. You've proved to me that all this ultraviolence and killing is wrong, wrong, and terribly wrong. I've learned me lesson, sir. I've seen now what I've never seen before. I'm cured! Praise God!
Dr. Brodsky: You're not cured yet, boy.

[specialk]

I think that you make some good points here, though I found Stephen King's Dark Tower very off putting for his casual use of a rape scene that served no purpose to the plot. I would point out however, that Battlestar Galactica did include the rape of a Six model in Razor and the attempted rape of a Sharon model. While the rape of the Six model was not shown, the attempt on the Sharon model was and the consequences of both were turning plot points.

Pan's Labrynth also danced on that line of violence -- it was perhaps more horrifying because we did not see all of the details of the action but saw the results. To some extent I think that good points can be made with the inclusion the violence that you're describing. It is easy to get inured to the same scenes portrayed in the news so perhaps if the readers are outraged by these same crimes in a fictional sense they might be motivated to do something about the ones perpetuated in reality. It is a fine line for the writer to cross and it must be done with sensitivity and purpose. As in the case with BSG -- the question of what rights the human form cylons had was brought to the fore with the violation of those rights. Ultimately, readers will read or not read as fits their own sense of mores. I still haven't finished reading the Dark Tower series.