Comments on: Hawarden: Day One http://tattersdill.litscimed.org/2010/01/04/hawarden-day-one/ A blog about Science Fiction, the late-Victorian/Edwardian Periodical Press, and issues arising from both. Wed, 14 Jul 2010 10:46:47 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: j.degroot http://tattersdill.litscimed.org/2010/01/04/hawarden-day-one/comment-page-1/#comment-11 j.degroot Tue, 05 Jan 2010 10:16:46 +0000 http://tattersdill.litscimed.org/?p=14#comment-11 Science Fiction and Horror - particularly film - seem to be consistently over-read by film critics and audiences, at least, as being metaphorical. So since Romero every Zombie movie has an underlying critique, it is commonplace that alien invasion movies relate to contemporary threats, and vampires/ werewolves have an entire industry devoted to their popular interpretation. These things are never as they seem, and this seems (in popular discourse) to be the point in many ways of them. So I wonder whether our role in explaining these phenomena has already been circumvented. My other question relates to Bourdieu: in his work he argues that academics are part of the taste-making class (including family, critics, teachers, etc) creating orthodoxy and closing up debate. If we seek to help solve the problems you outline here are we not simply reinscribing a set of knowledges, legitimacies and opinions? Science Fiction and Horror – particularly film – seem to be consistently over-read by film critics and audiences, at least, as being metaphorical. So since Romero every Zombie movie has an underlying critique, it is commonplace that alien invasion movies relate to contemporary threats, and vampires/ werewolves have an entire industry devoted to their popular interpretation. These things are never as they seem, and this seems (in popular discourse) to be the point in many ways of them. So I wonder whether our role in explaining these phenomena has already been circumvented.

My other question relates to Bourdieu: in his work he argues that academics are part of the taste-making class (including family, critics, teachers, etc) creating orthodoxy and closing up debate. If we seek to help solve the problems you outline here are we not simply reinscribing a set of knowledges, legitimacies and opinions?

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