Rather like Gothic fiction, what might be called "disease science fiction" is something of a disease itself, infecting other literatures and entertainment.
Sorry for being a tad obtuse, but I think I'm missing the point here. There are all these works of popular culture incorporating disease as menacing agents within the plot structure, but somehow sci-fi is 'missing' the significance of this thematic element or failing to give disease its proper form of attention. The point being? Diseases are seldom treated as representing diseases but more often metaphors for something else? Or the issue is ongoing categorizing mistakes, diseases are not treated as sci-fi but supernatural agency? A problem of categorization for librarians?
I feel like I'm not part of the insider cult here, not recognizing the obvious. Of course, disease has long 'plagued' human societies. So when disease shows up in popular culture it should be recognized as...what exactly? How does the evidence of 'fixation' equate with the evidence of 'ignoring'? Again sorry to be fixated, but I seem to be missing the point we've apparently all been, ah, ignoring.
This is very interesting indeed, but I think the writer neglects the way that the real Covid (not actually very serious or contagious, especially by the standards of any of the SF diseases he mentions) has caused the very thing that Body Snatchers was reputed to be a metaphor for: hatred, paranoia (can be construed as irrational fear of the virus or irrational fear of the harmful measures taken to avoid it, your choice), tyranny, and a (quite possibly, at least here in Ontario) permanent change in society to one of discrimination, hypochondria, and authoritarian technocracy.
This article was a much-welcomed treat in what would otherwise have been just a bog-standard Wednesday. When I was doing my English Lit degree back in the early 2000s, Gothic and SF were mainly treated as rather unserious genres if they were acknowledged at all, which I thought was unfair. Scott's concept of disease science fiction is intriguing and has reawakened my inner Gothic/SF geek just in time for the long weekend. Thanks! :)
It seems that, perhaps, science fact has crossed the threshold of disease being a relevant science fiction topic.
We may even have a cure for the zombie apocalypse and future plagues. It's mRNA technology. The technology that made it possible to develop COVID-19 vaccines within days.
Please take a gander at Melissa Moore's April 2022 TED talk. Moore is Moderna's chief scientific officer. https://youtu.be/h5D3mv8ewCY
I enjoy stumbling upon the work of an English major, wherever I find it. This is a magnificent essay and I enjoyed it for its scope and authority, and especially for the mania which went into it.
I always have believed that society is going to end in a Petri dish or from a rock from outer space. Given how Covid probably started, and the attempt to cover it up, I am pretty confident it will be a Petrie dish.
It should be noted that Heinlein's "Puppet Masters" is surely also a source for the Body Snatchers movie - and was referenced by the characters in the movie "The Faculty" as being slighted by lack of references. (Before the high-schoolers go on to using their Heinlein/Jack-Finney SF-reading expertise to defeat the alien invasion. These alien invaders have to stop hitting high schools first, those kids are vicious. Poor Jon Stewart got his eye poked out in his only dramatic role.)
The "Puppet Masters" is unquestionably a cold war metaphor. The parasites in the novel are also an inspiration for the Borg, you see: every time two parasite-ridden humans meet, their Masters have a "direct conference", where they exchange all their minds, becoming two copies of one mind, so that the overall parasite population is a single, slow-moving, hive mind. Heinlein has an explicit paragraph where the American alien-fighter wonders if they'll get into the Soviet Union. Then if they already have. Then wonders *if we could tell*. Zinger! on the commies.
A couple of reviewers have eye-rolled that Heinlein was not at all subtle about the cold war thing, citing that paragraph. (His biggest hit, Starship Troopers, also featured a hive-mind enemy, described as a "natural communism" - of "bugs" used by a the hive as so many disposable biological machines. Again, subtlety was left behind.)
Lastly, *Russian* spies, beside you on the bus, may be a Cold War fear, but fears of lurking spies among us date at least back to the fascinating history of MI5:
...which had its inception in a 1910 fantasy of embedded German spies, hiding amongst us. The stories were so popular, people began fearing they were real, and a government department was set up to look for them. No, I'm not joking.
Quibbles done, wonderful article! A desperately-needed break from the news. Many thanks.
I just want to say that this was an incredibly fun read! That is all - carry on.
Sorry for being a tad obtuse, but I think I'm missing the point here. There are all these works of popular culture incorporating disease as menacing agents within the plot structure, but somehow sci-fi is 'missing' the significance of this thematic element or failing to give disease its proper form of attention. The point being? Diseases are seldom treated as representing diseases but more often metaphors for something else? Or the issue is ongoing categorizing mistakes, diseases are not treated as sci-fi but supernatural agency? A problem of categorization for librarians?
I feel like I'm not part of the insider cult here, not recognizing the obvious. Of course, disease has long 'plagued' human societies. So when disease shows up in popular culture it should be recognized as...what exactly? How does the evidence of 'fixation' equate with the evidence of 'ignoring'? Again sorry to be fixated, but I seem to be missing the point we've apparently all been, ah, ignoring.
This is very interesting indeed, but I think the writer neglects the way that the real Covid (not actually very serious or contagious, especially by the standards of any of the SF diseases he mentions) has caused the very thing that Body Snatchers was reputed to be a metaphor for: hatred, paranoia (can be construed as irrational fear of the virus or irrational fear of the harmful measures taken to avoid it, your choice), tyranny, and a (quite possibly, at least here in Ontario) permanent change in society to one of discrimination, hypochondria, and authoritarian technocracy.
This article was a much-welcomed treat in what would otherwise have been just a bog-standard Wednesday. When I was doing my English Lit degree back in the early 2000s, Gothic and SF were mainly treated as rather unserious genres if they were acknowledged at all, which I thought was unfair. Scott's concept of disease science fiction is intriguing and has reawakened my inner Gothic/SF geek just in time for the long weekend. Thanks! :)
Well that buffered my genre reading list. No mention of Chuck Wending’s Wanderers though…
Surprised that Stephen King's 'The Stand' wasn't mentioned. Should also add that Counterpart was such a superb show - a real shame it was cancelled.
It seems that, perhaps, science fact has crossed the threshold of disease being a relevant science fiction topic.
We may even have a cure for the zombie apocalypse and future plagues. It's mRNA technology. The technology that made it possible to develop COVID-19 vaccines within days.
Please take a gander at Melissa Moore's April 2022 TED talk. Moore is Moderna's chief scientific officer. https://youtu.be/h5D3mv8ewCY
I enjoy stumbling upon the work of an English major, wherever I find it. This is a magnificent essay and I enjoyed it for its scope and authority, and especially for the mania which went into it.
I always have believed that society is going to end in a Petri dish or from a rock from outer space. Given how Covid probably started, and the attempt to cover it up, I am pretty confident it will be a Petrie dish.
It should be noted that Heinlein's "Puppet Masters" is surely also a source for the Body Snatchers movie - and was referenced by the characters in the movie "The Faculty" as being slighted by lack of references. (Before the high-schoolers go on to using their Heinlein/Jack-Finney SF-reading expertise to defeat the alien invasion. These alien invaders have to stop hitting high schools first, those kids are vicious. Poor Jon Stewart got his eye poked out in his only dramatic role.)
The "Puppet Masters" is unquestionably a cold war metaphor. The parasites in the novel are also an inspiration for the Borg, you see: every time two parasite-ridden humans meet, their Masters have a "direct conference", where they exchange all their minds, becoming two copies of one mind, so that the overall parasite population is a single, slow-moving, hive mind. Heinlein has an explicit paragraph where the American alien-fighter wonders if they'll get into the Soviet Union. Then if they already have. Then wonders *if we could tell*. Zinger! on the commies.
A couple of reviewers have eye-rolled that Heinlein was not at all subtle about the cold war thing, citing that paragraph. (His biggest hit, Starship Troopers, also featured a hive-mind enemy, described as a "natural communism" - of "bugs" used by a the hive as so many disposable biological machines. Again, subtlety was left behind.)
Lastly, *Russian* spies, beside you on the bus, may be a Cold War fear, but fears of lurking spies among us date at least back to the fascinating history of MI5:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/entries/3662a707-0af9-3149-963f-47bea720b460
...which had its inception in a 1910 fantasy of embedded German spies, hiding amongst us. The stories were so popular, people began fearing they were real, and a government department was set up to look for them. No, I'm not joking.
Quibbles done, wonderful article! A desperately-needed break from the news. Many thanks.