FREESPEAK
Michael Cobley tells us why Sff is an escape into meaning
Michael Cobley on the meaning of memes and the power of stories.
Ameme is essentially a distilled nugget of meaning, originally conceived as a piece of information that could spread virus-like through a population. Today, we have graphic memes, photos, cartoons or illustrations usually plugging a bit of satire or mockery, like the Willy Wonka pic, or that still of the Joker from the Batman movie. To my mind, books, films and episodes of TV sci-fi/fantasy/horror likewise possess meme-like qualities, cargos of meaning and (now and then) illumination. Meaning is the thing. It’s why I and many others write SF/fantasy. One of the main brickbats aimed at science fiction and fantasy is that it’s just escapism, just a gaudy trip carrying readers/viewers away from the real world, away from reality, away from meaning. I say this is wrong – science fiction and fantasy is not an escape from meaning but an escape into meaning.
Our books, games, movies, TV series and other narratives are rife with allegory and analogy, but also sometimes what is being depicted in the drama is actually what it’s about – when we see an America overlain with the toxic inhuman culture of Naziism in The Man In The High Castle, that’s the topic under discussion. It’s a little more allegorical in the likes of Westworld – while the story focuses on the consequences of the creation and elaboration of AI, there is also a hefty (and bleak) subtext concerning the core nature of human beings. In The Expanse, the genuine unknowability of alien intentions and purposes throws all manner of spanners into the fraying, unstable balance of power holding sway across the Solar System and poses deep, fundamental challenges to those in charge.
Certain fictional characters almost operate as walking, talking memes all of themselves. There are three well-known ones which exhibit some common characteristics – Spock, Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Who – all three of whom are connected to humanity in certain irrevocable ways, yet they are also outside of humanity. All three possess high intellects and all three are committed to the investigation of mysteries and to the defeat of anything that poses a threat to the order of reality. These three characters have remained very popular for decades (over a century in the case of Holmes), therefore they must have great meaning for readers and viewers, in spite of cultural, political and economic changes.
Yet these wielders of high intellect also tend to tightly control their own emotions, sometimes to the point of austere coldness. But we know their code by the way in which they oppose the enemies they encounter, especially those enemies that present a real threat to society at large. We know that such characters, by virtue of their intellects and their near-fearless willingness to confront the ungodly, are powerful over and above the normal – and we are desperate for them to be on our side. Spock’s logic, Sherlock Holmes’s deductive ratiocination, the Doctor’s vast, time-spanning knowledge and the fierce protectiveness she exhibits towards the stumbling, half-civilised human race; when we applaud the struggles and triumphs of these beloved characters, we are also hoping that any fellow-humans with similar attributes will likewise exercise them wisely and on behalf of ordinary people. Hoping that they regard Spock, Holmes and the Doctor as role models worth emulating.
It is the meaning of ourselves, individually and collectively, which goes to the heart of humanity’s great adventure. And it is our stories and memes, noble lies filled with noble meaning, which function as both compass and standard as we aspire to safeguard the planet and reach for the stars.
“FICTIONAL CHARACTERS ARE WALKING, TALKING MEMES”
Splintered Suns by Michael Cobley is out 6 December from Orbit.