Why do I love science fiction & fantasy?
I recently saw two movies and two T.V. shows that have all made me want to talk about why I love genre fiction and why I tend to be attracted to it more than realistic fiction, biographic writing, non-fiction, and most other genres.
The movies are Sinners and We’re All Gonna Die; the T.V. shows are Andor and Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End.
Before I get into it though, let me define “genre fiction.” This is pretty straight forward in that gerne fiction is a story with some sort of fantastical element.
In the case of Sinners, that fantastical element is vampires—were it not for the vampires, the movie could play out as a period drama. In the lesser known We’re All Gonna Die, the fantastical element is a strange Spike — without that, it could be a relatively normal road trip movie.
For the two shows, there’s not so much one fantastical element, but the whole of the world is fantastic. Andor takes place is an ostensibly sci-fi setting (since it’s a Star Wars show, it is *technically* a science-fantasy story—but this particular show focuses so little on the mysticism of Star Wars that it actually plays more like a cyberpunk show). Frieren is a more generic fantasy world—magic, dragons, fantasy races, etc.—but decides to focus in specifically on the perspective of a elf who is, effectively immortal.
I don’t know a single person who I wouldn’t recommend at least one of these four things to—including people who I know aren’t inherently drawn to genre fiction.
Because of that, I wanted to take the time to examine what it is about these that makes me care about the unreal and incredible.
Sinners (2025)
If you missed it earlier in the year, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners was the smash hit of the spring.
As with all of these, I’m planning to talk around spoilers. But one of my favorite parts of this movie is that, until roughly the halfway point, the movie could play out as a straight historical fiction piece and probably be just as interesting.
The plot is this: A pair of brothers return to their Mississippi hometown after having done some unscrupulous work in Chicago. Upon their return, they buy a somewhat suspect building that they plan to turn into a juke joint. Low on resources, they recruit their musically inclined cousin and a series of other musicians and staff in order to make sure their first night pops off. However, it quickly becomes clear some of the relationships they left behind are going to complicate things and that their hopes of creating a financially viable business might prove problematic.
And then—related to all of that only on a thematic level—vampires show up.
On one level, it’s fascinating and fun to throw characters so based in such a specific reality against fantastic creatures like vampires. It lets us consider how we ourselves might react to such a thing and—if the characters are well made—lets us learn more about these specific characters through the different ways they handle and react to such a situation. And Sinners does this spectacularly well.
On a deeper level, the threat of the fantastic should compliment the more real-world threat/problems the characters are facing. (If it’s a really well built threat, this threat will map to the characters in different ways.) For one, in a movie about community like Sinners, where the characters innately understand and know who is and isn’t part of their community, if a character becomes a vampire and must suddenly ask for permission where permission was never needed before the theme of a need for community/culture is underlined.
Similarly, ideas of mortality and individuality are played with in interesting ways. The vampires exist as a kind of immortal quasi-hive-mind, primarily build around a single personality. Yet this king vampire is interested in a specific individual in the movie (an individual whose mortality is also underlined by the plot); the reason the vampires are interested in this person is because of two things he possesses: talent and perspective. Both of which would ostensibly be impossible for most of the vampires to cultivate themselves.
All of this is stuff that’s under the hood of a fun vampire fighting movie and probably won’t be considered by every audience member. Yet even if you don’t see those mechanics working, their implementation and consideration should help make the experience of watching the movie more enjoyable.
We’re All Gonna Die (2024)
We’re All Gonna Die isn’t just a thing Iowa politicians say off handedly at town halls, it’s one of the best movies I watched this year.
In it, something that no one fully understands has changed the world forever. There is a strange Spike that now exists in the Earth’s atmosphere. It is unknown where the spike comes from or what it does, all that’s known is that it teleports randomly (often killing people when it does so) and there’s no known way to get rid of it.
This movie is not about that Spike.
This is about a pair of people who have—in different ways—had their lives impacted by the Spike. They are not unique in this since the Spike has had an impact on everyone. The Spike could be almost any world altering event, a global pandemic, a war, a devastating natural disaster.
One person is a lonely beekeeper who ends up being separated from her bees and the other is an unemployed fire fighter who ends up being separated from his car—both the bees and the car the pair suspect are in the same place and thus they start making their way across the country together to find them.
I think there’s probably an argument that could be made for this movie that it might work better if it wasn’t a genre film. I ultimately disagree with that. While I think removing the genre elements might make this movie easier to get some people to watch, the fantastic elements allow there to be things like a sea of glass, reorganized state/faction borders, and a particularly trippy end sequence toward the end. All of which exist in somewhat off handed ways without much explanation, but your brain can fill in the gap when you consider what little is known about the Spike.
Some less fantastical, world changing threats might allow one or two of the world building details to exist, but the Spike allows all of the changes to the world to be true.
To touch on the mechanics of this; the world the characters exist in is part of the threat they face in most media: The shark is a threat in Jaws because the world (in this case, the city’s Mayor) allows things to go on as long as they do in the interest of profit; the main character of Emma struggles with interpersonal relationships and love the way she does largely because of her high-born upbringing and the social standards of regency era England. The plot of BlacKkKlansman is a story that can only unfold at a time in American history where law enforcement is beginning to integrate and the Klan has an explicate hold on a large portion of the American psyche.
While We’re All Gonna Die isn’t as pointed with it’s setting as some of the above examples, it is easier to point to as example of a setting that is created with the struggles of the characters and the movement of the plot in mind. Each aspect of the story enhancing our appreciation of the other parts.
Frieren: Beyond Journy’s End (2023-)
I think Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End might have the most straightforward fantasy world of all of these projects, but it’s through recognizability that it’s able to be so esoteric.
Don’t get me wrong, the show is very accessible and fun and is maybe the best piece of media on this list, but—as much as I would say “Just watch it” to most who ask—it feels like a difficult show to pitch compellingly.
Let me try.
As in most fantasy stories, elves live unusually long lives. Based on the experiences of Frieren (the show’s titular elf and main character) that life span seems to be effectively immortal.
As in many fantasy stories, Frieren has gone on an adventure with her band of compatriots (two humans and a dwarf), to defeat the Demon King.
Unlike most fantasy stories, the bulk of Beyond Journey’s End takes place 80 years after that initial quest to defeat evil as she retraces her steps with a new set of companions to a place that will allow her to speak with the now dead human hero of the first quest she was on.
We still see moments from that original quest in flashback (as well as other moments even further back) but it is largely the bits that are “inconsequential” we witness in the past. This is because, the show posits, even though those moments may not have been directly consequential to defeating the Demon King, they moments that are perhaps more important than any of the fights or battles that lead to the Demon King’s defeat.
The show takes the perspective of Frieren (who find the notion of spending a decade on a short visit acceptable because of how long she’ll live) and uses it to allow the viewer to feel a greater appreciation for the small moments in their own lives.
If you’re familiar with the new-ish genre of cozy fantasy (low stakes fantasy typically taking place in the day to day) this isn’t quite that, but it’s probably as close to it as I could enjoy. As excited as I get for the action and battles (which are incredible when they occur) I am even more moved by Frieren recalling that her human teacher 10,000 years in the past was afraid of dying. The melancholy of Frieren dismissing a bad view of a meteor shower as something they can get a better view of in 50 years, as her companions silently contemplate that they may not live so long. Small imperceptible moments where the characters give a gift, cook a meal, perform a banal task all become important and it’s beautiful.
What I describe also makes the show sound sadder than it is. While I would primarily describe this show as contemplative and melancholic, it really is quite light hearted an funny more often than not.
I would go so far as to say that, even if you are not someone who normally watches anime or animated shows—this is still worth giving a shot. It’s the only thing on this list that isn’t a “complete” work (the above two are movies and Andor, below, has both of its seasons out) so there is a chance it might drop off as the show goes along, but the first season has given more more than enough faith that they’ll be able to keep up good quality.
If you’re only going to check out one new thing on this list—whether to examine what’s possible with genre fiction or for your own pure enjoyment—make this one your priority.
Andor (2022-2025)
Like Frieren, I find it very difficult to explain to people what makes Andor great. It is, I feel, something that is best experienced going in with nothing beyond the expectation of: what if a Star Wars show didn’t focus on or even really talk about the Force or jedi?
Even that description—which I personally find very intriguing—I think would read to many as back-handed. The jedi, the force, all of the more fantastical things are—after all—the main elements of fascination in a property like Star Wars.
That said, by largely avoiding the Force and the jedi the show allows us to see something surprising: a view of what’s happening in the Star Wars galaxy from a average person’s perspective leading up to the events of the original Star Wars. No jedi show up to save the day, this is what the people in the universe are having to deal while dealing with the maniacal regime of a despotic emperor (who is also secretly an evil space wizard).
Subsequently, the show also discusses vital issues, like how it is easier to hide behind a slew of atrocities than a single one, how the pace of information and oppression outstrips people’s ability to care, and how propaganda is deployed against nations and people when political interests are on the line. It gets into how and why good people are able and willing to keep their eyes down as horrible things happen in front of them. The show talks about how to start making things right again.
I think the strength of Andor is not necessarily how deeply or thoroughly it explores these and other topics, but how acutely it is able to quickly cut to the the truth of these matters even in the context of a fictional world.
Maybe I’m telling on myself in a bad way here, but there are a lot of great shows that tend to stress me out because of how much they resemble real life. Thus, when they start talking about heavier topics, I’m reminded how my own life is directly impacted by these things and land somewhere between panic and helplessness.
The beautiful thing about putting these topical talking points in a Star Wars is that all of this happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away … Because of that, I can more easily enjoy a well made and vital story without becoming over anxious in the process.
*****
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The Wilderlands is available for physical purchase now from Barnes & Noble and Amazon or wherever you read ebooks. The audiobook is also out now on most major platforms.
Light Keeper Chronicle: The Unspoken Prophecy is available for physical purchase from Schuler Books, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon or wherever you read ebooks.