New-ish soft science fiction films

Sadly, yes...and just when it was getting really interesting. Not only did Netflix cancel it, but they locked her out of her rights to move it to another platform entirely. Lame!

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Wow... I assumed you already have... It's a masterwork of orgone-oozing new age neon drug-filled trance-inducing transcendence.

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

Agree. I've seen this several times, and it just keeps getting weirder! Some great minimal synth spaciness that I really enjoyed.

Sound of My Voice is pretty good too, but I didn't think it would fit what he was looking. However, now that I think of it, it does

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I hardly ever forget what I’ve seen, so I don’t believe I have. Will aim to rectify asap. In theory, I’m very much a fan of all things neon drug-induced, but they are too often disappointing. I liked Mandy a lot but hated A Colour Out of Space etc., so it’s hit-and-miss for me and as such, I didn’t prioritise Beyond the Black Rainbow.

A lot of her stuff sort of skates around the edge of that concept in various ways. I did hesitate briefly before listing it, but decided to add it in the end.

Beyond the Black Rainbow is like Mandy but with less plot and less camp.

A Colour Out of Space is infinitely inferior to both of these films.

You are right, it really doesn’t, but I still love it.

Just started watching it.

Look forward to your thoughts. It's mesmerizing.

Not sure what "soft" sci-fi means?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_science_fiction

Admittedly it’s a loose term.

I've not really heard it applied to films much, but in the book culture of sci-fi, works tend to be categorized as either hard sci-fi, with its heavy focus on tech and scientific concepts such as quantum entanglement etc., while soft sci-fi is more character-driven, sometimes just using the science fiction as a backdrop, with little focus on the tech itself. I like a good mix of both, as I tend to check out if a book becomes too focused on the tech or the hard science behind to the space travel or building materials etc.

I'll second these.

The essence of it appears to be,

Soft science fiction of either type is often more concerned with speculative societies and relationships between characters, rather than speculative science or engineering.

Soft-science fiction embraces the soft sciences (e.g., psychology, sociology, history)?

In my book, soft-science fiction is fantasy premised scientific-sounding conceits. Star Wars, for example, is what I call soft science fiction. Lightsabers and hyperdrives and S-foils are all about the pew-pew-pew! Hard-science fiction, on the other hand, is more real-world, limiting itself to what we are doing (but at a larger scale and/or in a different context of application), what we can do (in principle, but we have not gone there yet), what we will probably figure out (given some advances in technology), and finally what would require a bit of a miracle but which does not break known laws of physics off at the hinges.

I would say, for example, that Gattaca is hard science fiction film. We can check the genomes of embyros for defects and we can select for the healthiest ones. Gattaca just imagines this as a standard practice (a cultural arms race of health) which does a deep analysis, not just to avoid bad traits, but to select for the best traits. To me, this story considers the possible ramifications of existing science (IVF and genetic analysis). Per the Wiki article, however, this would be soft-science.

My largest complaint with this view of "soft-science" is that literature has ALWAYS been concerned with the human condition.Literature has ALWAYS been concerned with describing human relationships and societies. Under the Wiki definition most literature is soft-science fiction, as literature is just folk-psychology and folk-sociology applied to explaining "relationships" and "societies." Got a story that speculates about relationships in a society somewhat different that our own? Well, that's science-fiction! But, no. It really isn't.

Unless the movie explicitly purports to offer a fictional analysis of human relationships and society under the lens of Cognitive Dissonance Theory, or Need for Closure, or The Spiral of Silence, or Reversal Theory, etc., then the film is just doing what literature has ALWAYS done--offer a folk-psychological/folk-sociological explanation of motivation, attitude, values, blame, etc. (e.g., "He was jealous, so...") in a fictional setting. This is not science fiction! This is literature. LOL. And I can't think of any of the films, off the top of my head, that have titles announcing theories contained in an Intro-Psych textbook.

I suppose that there are some books that loosely tread on famous experiments that have captured the imagination (e.g., Milgram, Zimbardo), which have been loosely depicted one-trick ponies like The Button. However, this would make our definition of soft-science fiction overly narrow. "Max Weber's Bureaucracy coming to a theater near you!"

It’s obviously a little simplistic, but I do think the distinction is useful. Gattaca imo is, indeed, hard sci-fi.

I also like the distinction. I also thing the definition of Hard-Science Fiction is fine. I just happen to think, not surprisingly, that my definition of Soft-Science Fiction is better.



That this result surprises no one kinda proves my point; we all already hold degrees in folk-psychology and folk-sociology which we habitually use to explain individuals and society. And when we write fictional characters in fictional societies, we also use these "degrees" to animate and explain our worlds. The overly broad definition conflates fiction with a subset or science fiction.



I think the thread idea is premised on a reasonable category. I just happen to disagree with the Wiki.

Want to +1 the recommendation for Beyond the Black Rainbow if you like trippy stuff.

Never heard of this but it looks amazing; on my docket for tonight.

This was so good! Thank you so much for recommending. Totally made my Christmas Eve.