小说与文学2017lareviewofbooks.org
科幻小说为何停止前进了？
Why did science fiction stop moving forward?
导读
从评论看，这篇文章标题提出了“科幻为何停止前进”的大问题，但正文主要围绕《星际迷航：发现号》等电视科幻展开，而非系统讨论书面科幻。它值得写作者留意，是因为评论揭示了标题承诺与正文内容的落差、不同媒介的创作约束，以及理论化表达不清的问题。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
标题提出“科幻为何停止前进”这类大问题时，正文要正面回应，否则读者会觉得文不对题。
- 02
讨论类型文学或影视前先界定媒介：书面科幻与电视科幻的受众、发行和成本约束完全不同。
- 03
写科幻设定时要想清楚科学是否真正推动故事；若只是把故事放到太空而科学不参与，那就是另一种类型承诺。
- 04
使用理论术语和带引号的概念时，要确保上下文能解释清楚，别让读者猜你的具体立场。
HN 评论精选
媒介、发行和成本决定硬科幻难上大众电视，书面科幻与电视科幻应分开讨论。
从网址看，我原以为文章谈的是书面科幻；如果不听那些其实不爱科幻的人推荐，书面科幻一直在前进。《火星救援》算前进，但亚马逊给我推荐的大多数书让我不满意。可文章讲的是电视。除了最近，很难让只吸引小众的电视节目成为热门。忠实改编《火星救援》的剧集不太可能进黄金档；最接近的是所谓软科幻——故事碰巧设在不熟悉的地点（通常是太空），但科学对故事没有影响。如今发行模式不同也许有机会，但即便能通过 Netflix 或 Amazon 精准找到硬科幻迷，特效仍会推高制作成本。
maxlybbert查看英文原文
Based on the website address, I thought the article would be about written science fiction, which continues to move forward if you ignore recommendations from people who don't actually like science fiction. I think "The Martian" counts as moving forward, but I'm much less happy with most of the books Amazon recommends for me. But the article is about television. I really am not qualified to say much about television other than until very recently, it was very hard to have a hit TV show that only appealed to a niche audience. A series faithfully based on "The Martian" isn't likely to get a slot in prime time. The closest you'll get is so-called soft science fiction, which presents stories that happen to be set in unfamiliar locations (usually space), but where science has no influence on the story. Maybe there's a chance now, with a very different distribution model, but even if hard science fiction fans can be perfectly targeted through Netflix or Amazon, special effects will keep production costs high.
文章的理论化措辞含混，读者无法确定“文化”和引号的具体含义。
“这部剧是后种族主义的，却仍以维多利亚式对白人神话的信仰相信‘文化’”这句话我读不懂，尤其上下文似乎在抱怨种族描绘。“以维多利亚式对白人神话的信仰相信文化”是什么意思？这个修饰语说明对文化的信仰怎样？引号是表示文化不再算回事，还是作者假定我们都接受“不能判定一种文化低劣”？它和整段有何关系？
ashark查看英文原文
> This show is post-racism, but still believes in “culture” with a Victorian faith in white mythologies I'm fairly literate in Liberal Arts English, but I don't follow what this means, especially as the context around it seems to complain about portrayals of race. What does it mean to "believe in 'culture' with a Victorian faith in white mythologies"? What does that modifier mean about one's belief in culture (whatever that even means, all on its own—do the scare quotes mean we're not supposed to think culture's a thing anymore, or is this a hardcore we-can-never-judge-a-culture-as-inferior thing the writer's assuming we all buy?). How does that relate to the rest of the paragraph?
标题来自正文一句话，文章并未回答标题的大问题，主要谈电视《星际迷航》。
这里的标题来自文中一句话，文章实际标题是《Star Trek: Discovery》，开头是“本周的 Dear Television”。它没有考察“科幻为何停止前进”这个更大的问题，而主要谈《星际迷航》，顺带提到《太空堡垒卡拉狄加》和《苍穹浩瀚》。我这么说是因为看到《洛杉矶书评》时以为会涵盖书面科幻，并谈到斯蒂芬森的 Hieroglyph 项目，以及“亲爱的科幻作家：别再那么悲观了！”这类讨论。
eesmith查看英文原文
The title used here comes from a line in the article, which has the title "Star Trek: Discovery". The essay starts "This week on Dear Television". It does not look at the broader question of "why did science fiction stop moving forward", but mostly Star Trek, with a few references to Battlestar Galactica and The Expanse. I write this because when I saw "L.A. Review of Books" I thought it would include SF in books, and touch on things like Stephenson's Hieroglyph Project (See http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/dear-science-fiction-writers-stop-being-so-pessimistic-127226686/ - "Dear Science Fiction Writers: Stop Being So Pessimistic!".)
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