Worldcon Recaps- The Rest!

Whew! Last Worldcon set of recaps, for miscellaneous panels I didn't take extensive notes on. More below the jump:

Worldcon Recaps- Academic Panels

Midamericon II teamed up with the Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction, from the University of Kansas, for an academic track. I really wish the academic program hadn't been separated in the paper program--it was in a different section at the back--as I think we might otherwise have had a lot better attendance. Still, I really appreciate cons with at least some academic presence, and we had plenty of interested non-academic folks at most panels. I went to a good number of these talks, heard some great stuff; really brief overviews below.

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Joyful Disruption: Narratology and the SF/F Franchise

MCU is the the supertextiest

Dr. Heather Urbanski

• Very cool lecture!
• She's looking at Hollywood franchises, big multi-media things like the Marvel/DC or Star Wars universes.
• Starts out citing some examples of anti-superhero rhetoric, lamentations over lack of originality, etc.
• She's looking at the question of "Why franchises?" from a narrative perspective, using theorists like Mieke Bal, as well as some stuff on memory work & theory.
• One of her core ideas is that the difference between text, story, and fabula is more disrupted, independent in "supertexts", because so much of any given moment relies on something elsewhere, on the viewer making those connections.
• Cites timing of Marvel Universe releases to create reinforcing effects in the audience--timing references in films and television series so that they call out to each other in ways attentive fans will notice.
• Talks a bit about memory theory, including ideas from Barry Mazur, Julia Creet, Jan Assman, & Frances Yates--the idea of cultural memory, its crystallization and cultivation. Uses moments from "The Force Awakens" to illustrate.
• Uses "Stranger Things" as example of "nostalgic bricolage".

Great talk! There's an audience question that makes me ponder, though--referencing the beginning of a superhero film that doesn't make much sense if you don't know the canon, asks: "How do do you decide what's interesting intertextuality, versus just plain bad writing?" Urbanski responds that she very deliberately avoids aesthetics; she's interested in fannish joy and how this stuff works, not telling people what they like sucks.

Worldcon Recaps- Space & Science Panels

There were a host of science-related panels at Worldcon, many focusing on spaceflight. Some notes from the few I attended. Misattributions and errors possible.

Earth. We're stuck here!

James Patrick Kelly, Jim Davidson, Henry Spencer, John Strickland, Jr, Alison Wilgus

• Opening question: what's the biggest obstacle to a future in space? Turns out to be a divisive question, without about half the panel saying "the government", weirdly--blaming lack of funding, and restrictions on private ventures.
• Wilgus has a very different take. Money, sure, but to be honest: mass. It's very expensive to even practice space stuff, much less get good at it and do it at scale, because it's just so hard to get mass into even low orbit.
• Kelly says the biggest barrier to a future in space is us: the human body is not designed to go into space. Refers to radiation primarily, as well as known and unknown problems with long exposure to micro/zero-gravity.

Worldcon Recap- Is Cyberpunk Still a Thing?

Cory Doctorow, Pat Cadigan, Matt Jacobson, James Patrick Kelly, Patrick Nielsen Hayden.
(Highlights from my notes, errors and misattributions possible.)

• Dangerously close to an all-Pat panel, we note.
• Doctorow: What is Cyperpunk, and what is a thing?
• Cadigan: That's Miss Thing to you!
• Kelly: Things are reasons to have panels.
• Nielsen Hayden: Cyberpunk as a course correction, SF noticing most SF is slightly in the past. Let's make it now, or slightly in the future.
• Doctorow asks the relation between cyberpunk authors and actual computer knowledge (famous example of Gibson writing Neuromancer on a manual typewriter). Panelists respond that there was a great variation on how much people knew the tech, including a good deal of disappointment with how 80s computer tech actually looked, felt, sounded.
• Cadigan: Cyberpunks were the first generation to grow up completely with mass media.

WC Recap: Does SF Still Affect the Way We Think about the Future?

Does SF Still Affect the Way We Think about the Future?
Adam-Troy Castro, Michael Swanwick, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Cynthia Ward

• Castro: depending on the age of fans, they've lived through SF and come out the other side.
• Is SF still shaping the future we want to see, as opposed to dystopias we want to avoid, or highlighting negative situations we're already caught up in.
• Refrain that we would be return to: where's my flying car? We return to in the sense that: flying cars are impractical, why do we focus futuristic hopes around them?
• Nielsen Hayden makes a great point about SF being not just about whizzy tech. It was and is important for a much larger group of people than scientists, engineers: activists, artists.

Worldcon!

Hello everyone! Apologies for the delay in Positron updates, as the last month or two were consumed by Worldcon-related business for me. Now, finally catching my breath back in Chicago, I give you: vague observations and hasty thoughts.

This was my first Worldcon, and I had a great time! For those of you unfamiliar: The World Science Fiction Convention is among the oldest and certainly the most influential of the cons; it moves to a different city each year. Crucially, the Worldcon members are the voting body that issues the Hugo Awards, generally the most noted of the SF honors.