As I read Frankenstein, I think about the idea of cognitive estrangement and what it means to science fiction. It’s the idea that something might make sense on a cognitive level but is still distended from reality. That makes sense.
Yet, how different is Frankenstein from reality? Obviously undead abominations aren’t running around. However, in the years since the publication, there have been plenty of similar monstrosities in other forms of fiction.
I suppose it would be best to make my point with an analogy. When you saw your first zombie movie, it probably terrified you. Regardless of creator, author, what have you, zombies were a new and frightening thing that didn’t make sense yet did at the same time. However, since that time, there has been an almost infinite number of zombie movies. Zombie horror, zombie action, zombie comedy, zombie cartoons. Zombies are part of the public consciousness. They are no longer so estranged from reality as to create that sort of dissonance. I’m willing to wager that someone in the class, to some extent, believes a zombie apocalypse could happen in the near future.
The same has happened with Frankenstein. The idea of a creature sewn together and running amok isn’t strange. The idea of a creation developing its own identity and mastery of itself and rebelling against a creator is a trope in science fiction. And these tropes completely break the notion of cognitive estrangement. In a certain way, the only way something can be estranging is if it’s something you’ve never before considered.
Ultimately, cognitive estrangement will cease to be a qualifier for science fiction. Ultimately, there will be no more new ideas. Everything will have been done in some way before. I suppose this is slightly cynical and maybe not wholly true, but the influence of the market (that is, whoever buys books) also will pull things in the direction of sameness. For example, alien invasions are always popular with an audience. When I was a child and first learned about aliens, I was terrified. I couldn’t sleep at night because I was so wholly convinced that aliens were going to come and get me. It made sense to me. It was something that I could conceive yet strange. Now, aliens are trivial. Who cares. Dime a dozen, see them everyday. People believe in them. They’re no longer science fiction. They’re a tangible fact to many people. Not strange at all.
So, it seems to me that science fiction is more of a gradual cognitive acceptance. That sounds fantastic, doesn’t it?
