1. Critical Theory Survival Guide
English 4860 Special Topics in Literature and Film: A Critical Look at Star Wars and Science Fiction

2. Formalism Motto: “Stick to the words on the page.”
Critical Moves: close reading, formal elements: form, simile, paradox, allusion, juxtaposition, irony, metaphor
Outside Information: None (only if other text is referred)
Drawbacks: limited views of the text, no context (historically)
Trans-historical (text based), scientific approach
Read Suvin’s essay “The Significant Context of SF”

3. New Historicism Motto: “Literature and history influence each other.”
“Everything is relative.”
“Discourse.”
Critical Moves: Find connections to historical period. Look for cultural context
Outside Information: Newspapers, speeches, magazines, journals – from the period
Drawbacks: A lot of information to sift through
Historical (context based) Approach
William Gibson – “I felt that I was trying to describe an unthinkable present and I actually feel that science fiction's best use today is the exploration of contemporary reality rather than any attempt to predict where we are going... The best thing you can do with science today is use it to explore the present. Earth is the alien planet now.” CNN interview August 26, 1997

4. Feminist Theory & Gender Studies
Motto: “Sex and gender are not the same things.”
Critical Moves: Gender ideals, character traits, positionality
Outside Information: Biographies (letters, diaries), Advertisements, Other examples of characters from other texts in the same time period.
Drawbacks: Opinionated, not objective. Can be essentialist. Can be prescriptive.
Historical and Cultural Approach
“Science fiction and fantasy serve as important vehicles for feminist thought, particularly as bridges between theory and practice. No other genres so actively invite representations of the ultimate goals of feminism: worlds free of sexism, worlds in which women's contributions (to science) are recognized and valued, worlds that explore the diversity of women's desire and sexuality, and worlds that move beyond gender.”
— MTSU professor Elyce Rae Helford,  
The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy, 2005

5. Marxist Theory
Motto: View literary works as reflections of the social institutions from which they originate
Critical Moves: Examines class constructs within text
Outside Information: Background and ideology of author
Drawbacks: Not objective, skews towards the oppression of the rich
on the poor. Can be essentialist.
Historical and Cultural Approach

6. Ethnic and Postcolonial Theory
Motto: Hybridity, double-voiced discourse, subaltern, internalized racism, colonialism
Critical Moves: Identifying double conscious in writer or character. Identifying aporia (moral gray area).
Outside Information: Letters, speeches, biographies, historical
documents, 1920’s-1970’s genre elements (i.e. blues music)
Drawbacks: Identity politics: we hold a particular author responsible
for being a role model for their culture. Stereotypes, assuming all
people are the same. Ghettoization of writers.
Historical and Cultural Approach

7. Psychoanalytic Theory
Motto: “Look for latent meaning.”
“It’s all about sex.”
Critical Moves: Look for phallic imagery. Manifest/latent. Stages of psychosexual development.
Outside Information: Biographies of Freud/Lacan – choose method.
Drawbacks: Outdated, sexist, essentialist, inconsistent, anachronistic, reductive.
Trans-historical Approach
Chapter on Psychoanalytic Criticism in SF: Science Fiction Film by J. P. Telotte

8. Queer Theory
Motto: Gender as performance. Heterosexuality is constructed and depends on historical era.
Critical Moves: close reading, cultural context, love triangles, examining performance of gender, deconstructs sexuality
Outside Information: Historical texts, biography, culture/social norms
Drawbacks: Can render sexuality meaningless. There is no “hetero.”
Trans-historical Approach

9. Structuralism Motto: “We don’t see words, but signs.” sign = Signifier
Signified
Critical Moves: Close words, binary opposites, look at how signs are defined by other signs within the text
Outside Information: Definitions and etymology of words, allusions, conventions of the genre (cannot use cultural context or author’s bio)
Drawbacks: No authorial input. “The author is dead.”
Trans-historical Approach

10. Deconstruction
Motto: Change or “deconstruct” the meaning in order to open up multiple meanings
Critical Moves: Identify signifier (transcendental) and binary opposites on which the are based and then reverse them.
Outside Information: Dictionary, other texts in same genre *mostly look at the text itself*
Drawbacks: Death of author, presentism (putting current ideas upon the text), can destabilize text into meaninglessness
Trans-historical Approach