Science Fiction as a Mirror for Reality

Abstract

I'm mad at George Lucas. I'm mad because he begins each of his Star Wars films with these ten words: "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." The world first saw those words (taken, of course, from the opening often used for fairy tales) in 1977-and they changed everything. Up until that point, science fiction had been making slow but steady progress toward respectability in the public consciousness.