Absolutely, genres are muddy bullshit. That’s what makes debates like these so fun.
Looking at things from the perspective of the characters is interesting, but I struggle to imagine how kryptonite would be ‘science’ even in-universe. I guess ‘technology’ is really what I mean, and kryptonite is a natural element. That’s how I see it. There is some engineering around kryptonite-based anti-superman weapons, but that’s ultimately ancillary to the philosophical meat of the series.
With Superman being a lens on geoplolitics, it’s simply the fact that he’s a natural being and not a human engineering accomplishment that makes it solidly not sci-fi to me. Many if not most great works examine the human condition to some extent no matter the genre.
With this technology lens, would Dune still be considered sci-fi? They have different technology sure but in many ways worse than what we have now (except for space travel), they don’t have computers and rely on hand to hand combat, their spies cannot hide mics so they hide in walls for days!
It’s another hyper militarized universe like what the Cold War has brought but with religion and drugs :^)
Perhaps not, interesting example. It’s more of a political drama overall, though it’s been ages since I read it.
The space travel is just a drop-in for different countries, really. The examination of humanity doesn’t extend specifically from the implications of advanced technology; I feel like it could be pretty easily re-framed into a mideval drama about a fief rich in (magical?) opium poppies.
