tycho
You know Nazis also despise the left and would do anything to put you in camps if they could. They are not allies. You are falling in the exact trap described by this article, trying to attract leftists on the few subjects they appear to have in common to make the Nazis appear normal or even allies.
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 :^)
I wanted to say that it’s hard to define exactly what is or isn’t sci-fi. Really I’m just a sci-fi enjoyer and am not qualified to say what is or isn’t sci-fi :D
Kryptonite for me is clearly a magic rock but in the movie it is in the realm of their science. Also there was a movie where the existence of superman led to a lot of questioning on its implications in defense politics so it could fit some part of your definition I guess?
So like superman is science-based and X-Men is also you’re right and it does clearly ask what it means to be human when there are augmented humans now. So clearly more sci-fi than superman.
But films can be both sci-fi and fantasy. It feels like a sliding rule depending on the amount the universe is based on hardcore science. On the DNA subject, Gattaca is not fantasy but X-Men is.
To me it feels similar to the debate about “hard magic” universes like Eragon (where every spell has a physical toll on the user, or other book series where the magic is really detailed in-universe and only mastered by experts who have to study their whole life for even a basic spell) and “soft magic” like Harry Potter where everyone can cast crucifixion spells at the speed of an automatic rifle (I’m slightly exaggerating).