Tintin Forums

Just a thought on my mind: is Flight 714 to Sydney considered science fiction?

I'd think most people would categorise it as a science fiction story, yes, what with it having the classic sci-fi ingredients of alien visitation and a flying saucer, not to mention the telepathic communication.

That's not to say it's only a science fiction story of course, but that's the trouble with categorising books into genres. The public libraries where I live (Edinburgh) tend to categorise and shelve their fiction according to genre, which means when I was once looking for a copy of George Orwell's 1984 I couldn't find it next to his other novels in "Literary Fiction" (whatever that means!) but in the Science Fiction section.

I think Herge just wanted to improve our believing in the supernatural.

In my opinion, Flight 714 to Sydney isn't exactly a sci-fi story. Of course there are aliens in it, but the story itself isn't really about aliens.

A sci-fi story doesn't necessarily need to put aliens on their focus of the story. I think Mik's presence on the story and his interference with the groups' route to Sydney shows that this can be a sci-fi story, at least it has some sci-fi nuances in it.

It might be true that Flight 714 is not truly sci-fi, but since aliens is a dominant motif in this story (though not primary), I think it's safe to include Flight 714 as a light sci-fi story.

tintinroxs
Hmmm… Never thought about this before. I think you are right. This can categorize as science fiction

Maybe Herge did it on purpose just to bother us.

Did what to bother us, exactly? It doesn’t bother me that Flight 714 is sci-fi, anymore than does it that Tintin in America is a western/ gangster tale, or Calculus Affair is a spy book.
The Moon books are science fiction, come to that…

jock123
Well, maybe he did it just to make us really think about it, like if it's sci fi or just something else. Or he just wanted the book to be different.

But what difference does labelling a book as sci-fi make?
There is no universally accepted definition for what makes something "sci-fi" - it embraces anything from The Sleeper Awakes to 1984, Kurt Vonnegut to E.E. "Doc" Smith - or how much of a book needs to be fantastical for it to qualify?
I'm interested that you place such importance on the notion of that label for this book, when science fiction is such a staple of the series; not just the Moon books, but The Shooting Star, and even elements of othe stories (Calculus's pendulum and Tintin's apparent telepathic connection to Chang in Tibet) can all be seen as "sci-fi" of sorts.
Do you think that knowing or having a label for a book should change the way that you read it?