Yahoo! decided that it would be a good idea to let their users input their opinions to compile a list of the top 30 science fiction movies. I just finished the list, extremely disappointed. They listed some movies that made me insecure about what the terminology “science fiction” really means, ie. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
I would like to make my own list. So I set off to Wikipedia, so see what would classify as sci-fi. I then found a wikipedia list of sci-fi movies broken up by the decades. And some movies I really argue, if they are science fiction or not. Should 28 Days Later be considered sci-fi? What about Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is definitely not sci-fi…. and I don’t think 28 Days Later should be considered sci-fi either. It’s sort of close, but not.
I agree with jamieryan. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind definitely doesn’t fall into the sci-fi genre. As for 28 Days Later, you can make an argument that it is sci-fi (though not entirely). It’s not your traditional sci-fi film with aliens or robots, but it shares elements of science fiction. This is all just my opinion of course.
Since Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind features a device that is fictional arising from Science (The memory wiping machine) it falls into the Science Fiction catagory. But it is one of those movies that barely fits. What other catagory could it be? Drama? Comedy? Fantasy? It’s a cool film that defies catagories.