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space opera
Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes space warfare, melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in outer space, and often risk-taking as well as chivalric romance; usually involving conflict between opponents possessing advanced abilities, futuristic weapons and other sophisticated technology. The term has no relation to music but is instead a play on the term "horse opera", which was coined during the heyday of silent movies to indicate clichéd and formulaic western movies. Space operas emerged in the 1930s and they continue to be produced in literature, film, comics and video games.
Notable space opera books include the ''Foundation'' series (1942–1999) by Isaac Asimov ''et al.'' and the ''Ender's Game'' series (1985–present) by Orson Scott Card. An early notable space opera film was ''Flash Gordon'' (1936–present) created by Alex Raymond. In the late 1970s, the ''Star Wars'' franchise (1977–present) created by George Lucas brought a great deal of attention to the genre.
==Definition==
The term "space opera" was coined in 1941 by fan writer (and later author) Wilson Tucker, in a fanzine article,〔Tucker 1941, p. 8.〕 as a pejorative term. At the time, serial radio dramas in the US had become popularly known as soap operas because many were sponsored by soap manufacturers. Tucker defined space opera as the SF equivalent: a "hacky, grinding, stinking, outworn, spaceship yarn".〔Langford 2005, pp. 167-168.〕 Even earlier, the term horse opera had come into use as a term for western films. In fact, some fans and critics have noted that the plots of space operas have sometimes been taken from horse operas and simply translated into an outer space environment, as famously parodied on the back cover of the first issue of ''Galaxy Science Fiction''. Still, during the late 20s and early 30s when the stories were printed in science fiction magazines, the stories were often referred to as "super-science epics".
Beginning in the 1960s, and widely accepted by the 1970s, the space opera was redefined, following Brian Aldiss' definition in ''Space Opera'' (1974) as (in the paraphrase Hartwell and Cramer) "the good old stuff".〔Hartwell and Cramer 2008, Introduction, pp. 10-18.〕 Yet soon after his redefinition, it began to be challenged, for example, by the editorial practice and marketing of Judy-Lynn del Rey and in the reviews of her husband and colleague Lester del Rey.〔 In particular, they disputed the claims that space operas were obsolete, and Del Rey Books labeled reissues of earlier work of Leigh Brackett as space opera.〔 By the early 1980s, space operas—adventure stories set in space—were again redefined, and the label was attached to major popular culture works such as ''Star Wars''.〔 It was only in the early 1990s that the term space opera began to be recognized as a legitimate genre of science fiction.〔 Hartwell and Cramer define space opera as "colorful, dramatic, large-scale science fiction adventure, competently and sometimes beautifully written, usually focused on a sympathetic, heroic central character and plot action, and usually set in the relatively distant future, and in space or on other worlds, characteristically optimistic in tone. It often deals with war, piracy, military virtues, and very large-scale action, large stakes."〔
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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