I always saw Star Wars as some sort of a fairy tale (and I mean this in a good way- Star Wars kicks ass).
Ditto. I consider Stars Wars a good old-fashioned swashbuckling adventure in the tradition of Robin Hood, King Arthur, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. And that's by no means a bad thing. Is it "real" science fiction? Who cares? I don't worry about such distinctions. Space ships, dragons, werewolves . . . it's all good.
I mostly read Science Fiction, but on occasion dip into the Fantasy side of the pool. I read some Horror, mostly Stephan King.
I like science fiction because it appeals to change, rationality, learning, thinking out of the box, thinking with a sense of wonder and because it is often the only fiction that is concerned with where we are going. Fantasy doesn't appeal to me much except in the occasional entertainment factor, it doesn't really supply us with anything new. It appeals to the past, feudalism, nostalgia and doesn't demand much explanation. When magic is involved, rationality is not necessary, you can justify anything. What often happens is they replace common sense with arbitrary rules. RAMA
Ah, but who says that fiction or drama is supposed to promote rationality--or even appeal to the rational parts of our mind? Much of the best art is about eliciting a visceral emotional response. Or catharsis if you want to be pretentious about it. Human beings are not inherently rational creatures, so why should our myths and stories be? Then again, I'm probably a horror fan at my core--and there's nothing remotely rational about horror.
I have a preference for sci-fi and things without heavy supernatural elements, but I can enjoy both sci-fi and fantasy books, movies, and TV. No thanks on comic books though.
When it comes to TV/Movies/Video Games I'm pretty equally a fan of both. But for reading ATM I'm really into fantasy, mostly it's been Contemporary Fantasy, but I'm working my way through A Song of Ice and Fire, and I plan on checking out some other epic fantasy like the Wheel of Time, Mistborn, and Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn and one or two other series. The only non-tie-in sci fi I've read at the moment is the first three The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books, but I've got a whole bunch of others I want to read.
Personally, that question feels to me like someone asking "Xbox or PlayStation" or "Currywurst or Doner Kebap" or "Hot Dog or Pizza". I'll always be like "Uhm... BOTH?!"
On the question of semantics, science fiction is fantasy, but then again all fiction is fantasy, too. Of course, I know what you mean, generally, I think, or, well, sorta. Back in the day (the 1970s), Star Wars was classified by Starlog columnists as science fantasy, a pretty reasonable split-the-difference nomenclature, actually. Go to teh wiki on science fantasy, and you'll find no mention of Star Wars, which is pretty unreasonable. Not in my mind a contradiction, because it's arguable either way, it's relatively recently that I've accepted Star Wars as science fiction, not so much that I've expanded my conception of what SF encompasses, but because I've recognized that the Force is really a science fiction concept; it's a double-standard to admit Dune with all of its mysticism and disqualify Star Wars for its. That said, as a rule, I prefer descriptive over prescriptive definitions. The Lord of the Rings is hands-down my favorite book(s) of all time, but statistically speaking I prefer science fiction more than (non-SF) fantasy.
As far as reading goes, it's pretty much science fiction only. I don't have the patience for fantasy. And a lot of my reading lately is more science and history than science fiction anyway. When it comes to TV or movies though, pretty much anything works for me as long as the story and characters are good.
Here's an interesting article by David Brin, and he has another one which casts Star Wars under the same microscope: Tolkien: Enemy of Progress? http://www.salon.com/2002/12/17/tolkien_brin/ THE DARK SIDE: STAR WARS, MYTHOLOGY AND INGRATITUDE http://www.salon.com/1999/06/15/brin_main/ http://www.salon.com/1999/06/15/brin_side/ http://www.davidbrin.com/starwars2.html SW in particular shares the themes and elements of common fantasy stories.
I vastly prefer fantasy over science fiction. I'm mainly interested in characters and story, so the technical details that science fiction tends to get bogged down in just annoys me.