The various monsters that people 1950s sf - giant insects, prehistoric creatures, mutants, uncanny doubles, to name a few - serve as metaphorical embodiments of a varied and complex cultural paranoia."--BOOK JACKET. "Hendershot provides both theoretical discussion of paranoia and close readings of sf films in order to construct her argument, elucidating the various metaphors used by these films to convey a paranoiac view of a society forever altered by the atomic bomb."--BOOK JACKET.

In the 1950s, science was rapidly advancing, and so were scientific opportunities for women. Modern science fiction films reflected these simultaneous social developments. This book proposes that the social ideology of the 1950s, which was partly concerned with gender issues, saturated the B science fiction films of that era and inspired a new appreciation for the role of women in scientific advancements and other social achievements. Drawing on feminist literary and cultural theory, the author argues that the emergence of the modern American science fiction film in 1950 and the situation of post-World War II female scientists together created a film genre. That genre was explicitly amenable to exploring the tension between a woman's place in her home and her place in the work force, particularly in scientific fields. Early chapters provide a general introduction to the science fiction genre and specifically describe 1950s B science fiction films as they resonate with concerns proper to feminist theory. Subsequent chapters offer detailed, historically situated readings of 10 B science fiction films from the 1950s that feature women in science. The cinematic representations of female scientists are compared and contrasted with real female professionals of the time, illuminating the changing gender dynamics reflected in popular film in the 1950s. Films analyzed include Rocketship X-M, It Came from Beneath the Sea, Them!, Tarantula, The Deadly Mantis, Beginning of the End, Kronos, Cat-Women of the Moon, World Without End, and Queen of Outer Space.

As the gap between science fiction and science fact has narrowed, films that were intended as pure fantasy at the time of their premier have taken on deeper meaning. This volume explores neuroscience in science fiction films, focusing on neuroscience and psychiatry as running themes in SF and finding correlations between turning points in "neuroscience fiction" and advances in the scientific field. The films covered include The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Island of Dr. Moreau, Robocop, The Stepford Wives, The Mind Snatchers and iconic franchises like Terminator, Ironman and Planet of the Apes. Examining the parallel histories of psychiatry, neuroscience and cinema, this book shows how science fiction films offer insightful commentary on the scientific and philosophical developments of their times.

A comprehensive guide to science fiction films, which analyzes and contextualizes the most important examples of the genre, from Un voyage dans la lune (1902), to The Road (2009).

The SCI-FI FILM FIESTA eBook series is intended as a salute to the pioneering work of science fiction film makers. May future generations have the privilege of enjoying your work and never stop wondering....What if? The classic science fiction films from the 1950s in this volume 8 “Big Bugs and Crazy Critters” of the Sci-Fi Film Fiesta eBook series, deal with forces of nature going haywire and seeming to strike back at humanity with a veritable menagerie of colossal critters, reminding us just how insignificant and powerless we are in the face of forces over which we really have little control. If humanity is not more careful, it could very well be…..The Beginning of the End!

1950s Cold War-era monsters meet 21st century terrorists: this exploration of sci-fi movies examines the similarities and differences between the political environment and popular culture of two eras. This examination and appreciation of 1950s science fiction films includes behind-the-scenes tales about their production and many quotes from those who produced and starred in the films. The author draws parallels between the Cold War fears of the 1950s and 60s and the constant "terrorism alerts" of the September 11th era, exploring how the politics and the psychological climate of the times influences and is reflected in this vehicle of popular culture. This book is the first of its kind, studying the pop culture genre in the wake of the September 11th tragedy. It shows that, whatever the era and whatever the challenges and crises confronting America, many entertainment themes remain the same, reflecting their respective times and the relevant issues. For instance, Godzilla, the only Fifties-era monster to remain a "movie star" beyond that era, could be fashioned to reflect whatever issues dominate the times, be they nuclear war in the Fifties when Godzilla originated to a Seventies Godzilla film about environmental pollution. Conceivably a Godzilla for the age of terrorism is possible. "Them"! the 1954 atomic mutation classic, is the spiritual ancestor of the 2002 film "Eight Legged Freaks." The alien invaders of the Fifties signified a Russian invasion of America, while other films of the genre, such as "Invaders from Mars," depicted aliens utilizing mind control to manipulate humans to commit acts of sabotage, signifying Communist enslavement. If such a film were made now, such invaders could be seen as terrorist masterminds using human slaves to commit terrorist acts. Finally, several Fifties films depicted the end of the world at a time when Americans expected a nuclear war with Russia. The immediate pre-September 11th era witnessed films presenting galactic threats to mankind's existence ("Independence Day," "Deep Impact," "Armageddon"), while the early 2000s witnessed the popularity of the "Left Behind" Christian films dramatizing the Tribulation period in the Book of Revelation.

Scholars are increasingly investigating photography’s broad cultural role, expanding our understanding of the diversity of photographic practices. Kim Timby contributes to this new history of photography by examining the multifaceted story of images that animate with a flick of the wrist or appear vividly three-dimensional without the use of special devices—both made possible by the lenticular process. Using French case studies, this volume broadly weaves 3D and animated lenticular imagery into scientific and popular culture, from early cinema and color reproduction to the birth of modern advertising and the market for studio portraits, postcards, and religious imagery. The motivations behind the invention and reinvention of this pervasive form of imagery, from the turn of the twentieth century through the end of the pre-digital era, shed new light on our relationship to photographic realism and on the forceful interplay in photography between technological innovation and the desire to be entertained. 3D and Animated Lenticular Photography: Between Utopia and Entertainment is a profusely illustrated and engaging interdisciplinary study of a wide-ranging body of images that have fascinated viewers for generations.

Cinematic Flashes challenges popular notions of a uniform Hollywood style by disclosing uncanny networks of incongruities, coincidences, and contingencies at the margins of the cinematic frame. In an agile demonstration of "cinephiliac" historiography, Rashna Wadia Richards extracts intriguing film fragments from their seemingly ordinary narratives in order to explore what these unexpected moments reveal about the studio era. Inspired by Walter Benjamin's preference for studying cultural fragments rather than composing grand narratives, this unorthodox history of the films of the studio system reveals how classical Hollywood emerges as a disjointed network of accidents, excesses, and coincidences.

How is affective experience produced in the cinema? And how can we write a history of this experience? By asking these questions, this study by Hauke Lehmann aims at rethinking our conception of a critical period in US film history – the New Hollywood: as a moment of crisis that can neither be reduced to economic processes of adaption nor to a collection of masterpieces. Rather, the fine-grained analysis of core films reveals the power of cinematic images to affect their audiences – to confront them with the new. The films of the New Hollywood redefine the divisions of the classical genre system in a radical way and thereby transform the way spectators are addressed affectively in the cinema. The study describes a complex interplay between three modes of affectivity: suspense, paranoia, and melancholy. All three, each in their own way, implicate spectators in the deep-seated contradictions of their own feelings and their ways of being in the world: their relations to history, to society, and to cultural fantasy. On this basis, Affect Poetics of the New Hollywood projects an original conception of film history: as an affective history which can be re-written up to the present day.

The boundary between ‘high’ culture and ‘popular’ culture is neither hermetic nor stable. A wide-spread mechanism of a reception strongly influenced by structuralism and post-modernism has led to the amplification and acceleration of cultural production between these two poles. Relying on a decidedly theoretical approach, this volume offers a broad perspective transgressing linguistic, cultural, temporal, and media borders. Reflections and perspectives on the relationship between ‘high’ and ‘popular’ culture are the subject of the thirteen articles collected here. Side by side with theoretical approaches, case studies covering classical and Heavy Metal music, TV series and pornographic films, zombies and ‘Creature Features’, philosophically infused comics and popular lexicography, professional wrestling and hypertext literature pave the way to a contemporary aesthetics.