Science Fiction Film develops a historical and cultural approach to the genre that moves beyond close readings of iconography and formal conventions. It explores how this increasingly influential genre has been constructed from disparate elements into a hybrid genre. Science Fiction Film goes beyond a textual exploration of these films to place them within a larger network of influences that includes studio politics and promotional discourses. The book also challenges the perceived limits of the genre - it includes a wide range of films, from canonical SF, such as Le voyage dans la lune, Star Wars and Blade Runner, to films that stretch and reshape the definition of the genre. This expansion of generic focus offers an innovative approach for students and fans of science fiction alike.

The Science Fiction Film in Contemporary Hollywood focuses on the American science fiction (SF) film during the period 2001-2020, in order to provide a theoretical mapping of the genre in the context of Conglomerate Hollywood. Using a social semiotics approach in a systematic corpus of films, the book argues that the SF film can be delineated by two semiotic squares -the first one centering on the genre's more-than-human ontologies (SF bodies), and the second one focusing on its imaginative worlds (SF worlds). Based on this theoretical framework, the book examines the genre in six cycles, which are placed in their historical context, and are analyzed in relation to cultural discourses, such as technological embodiment, race, animal-human relations, environmentalism, global capitalism, and the techno-scientific Empire. By considering these cycles -which include superhero films, creature films, space operas, among others-as expressions of the genre's basic oppositions, the book facilitates the comparison and juxtaposition of films that have rarely been discussed in tandem, offering a new perspective on the multiple articulations of the SF film in the new millennium.

American Science Fiction Film and Television presents a critical history of late 20th Century SF together with an analysis of the cultural and thematic concerns of this popular genre. Science fiction film and television were initially inspired by the classic literature of HG Wells and Jules Verne. The potential and fears born with the Atomic age fuelled the popularity of the genre, upping the stakes for both technology and apocalypse. From the Cold War through to America's current War on Terror, science fiction has proved a subtle vehicle for the hopes, fears and preoccupations of a nation at war. The definitive introduction to American science fiction, this is also the first study to analyse SF across both film and TV. Throughout, the discussion is illustrated with critical case studies of key films and television series, including The Day the Earth Stood Still, Planet of the Apes, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The X-Files, and Battlestar Galactica.

This groundbreaking book uses observations made by Marshall McLuhan to analyze the aesthetics of science fiction films, treating them as visual metaphors or probes into the new reality dominated by electronic media: - it considers the relations between the senses and sensuality in Blade Runner, the visually-tactile character of the film, and the status of replicants as humanity’s new clothes; - it analyzes the mixture of Eastern and Western aesthetics in Star Wars, analyzing Darth Vader as a combination of the literate and the tribal mindset; - it discusses the failure of visual society presented in the Terminator and Alien franchises, the rekindling of horror vacui, tribalism, and the desire to obliterate the past as a result of the simultaneity of the acoustic space; - finally, the book discusses the Matrix trilogy and Avatar as being deeply related in terms of the growing importance of tactility, easternization, tribalization, as well as connectivity and the implosion of human civilization.

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.

This biographical dictionary presents a stellar lineup of talented, versatile character actors who regularly appeared in horror and science fiction films during Hollywood's golden age. Many are well known by genre buffs and casual fans--they include Lionel Atwill, John Carradine, Dwight Frye, Rondo Hatton, Dick Miller, J. Carroll Naish, Maria Ouspenskaya, Glenn Strange, Edward Van Sloan, and George Zucco. Some are perhaps not so well known but equally at home in the horror and science fiction films--such as Anthony Carbone, Harry Cording, Rosemary La Planche, Dick Purcell, Elizabeth Russell and Mel Welles. The 96 entries are complete with a biography and in-depth analyses of the actor's best performances--demonstrating how important these personalities were to the success of their genre films.

The 1950s era of science fiction film effectively ended when space flight became a reality with the first manned orbit of Earth in 1962. As the genre's wildly speculative depictions of science and technology gave way to more reality-based representations, relations between male and female characters reflected the changing political and social climates of the era. Drawing on critical analyses, film reviews and cultural commentaries, this book examines the development of science fiction film and its representations of gender, from the groundbreaking films of 1968--including 2001: A Space Odyssey, Barbarella and Planet of the Apes--through its often overlooked "Middle Period," which includes such films as Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970), The Stepford Wives (1975) and A Boy and His Dog (1975). The author examines intersections of gender and race in The Omega Man (1971) and Frogs (1972), gender and dystopia in Soylent Green (1973) and Logan's Run (1976), and gender and computers in Demon Seed (1977). The big-budget films of the late 1970s--Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Alien and Star Wars--are also discussed.

One of the great intellectual achievements of the 20th century, Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces is an elaborate articulation of the monomyth: the narrative pattern underlying countless stories from the most ancient myths and legends to the films and television series of today. The monomyth's fundamental storyline, in Campbell's words, sees "the hero venture forth from the world of the common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons to his fellow man." Campbell asserted that the hero is each of us--thus the monomyth's endurance as a compelling plot structure. This study examines the monomyth in the context of Campbell's The Hero and discusses the use of this versatile narrative in 26 films and two television shows produced between 1960 and 2009, including the initial Star Wars trilogy (1977-1983), The Time Machine (1960), Logan's Run (1976), Escape from New York (1981), Tron (1982), The Terminator (1984), The Matrix (1999), the first 11 Star Trek films (1979-2009), and the Sci Fi Channel's miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune (2000) and Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (2003).

The third of five volumes of new scholarship on American movie conventions. The 19 essays explore cinematic representations of such material items as food, weapons, clothing, tools, technology, and art and literature. Not illustrated. No index. Paper edition (unseen), $13.95. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR