the history and aesthetic of science...
TRANSCRIPT
The History and Aesthetic of Science Fiction
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Origin: fear of the influence of the developing scien4fic movement and the harms it posed to society. Authors like Mary Shelley and H.G. Wells expressed this in canonical texts such as Frankenstein and The Time Machine.
Science fic4on as an avenue for censure and social commentary due to the radical economic and scien4fic progress at the 4me (early 19th C). Consider Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.
A Trip to the Moon (1902) -‐ based on the novels From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne and The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells, Georges Méliès created this image of humans reaching our only natural satellite.
Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) -‐ Just seven years aUer the play Rossum's Universal Robots, Maria the robot seduced the workers — and the world.
Science Wonder Stories by Hugo Gemsback (1926) and Lensmen by E.E. "Doc" Smith (1937), and the rise of Golden Age science fic4on (1930s-‐50s) and pulp magazines.
Superman (1938) -‐ the first real superhero, and the alien who captured our imagina4ons. Purpose?
FoundaCon (1942), I Robot (1940-‐50) -‐ Isaac Asimov invents psychohistory and cements science fic4on as the genre of the technocrat; the ‘servile robot’ and the Laws of Robo4cs [AI]. A proponent of ‘Hard Science Fic4on’.
The Day The Earth Stood SCll (1951) -‐ the first 1950s paranoia movie is also the most thoughiul, and the iconography of Klaatu's ship and Gort helped define a decade. Contextual concern?
Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Orwell’s 1984 explored social degrada4on in dystopic presenta4ons of their society’s, overrun with technological advancement.
Godzilla (1954) –The Cold War heralds the Kaiju (strange mosters/beasts) era, fed by the fear of atomic destruc4on has its poster creature.
Forbidden Planet (1956) -‐ Robby the Robot became the most famous of the 1950s robots.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) -‐ There are so many great images in Kubrick's film, but the scenes of weightlessness, and the panic of floa4ng out of the airlock, might be the most influen4al.
The New Wave -‐ around the same 4me that authors like Ursula K. Le Guin, Michael Moorcock and Samuel Delany were reinven4ng science fic4on, ar4sts like Jean Giraud/Moebius (below) were crea4ng new ways of seeing our world.
Star Wars (1977) —the stars turning into streaks of light by uncanny speed, defined the exhilara4ng speed and vastness of George Lucas' galaxy, and was copied endlessly.
Alien (1979) -‐ H.R. Giger's design aesthe4c influenced everything from the Borg in Star Trek to every great science fic4on horror movie
Blade Runner (1982) helped to define the rise of the cyberpunk genre's aesthe4c through world building, existen4al debates as well as ques4oning the elements of humanity.
Tron (1982) -‐ gave us our first computer VFX and our first glimpse of a virtual world (consider the impact of texts like Neuromancer in predic4ng virtual worlds such as the Internet)
Jurassic Park (1993) -‐ the first realis4c CG creatures and the founda4on for the past 20 years of immersive storytelling.
The Matrix (1999) -‐ gave us "bullet 4me" but also a new way of looking at reality as cons4tuted by computers.
The New Space Opera -‐ from Iain M. Banks to Paul McAuley, from Firefly to BaUlestar GalacCca, from Halo to Mass Effect, epic space adventures rose again
The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2006) -‐ in many ways, the past several years have been defined by post-‐apocalyp4c and dystopian worlds, from The Hunger Games to The Walking Dead.