Decolonizing Encounters of the Third Kind: Alternative Futuring in Native Science Fiction Film

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Lempert
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
The Third ◽  
Native Science

Jurassic Park

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Bullock
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Steven Spielberg ◽  
The Third ◽  
Close Encounters ◽  
The World ◽  
The Impact

‘Constellations: Jurassic Park’ explores how Steven Spielberg used the film to investigate several key themes that have been important to him across his career. These themes are: nature and humankind’s relationship with it, the importance of cinematic fantasy and how it shapes our view of the world, and the impact of toxic masculinity on both men and women. The book also looks at how Spielberg blends genres across his career as a whole and Jurassic Park specifically. This is particularly true of the science fiction and horror genres, which are used in Jurassic Park to create a film that is both cathartically scary and thematically satisfying. These points are contextualised within the wider scope of Spielberg’s life and career to understand how Jurassic Park acted as bridging point between the light entertainments he had been known for up to that point (Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, for example) and the more serious filmmaking he focused on after its release (Saving Private Ryan and Lincoln).

Energy matters

2020 ◽  
pp. 105-144
Author(s):  
Upamanyu Pablo Mukherjee
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Indian Science ◽  
The Third ◽  
Theoretical Developments

The third chapter concentrates on how Indian science fiction met the representational challenges regarding energy during the non-aligned era. These decades were marked by chronic ‘energy crises’ in the country, involving massive shortages in food and fuel. Drawing on recent theoretical developments in Energy Humanities, the chapter suggests that much of the science fiction of the time was animated by attempts to present the pitfalls of thinking about energy exclusively in terms of resource and extraction and imagine what a non-exploitative energy-system could look like.

Close Encounters: Genre and Context

2016 ◽  
pp. 17-24
Author(s):  
Jon Towlson
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Greek Mythology ◽  
Art Cinema ◽  
Special Effects ◽  
Star Wars ◽  
The Third ◽  
Close Encounters ◽  
Human Need ◽  
Science Fiction Films

This chapter discusses the genre and context of Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). It begins by tracing the emergence of science fiction in literature and in cinema. The chapter then looks at how film serials popularised pulp science-fiction cinema in the form of rocketships, ray guns, alien invaders, evil intergalactic emperors, and damsels in distress. One can see them as the inspiration for the likes of Star Wars and the myriad superhero blockbuster movies that continue to dominate Hollywood today. In 1968, Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey returned science fiction to its origins in Greek mythology. It is perhaps the first example of ‘transcendent’ science-fiction cinema, exploring the human need to place trust in a force larger than ourselves. In the early 1970s, science-fiction films were more overtly concerned with identity and environment, and how both were increasingly shaped or misshapen by technology. Meanwhile, post-9/11 has seen a move towards intelligent science fiction as a bankable commodity within Hollywood. Part of the genre's continuing appeal is, of course, the showcasing of state-of-the-art cinema technology within the sci-fi narrative. Special-effects technology has evolved in line with cinema's own development.

scholarly journals Postdigital education in a biotech future

2021 ◽  
pp. 147821032110499
Author(s):  
Petar Jandrić ◽  
Sarah Hayes
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Asian Country ◽  
East Asian Country ◽  
Military Academy ◽  
Fictional World ◽  
The Third ◽  
Fictional Narrative ◽  
Educational Challenges ◽  
Social Science Fiction

This paper explores a possible future of postdigital education in 2050 using the means of social science fiction. The first part of the paper introduces the shift from 20th century primacy of physics to 21st century primacy of biology with an accent to new postdigital–biodigital reconfigurations and challenges in and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The second part of the paper presents a fictional speech at the graduation ceremony of a fictional military academy in a fictional East Asian country in 2050. This fictional world is marked by global warfare and militarization, and addressed graduates are the first generation of artificially evolved graduates in human history. The third part of the paper interprets the fictional narrative, contextualizes it into educational challenges of today, and argues for a dialogical, humanistic conception of new postdigital education in a biotech future.

scholarly journals O-bi, o-ba: Koniec cywilizacji – postpiśmienny świat Piotra Szulkina

1970 ◽  
pp. 273-284
Author(s):  
Maciej Pietrzak
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Written Word ◽  
The Way ◽  
Adam Mickiewicz

Pietrzak Maciej, O-bi, o-ba: Koniec cywilizacji – postpiśmienny świat Piotra Szulkina [O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization – The Postliterate World of Piotr Szulkin]. „Przestrzenie Teorii” nr 32. Poznań 2019, Adam Mickiewicz University Press, pp. 273–284. ISSN 1644-6763. DOI 10.14746/pt.2019.32.14. Piotr Szulkin made his mark in the history of cinema primarily as the author of disturbing visions of the future. His four films made between 1979 and 1985 comprised the science-fiction tetralogy, which is still one of the greatest artistic achievements of this genre in Polish cinema. The subject of the article is the third production of Szulkin’s series – the post-apocalyptic film O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization from 1984. In the film, the director creates a suggestive vision of a world destroyed as a result of nuclear conflict, in which the original functions of literature and the written word are forgotten. The author article analyzes the way in which forsaken literary artifacts are used in the post-literary reality of the film. An important element of his considerations is also the post-apocalyptic reception of the biblical text, on whose elements the mythology of the film’s world is based.

Concluding Remarks

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuval Jobani ◽  
Nahshon Perez
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Physical Reality ◽  
Context Sensitive ◽  
The Third ◽  
Israeli Government ◽  
Western Wall

The conclusion underscores the impressive achievements of the Women of the Wall in their long struggle, of which arguably the most distinctive is leading the Israeli government and courts to make substantial changes in the prayer arrangements and physical reality at the Western Wall, the most sacred prayer site for Jews worldwide. It should be noted that when the WoW began their struggle (1988), the idea of establishing the egalitarian third plaza at the Western Wall, seemed as implausible as an outlandish science-fiction premise. However, the current fierce debate and split within the WoW regarding the “third plaza” proposal demonstrates, as is argued in this monograph, the need to abandon this solution, and the evenhanded model it reflects, in favor of the context-sensitive privatization model.

An Introduction to Lois MCmaster Bujold

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward James
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Twilight Zone ◽  
The Third

This chapter sketches the life and career of Lois McMaster Bujold. Lois McMaster was born in Columbus, Ohio, on November 2, 1949, the third child and only daughter of Robert Charles McMaster and Laura Gerould McMaster. She began reading science fiction when she was nine years old. Her favorite writers in the field included Poul Anderson and James H. Schmitz. In 1971, she married John Bujold, whom she had met at a science fiction convention two years earlier. Bujold's first professional sale was a short story, “Barter,” which was published in Twilight Zone Magazine in spring 1985. It was later bought, adapted, and mutilated almost beyond recognition for the TV series Tales from the Darkside. She sold her first three books, Shards of Honor, The Warrior's Apprentice, and Ethan of Athos to Baen Books, which were released in paperback, in 1986, at three-month intervals, in June, August, and December.

The God in Science Fiction

2020 ◽  
pp. 71-78
Author(s):  
Jonathan R. Eller
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Review Essay ◽  
Los Angeles Times ◽  
The Third ◽  
Close Encounters ◽  
Saturday Review

Bradbury’s successful 1977 stage adaptation of The Martian Chronicles with Terrence Shank and Paul Gregory opens chapter ten and leads into Bradbury’s fully realized understanding of Hamlet while attending Jack O’Brien’s production at San Diego’s Globe Theater. The chapter examines Bradbury’s influential Saturday Review essay “The God in Science Fiction,” which continues his exploration of the spiritual intersection between science and science fiction. His significant Los Angeles Times review of Close Encounters of the Third Kind embraced the film’s global spiritual implications. The chapter goes on to document Bradbury’s grief over the loss of friends Loren Eiseley, Edmond Hamilton, and Leigh Brackett, and his willingness to guarantee completion of Brackett’s Empire Strikes Back screenplay. She lived to complete it and acknowledge their enduring friendship.

Close Encounters: Cultural Impact

2016 ◽  
pp. 125-132
Author(s):  
Jon Towlson
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Government Agency ◽  
American Government ◽  
Cultural Impact ◽  
Extraterrestrial Life ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
The Third ◽  
Close Encounters ◽  
First Contact

This chapter reflects on the cultural impact of Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). During the filming of Close Encounters, a rumour spread that the film was being secretly sponsored by an American government agency as part of its acclimation programme to ready humankind for imminent first contact with extraterrestrials. In some ways, there is a sense — conspiracy theories aside — that Spielberg may have achieved something along those lines. As such, the cosmic outlook of Close Encounters has influenced not only subsequent science-fiction films but also the continuing fascination with extraterrestrial life and a whole UFO subculture. Even if the film itself is all but forgotten in certain quarters, its impact can still be felt keenly on popular culture and in the SETI/ufology community at large.

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