scholarly journals China Whispers: The Symbolic, Economic, and Political Presence of China in Contemporary American Science Fiction Film

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-161
Author(s):  
Kenneth Longden
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Western Science ◽  
The West ◽  
Yellow Peril ◽  
American Science ◽  
Contemporary Science ◽  
Science Fiction Films ◽  
Contemporary Film ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract China has long been present in Western science fiction, but largely through notions of Orientalism and depictions as the 'Yellow Peril'. However, with China's new ascendancy and modernization over the last 15 years, along with its investment and collaboration with Hollywood in particular, contemporary film in general, and contemporary science fiction in particular, has embraced this new China in ways hitherto unseen before. This essay examines three contemporary western/American science fiction films which each represent and construct China in slightly different ways, and in ways which reveal the West, and Hollywood's reappraisal of the relationship with China and its emerging 'Soft Power.'.

scholarly journals Afraid of the Dark and the Light: Visceralizing Ecocide in The Road and Hell

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 42-56
Author(s):  
Alexa Weik von Mossner
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Pulitzer Prize ◽  
The Road ◽  
Ecological Changes ◽  
Contemporary Science ◽  
Science Fiction Films ◽  
The One ◽  
Human Actors ◽  
The Relationship

The essay is concerned with the ways in which contemporary science fiction films explore the future subjectivities and societies that may result from radical ecological changes, looking at two pertinent examples from two different national traditions: John Hillcoat’s 2009 film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize-win­ning novel The Road (2006), and one of the very few German-Swiss science fiction films with an environmental theme, Tim Fehlbaum’s Hell (2011). It is particularly interested in the relationship between the films’ imagined ecological spaces and the actions of the protagonists of each film on the one hand, and in the relationship between these futuristic diegetic spaces and the contemporary real-life ecological spaces that “play” them on the other hand. Together with the performances of the human actors and the tension and suspense built by the narratives, it argues, the spectacle and insinuated agency of these ecological spaces are centrally responsible for the films’ emotional force and for their ability to engage viewers in stories of global ecocide and human survival.   Resumen               El ensayo analiza cómo las películas de ciencia ficción exploran las sociedades y subjetividades futuras que pueden surgir de cambios ecológicos radicales, atendiendo a dos ejemplos relevantes de dos tradiciones nacionales diferentes: la adaptación cinematográfica de 2009 de la novela de Cormac McCarthy The Road (2006), ganadora del premio Pulitzer, dirigida por John Hillcoat; y una de las muy escasas películas de ciencia ficción germano-suizas de  temática medioambiental, Hell (2011) de Tim Fehlbaum. Se presta especial interés a dos aspectos: por un lado,  la relación entre los espacios ecológicos imaginados en las películas y las acciones de los protagonistas de cada película; y por otro lado,  la relación entre estos espacios diegéticos futuristas y los espacios ecológicos reales que los representan. Junto con la interpretación de los actores humanos y la tensión y el suspense que construyen las narraciones, el espectáculo y la agencia insinuada de estos espacios ecológicos son en gran medida responsables de la fuerza emocional de las películas y de su habilidad  para implicar a la audiencia en historias de ecocidio global y supervivencia humana.

Where there is life: Science fiction in Singapore

2019 ◽  
pp. 002198941988123
Author(s):  
Philip Smith
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Life Science ◽  
Technological Advancement ◽  
The West ◽  
British Rule ◽  
City State ◽  
Technological Capital ◽  
Dominant Narratives ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

This article seeks to situate certain works of Singaporean science fiction within their historical circumstances, demonstrating that Singaporean science fiction has historically served as social criticism, challenging both state narratives and foreign readings of the city state along the axis of East and West and “new” and “old”. The argument centres upon four texts: the anonymously-authored series “The Travels of Chang Ching Chong” (1989), Jahan Loh’s Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth (2013), and two texts by Sonny Liew, namely Malinky Robot (2011) and The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (2015). These texts, I believe, share certain thematic connections: each is interested in the relationship between new and old and foreign and familiar, and each seeks, in different ways, to counter dominant narratives of the time. Accordingly, this article is divided into two imbricated sections. The first examines science fiction responses to popular and state narratives of the West as a source of technological capital both under British rule and after independence. “The Travels of Chang Ching Chong” and the “Ah Huat’s Giant Robot” sections of The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, I demonstrate, trouble this narrative, offering stories in which Asia provides a source of technological advancement. In the second section I explore popular depictions of hypermodernity in Singapore and the enduring myth of the destruction of “traditional” Asian cultures in the wake of the post-independence industrial turn. Both Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth and Malinky Robot, I argue, complicate this narrative, presenting both hypermodernity and “old Singapore” as fantasy.

scholarly journals Dirbtinis intelektas moterišku kūnu filmuose Ex Machina ir Ji

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 69-90
Author(s):  
Justina Žiūraitė-Pupelė
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Contemporary Science ◽  
Science Fiction Films

The article explores how artificial intelligence is constructed in a female body and showcases the boundaries between human and technological traits, as well as the relationship between human beings and technology. The article defines the notion of artificial intelligence and discusses how artificial intelligence is portrayed in science fiction films. The article does not attempt to provide new theoretical insights into artificial intelligence but, instead, to show how artificial intelligence is characterised in the context of modern science fiction films. Two contemporary science fiction films, which focus on the artificial intelligence in the female body, are analysed: Alex Garland’s Ex Machina (2014) and Spike Jonze’s Her (2013). The analysis of the films showcases the blurred lines between being a human and being a robot: AI in the female body is portrayed as having adequate cognitive abilities and an ability to experience or to realistically imitate various mental states. The AI embodiment found in the films explores different narratives: the anthropomorphic body (Ex Machina) motivates to get to know the world and thus expands one’s experience, while the partial embodiment (Her) “programs” intellectual actions and development beyond the human body. Ex Machina highlights the anti-humanity of the female robot: another (human) life is devalued in order to pursue a goal. On the contrary, Her highlights the hyper-humanity of the operating system: continuous improvements exceed the boundaries of communication with other people.

scholarly journals Finding Faith between the Sciences: The Cases of ‘The Outer Worlds’ and ‘Mass Effect: Andromeda’

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-161
Author(s):  
Frank G. Bosman
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Mass Effect ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
Religion And Science ◽  
Contemporary Science ◽  
The Relationship

Science fiction, as a genre, has always been a place for religion, either as an inspirational source or as a part of the fictional universe. Religious themes in science fiction narratives, however, also invoke the question of the relationship, or the absence thereof, between religion and science. When the themes of religion and science are addressed in contemporary science fiction, they are regularly set in opposition, functioning in a larger discussion on the (in)comparability of religion and science in science fiction novels, games, and films. In the games The Outer Worlds and Mass Effect Andromeda, this discussion is raised positively. Involving terminology and notions related to deism, pantheism, and esoterism, both games claim that science and religion can co-exist with one another. Since digital games imbue the intra-textual readers (gamer) to take on the role as one of the characters of the game they are reading (avatar), the discussion shifts from a descriptive discourse to a normative one in which the player cannot but contribute to.

Scientific Prometheanism and the Boundaries of Knowledge: Whither Goes AI?

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 330-343
Author(s):  
Tianhu Hao
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Paradise Lost ◽  
Essential Feature ◽  
The Real ◽  
Science Fiction Films ◽  
Contemporary Film ◽  
Epistemological Framework

This article discusses John Milton’sParadise Lost, Mary Shelley’sFrankenstein, and the contemporary filmEx Machinaas a coherent group concerning the boundaries of knowledge and the perils of scientific Prometheanism. The development of AI (Artificial Intelligence) should be delimited and contained, if not curtailed or banned, and scientists ought to proceed in a responsible and cautious manner. An obsessive or excessive pursuit of knowledge, aiming to equal God and create humanoid beings, constitutes the essential feature of scientific Prometheanism, which can end in catastrophic destruction. BothFrankensteinandEx Machinastringently critique scientific Prometheanism as one aspect of modernity, and expose the real dangers that AIs pose to the very existence of humanity and civilization. InParadise Lost, Milton provides the epistemological framework forFrankensteinandEx Machina. The article concludes that the union of science and arts in science fiction (films) can be very productive.

scholarly journals Elektroniczny łowca: postać cyborga w kinie science fiction głównego nurtu

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (37) ◽  
pp. 21-34
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Kamrowska
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
American Science ◽  
Film Series ◽  
Science Fiction Films

The aim of this text is to analyze the cyborg motif in mainstream American science fiction films, as represented by the Terminator and RoboCop film series. The cyborg characters presented in these films are focused mainly on violence and destruction, which emphasizes the technophobic attitude of the culture within which these films were made. The only redemption of their otherness is showing their humanity. For a cyborg, its technological provenance is a burden and results in its sense of guilt. In this manner, American science fiction films support anthropocentrism and the conservative status quo.

Nuclear Weapons, Dystopian Deserts, and Science Fiction Cinema

Vulcan ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Womack
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
Commercial Success ◽  
Science Fiction Films ◽  
Nuclear Warfare ◽  
The Relationship

The article explores the relationship between science fiction cinema and nuclear weapons. It argues that the genre’s commercial success directly resulted from its appropriation of nuclear warfare themes and imagery, such as desert landscapes and nuclear blasts. The influence of nuclear weapons eventually permeated the genre as a whole, leading to the widespread appearance of such imagery in science fiction films that do not purport to deal with nuclear weapons or nuclear themes.

scholarly journals Through a (First) Contact Lens Darkly: Arrival, Unreal Time and Chthulucinema

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 340-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
David H. Fleming ◽  
William Brown
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Contact Lens ◽  
Gilles Deleuze ◽  
Contemporary Science ◽  
The Future ◽  
Nature Of Time ◽  
Science Fiction Films ◽  
First Contact

Science fiction is often held up as a particularly philosophical genre. For, beyond actualising mind-experiment-like fantasies, science fiction films also commonly toy with speculative ideas, or else engineer encounters with the strange and unknown. Denis Villeneuve's Arrival (2016) is a contemporary science fiction film that does exactly this, by introducing Lovecraft-esque tentacular aliens whose arrival on Earth heralds in a novel, but ultimately paralysing, inhuman perspective on the nature of time and reality. This article shows how this cerebral film invites viewers to confront a counterintuitive model of time that at once recalls and reposes what Gilles Deleuze called a “third synthesis” of time, and that which J. M. E. McTaggart named the a-temporal “C series” of “unreal” time. We finally suggest that Arrival's a-temporal conception of the future as having already happened can function as a key to understanding the fate of humanity as a whole as we pass from the anthropocene, in which humans have dominated the planet, to the “chthulucene,” in which humans no longer exist on the planet at all.

scholarly journals SHANGHAIED INTO THE FUTURE: THE ASIANIZATION OF THE FUTURE METROPOLIS IN POST-BLADE RUNNER CINEMA

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-144
Author(s):  
Marco CERESA
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Modern Architecture ◽  
Yellow Peril ◽  
Genetic Codes ◽  
Blade Runner ◽  
The Future ◽  
Standard Set ◽  
Science Fiction Films ◽  
Asian Cinema

The cliched 1930–1950 Western cinematic images of Shanghai as a fascinating den of iniquity, and, in contrast, as a beacon of modernity, were merged in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. As a result, a new standard emerged in science fiction films for the representation of future urban conglomerates: the Asianized metropolis. The standard set by this film, of a dark dystopian city, populated by creatures of all races and genetic codes, will be adopted in most of the representations of future cities in non-Asian cinema. This article traces the representation of Shanghai in Western cinema from its earliest days (1932– Shanghai Express) through Blade Runner (1982) to the present (2013– Her). Shanghai, already in the early 1930s, sported extremely daring examples of modern architecture and, at the same time, in non-Asian cinema, was represented as a city of sin and depravity. This dualistic representation became the standard image of the future Asianized city, where its debauchery was often complemented by modernity; therefore, it is all the more seedy. Moreover, it is Asianized, the “Yellow Peril” incarnated in a new, much more subtle, much more dangerous way. As such, it is deserving of destruction, like Sodom and Gomorrah.

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