scholarly journals Human-Alien Encounters in Science Fiction: A Postcolonial Perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-203
Author(s):  
Borbála Bökös
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
The Body ◽  
Two Cultures ◽  
James Cameron ◽  
The Two Cultures ◽  
Science Fiction Films ◽  
Abel Ferrara ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract An (un)conventional encounter between humans and alien beings has long been one of the main thematic preoccupations of the genre of science fiction. Such stories would thus include typical invasion narratives, as in the case of the three science fiction films I will discuss in the present paper: the Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel, 1956; Philip Kaufman, 1978; Abel Ferrara, 1993), The Host (Andrew Niccol, 2013), and Avatar (James Cameron, 2009). I will examine the films in relation to postcolonial theories, while attempting to look at the ways of revisiting one’s history and culture (both alien and human) in the films’ worlds that takes place in order to uncover and heal the violent effects of colonization. In my reading of the films I will shed light on the specific processes of identity formation (of an individual or a group), and the possibilities of individual and communal recuperation through memories, rites of passages, as well as hybridization. I will argue that the colonized human or alien body can serve either as a mediator between the two cultures, or as an agent which fundamentally distances two separate civilizations, thus irrevocably bringing about the loss of identity, as well as the lack of comprehension of cultural differences.

Different Cultures Different People

2017 ◽  
pp. 183-200
Author(s):  
Kornélia Lazányi ◽  
Peter Holicza ◽  
Kseniia Baimakova
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Differences ◽  
21St Century ◽  
National Cultures ◽  
Two Cultures ◽  
The Two Cultures ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Basic Approaches ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Tools And Methods

Culture is a scheme of knowledge shared by a relatively large number of people. Hence, it is a collection of explicit as well as implicit patterns of behaviour. It makes the members of the culture feel, think act and react in a certain, predefined way, hence makes their actions predictable. The literature on cultures, especially that of national cultures has focused on cultural differences and on understanding and measuring them for long decades, but in the 21st century the attention has shifted to leveraging benefits of multicultural environments and experiences. Hence, present paper—after providing a short insight into the basic approaches of national cultures—endeavours to analyse Russian and Hungarian culture. We aim to present the similarities and differences of the two cultures, along with tools and methods that are able to lessen these differences and harvest the benefits of them.

Benford in His Own Words

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Slusser
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
University Of California ◽  
Two Cultures ◽  
Rhetorical Devices ◽  
Cultural Phenomenon ◽  
The Two Cultures

This chapter considers the series of essays Gregory Benford wrote for University of California Riverside's Eaton Conference from 1979 to 2009. It explores Benford's personal vision by connecting the various threads of his essays, including his analysis of J. G. Ballard's term of “experience” from the point of view of the “intuitionist” school of natural philosophy; the process of alien ingestion; the narrative and rhetorical devices needed to achieve what he calls that “falsely quiet” moment when the practicing scientist senses the possibility of alien encounter; the role of aliens in science fiction; his use of the cyberpunk phenomenon to denounce what he sees as the disturbing rise of fantasy as a cultural phenomenon; and the two-cultures gap in science fiction.

Science Fiction: Bridge between the Two Cultures

1971 ◽  
Vol 60 (8) ◽  
pp. 1043 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheila Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Two Cultures ◽  
The Two Cultures

scholarly journals The Effects of Adult Ageing and Culture on the Tower of London Task

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise H. Phillips ◽  
Louisa Lawrie ◽  
Alexandre Schaefer ◽  
Cher Yi Tan ◽  
Min Hooi Yong
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Everyday Functioning ◽  
Tower Of London ◽  
Two Cultures ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Planning Ability ◽  
Medium Education ◽  
Education Levels ◽  
The Two Cultures ◽  
Potential Interactions

Planning ability is important in everyday functioning, and a key measure to assess the preparation and execution of plans is the Tower of London (ToL) task. Previous studies indicate that older adults are often less accurate than the young on the ToL and that there may be cultural differences in performance on the task. However, potential interactions between age and culture have not previously been explored. In the current study we examined the effects of age on ToL performance in an Asian culture (Malaysia) and a Western culture (British) (n = 191). We also explored whether working memory, age, education, and socioeconomic status explained variance in ToL performance across these two cultures. Results indicated that age effects on ToL performance were greater in the Malaysian sample. Subsequent moderated mediation analysis revealed differences between the two cultures (British vs Malaysians), in that the age-related variance in ToL accuracy was accounted for by WM capacity at low and medium education levels only in the Malaysian sample. Demographic variables could not explain additional variance in ToL speed or accuracy. These results may reflect cultural differences in the familiarity and cognitive load of carrying out complex planning tasks.

scholarly journals RECEPTION OF THE FOREIGNNESS – MIGRANT LITERATURE AS CULTURAL TRANSFER

2020 ◽  
pp. 97-104
Author(s):  
Antoaneta Mihailova ◽  
Kalina Minkova
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
The Body ◽  
Austrian Society ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Cultural Transfer ◽  
Two Cultures ◽  
Migrant Literature ◽  
The Two Cultures ◽  
German Speaking

The article reviews the distinction between emigrant, immigrant and migrant literature from the perspective of the contemporary Bulgarian literary criticism. The body of emigrant literature is regarded as comprising the works of nineteenthcentury Bulgarian authors (Rakovski, Karavelov, Vazov) who wrote in Bulgarian and intended their works for the Bulgarian readership. The works from the first half of the twentieth century, written in Bulgarian by Bulgarian authors living mostly in Germany and France, are perceived as part of the Bulgarian literature from this period on the grounds of their engaging with themes recognized as characteristically Bulgarian (Elisaveta Bagryana, Pencho Slaveykov, Kiril Hristov, Svetoslav Minkov etc.). The Bulgarian intellectuals who moved to Western Europe in three immigrant waves after 1944, however, wrote in the language of the country in which they settled. This is the reason why Bulgarian literary criticism did not acknowledge their works as part of Bulgarian literature. The authors this article deals with – Ilija Trojanov, Dimitre Dinev and Tzveta Sofronieva – do not deny their Bulgarian origins. They have chosen to write in German in order to be understood by readers in their new country. The German-speaking readership regards them as mediators between Bulgarian history, traditions and culture and the German, respectively Austrian, society precisely because they have rendered Bulgarians and the Bulgarian past in a language that is easy to understand. The interest in Bulgarian authors writing in languages other than Bulgarian in Western Europe peaked in the years immediately preceding and following Bulgaria’s accession to the European Union as the Western European citizens wanted to find out more about the new country in the Union. With their established reputation as eminent artists, these authors continue to cast a bridge between the two cultures. Their works keep being translated into many different languages and have won prestigious international awards.

They Walk among Us

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Megan Kelley
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Outer Space ◽  
The Body ◽  
Racial Passing ◽  
Postwar America ◽  
Sexual Identities ◽  
Hollywood Films ◽  
The Earth ◽  
External Threat ◽  
Science Fiction Films

This chapter focuses on science fiction films that featured aliens passing as humans and examines how they tapped into the fears and anxieties about politics and issues of identity in postwar America. In films such as Invaders from Mars, Invasion of the Body-Snatchers, I Married a Monster from Outer Space, and The Day the Earth Stood Still, friendly neighbors might be alien invaders pretending to be humans. These Hollywood films were of two main categories: those concerned with the external threat of alien invasions, and those that deal with the internal threat of aliens who infiltrated the earth and passed for human. The chapter suggests that aliens passing for human brought to the fore the connections between anxiety about racial passing, Communism, and subversive gender or sexual identities.

Robin—My Gateway, Guide, Ears, and Voice in China

2020 ◽  
pp. 61-68
Author(s):  
Ruthellen Josselson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Cultural Difference ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Two Cultures ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
The Two Cultures

This chapter is an intense portrait of the Chinese interpreter with some reflections on the slipperiness of language between the two cultures. The close relationship that developed between the author and the interpreter also revealed more nuanced aspects of cultural difference that could be narrated from different perspectives. When the interpreter came to a conference in the United States, subtle cultural differences became apparent in what she viewed as unusual. From her perspective, Americans seemed uncurious about people from China. In Mandarin, there is no word for “the Other.” China is largely an ethnically homogenous society and Western approaches to diversity are hard to understand.

Genetic and environmental determinants of temperament: a comparative study based on Polish and German samples

2003 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Włodzimierz Oniszczenko ◽  
Bogdan Zawadzki ◽  
Jan Strelau ◽  
Rainer Riemann ◽  
Alois Angleitner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Environmental Determinants ◽  
Two Cultures ◽  
German Sample ◽  
Dizygotic Twins ◽  
The Two Cultures ◽  
Temperament Traits ◽  
Variance Explained ◽  
Error Of Measurement

This study of 1555 adult mono‐ and dizygotic twins reared together estimates the heritability of temperament traits in a Polish and a German sample. We test whether the etiology of temperament traits differs between the two cultures and between different temperament traits. We assessed temperament traits with the Formal Characteristics of Behaviour–Temperament Inventory (FCB‐TI), the Pavlovian Temperament Survey (PTS), the Revised Dimensions of Temperament Survey (DOTS‐R), and the Emotionality–Activity–Sociability Temperament Survey (EAS‐TS). Taking error of measurement into account, genetic sources of variance explained about 50% of the variance of temperament traits. We found neither reliable cultural differences nor robust differences in the etiology of the traits. However, the four questionnaires differed systematically with respect to the proportion of genetic and environmental influences on their scales. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

scholarly journals Figura mitologicznej Kasandry w filmach science fiction

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (37) ◽  
pp. 234-246
Author(s):  
Patrycja Rojek
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Pop Culture ◽  
Contemporary Fiction ◽  
Distant Future ◽  
Steven Spielberg ◽  
Terry Gilliam ◽  
James Cameron ◽  
Science Fiction Films ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Minority Report

The article reflects on how characters with the features of the mythological Cassandra function in science fiction films. Such references are part of the rich tradition of building fictional depictions of the near or distant future on the foundation of mythical stories. The study aimed to examine the considerable and complex meaning which Cassandra conveys through the ages and to determine its usefulness in constructing pop culture ideas about the current condition of humanity. In contemporary fiction, Cassandra is brought to the fore more often than in ancient sources, and her fullest portrait is drawn in those films that both consider her a figure of the powerlessness of the prophets and take into account her personal drama. In Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) by James Cameron, 12 Monkeys (1995) by Terry Gilliam, Minority Report (2002) by Steven Spielberg, and Arrival (2016) by Denis Villeneuve, the figure of Cassandra is examined through her prophetic gift, the alleged madness of the seer and the fearfulness of the prophetism itself.

Overview and Approaches

2021 ◽  
pp. 2-13
Author(s):  
Thomas F. Scanlon
Keyword(s):  
Social Contexts ◽  
Social Hierarchies ◽  
Two Cultures ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Boundaries ◽  
The Two Cultures ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Cultural Tensions ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Shed Light

The aims, scope, structure and cultural background of the present volume are outlined here. It aims to present progressive current thought in the field and indicate directions for future work. It also juxtaposes Greek and Roman games and spectacle, to shed light on similarities and differences in the two cultures, and also to suggest parallels in other cultures, including our own. It aims to facilitate research and provoke thinking in particular aspects of Greek sport and Roman spectacle. The focus of the collection is to an extent in the social contexts of games, namely the evolution of sport and spectacle diachronically and geographically across cultural and political boundaries, and how games are adapted to multiple contexts and multiple purposes, reinforcing, for example, social hierarchies, performing shared values, and playing out deep cultural tensions. This chapter also interrogates the terms for sport today and in antiquity, and presents the high value placed on sport by ‘following the money’ in both eras.

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