Endangering Science Fiction Film

Description

Endangering Science Fiction Film explores the ways in which science fiction film is a dangerous and endangering genre. The collection argues that science fiction's cinematic power rests in its ability to imagine ‘Other’ worlds that challenge and disturb the lived conditions of the ‘real’ world, as it is presently known to us. From classic films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Solaris to modern blockbusters including World War Z and Gravity, and directors from David Cronenberg to Alfonso Cuarón, contributors comment on the way science fiction film engages with dangerous encounters, liminal experiences, sublime aesthetics, and untethers space and time to question the very nature of human existence. With the analysis of a diverse range of films from Europe, Asia, North and South America, Endangering Science Fiction Film offers a uniquely interdisciplinary view of the evolving and dangerous sentiments and sensibility of this genre. Cover Title Copyright Dedication contents acknowledgments 1. we are in danger section one: the philosophy of science fiction endangerment 2. section one introduction 3. kubrick’s 2001 and the dangers of techno-dystopia 4. eye-tracking the sublime in spectacular moments of science fiction film 5. hope in children of men and firefly/serenity: nihilism, waste, and the dialectics of the sublime 6. biopolitics and the war on terror in world war z and monsters section two: dangerous aesthetics 7. section two introduction 8. narrative, aesthetics, and cultural imperatives in recentscience fiction films 9. adventures in perception: endangering the spectator in science fiction cinema 10. sleeping/waking: politicizing the sublime in science fiction film special effects 11. tarkovsky’s solaris and the (im)possibility of a science fiction cinema section three: spectacular space and the annihilation of time 12. section three introduction 13. subversive topologies: space, time, and dystopia in the films of gustavo mosquera 14. escape from the dialectic of enlightenment and disaster? authenticity, agency, and alien space 15. science fiction: what’s wrong? the sounds of danger versus hearing dangerously section four: bodily extinctions and bodily becomings 16. section four introduction 17. robots, androids, aliens, and others: the erotics and politics of science fiction film 18. the persistence of the robot 19. a danger to self and others: the cinema of david cronenberg contributors about the american film institute index