Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements and Thanks
- Preface
- List of Illustrations
- 1 Introduction: The Formation of the Genre
- 2 Science Fiction Films in the 1950s
- 3 Spaced Out: Between the ‘Golden Years’
- 4 The Masculine Subject of Science Fiction in the 1980s Blockbuster Era
- 5 Gender Blending and the Feminine Subject in Science Fiction Film
- 6 Alien Others: Race and the Science Fiction Film
- 7 Generic Performance and Science Fiction Cinema
- 8 Conclusion: The Technology of Science Fiction Cinema
- Bibliography
- Film Cited
- Index
1 - Introduction: The Formation of the Genre
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements and Thanks
- Preface
- List of Illustrations
- 1 Introduction: The Formation of the Genre
- 2 Science Fiction Films in the 1950s
- 3 Spaced Out: Between the ‘Golden Years’
- 4 The Masculine Subject of Science Fiction in the 1980s Blockbuster Era
- 5 Gender Blending and the Feminine Subject in Science Fiction Film
- 6 Alien Others: Race and the Science Fiction Film
- 7 Generic Performance and Science Fiction Cinema
- 8 Conclusion: The Technology of Science Fiction Cinema
- Bibliography
- Film Cited
- Index
Summary
Definitions and Approaches
There are almost as many definitions of science fiction as there are critics who have attempted to define it as a genre. Debate and argument has raged for several decades as to exactly what constitutes the essential structures and characteristics of science fiction and over which texts should or should not be included within this generic category. This is most apparent in studies of science fiction novels, where definitions have been bound up with efforts to valorise popular works previously thought of as unworthy or frivolous. For instance, the practitioner and critic Isaac Asimov suggested:
We can define science fiction as that branch of literature that deals with the human response to changes in the level of science and technology - it being understood that the changes involved would be rational ones in keeping with what was known about science, technology and people.
A broader definition came from the writer and critic Judith Merril, who understood science fiction as ‘speculative fiction’ and as a literature that ‘makes use of the traditional ‘scientific method’ to examine some postulated approximation of reality.’ This suggests that over and above the possible subject matter or focus of the narrative, there is a particular attitude, approach or style of thought inherent within the genre. In addition, Merril's description links the genre with an earlier tradition of utopian fiction, at least as far back as Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward: 2000-1887 (first published 1888) and William Morris's News from Nowhere (first published 1890). Both of these novels had distinct political agendas and described alternative worlds, which implicitly criticised the values of contemporary society.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Science Fiction CinemaBetween Fantasy and Reality, pp. 1 - 28Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2007