Summing Up SF

• What purpose do SF movies serve / what pleasures can be derived from them?

• What is the significance of “fandom” to the SF genre, perhaps more than any other genre?

Summing up SF

• SF is not as concrete a genre as horror

• This relates to SF audiences - some only like “hard SF”, some only like “soft”, some will like both.

• Essentially, there are groups within SF audiences (Star Trek fans, Dr. Who etc)

What purpose do SF movies serve?

• Addressing issues associated with technologies

• Emphasising social issues(which is related to the fundamental concept of SF)

• Extrapolation

Technologies

• Anxieties about the advance of technology• Tampering with “the laws of nature”• Ecological disasters• The de-humanising nature of technology• The hybridisation of man & machine

• Computers have relevance to all of us, so nearly everyone can identify with films that

reflect anxieties over their future in society.

Social Issues

• Anxieties about oppressive regimes

• Alienation• Social progress• Our social relationships with each

other• Eroticism (J.G Ballard’s Crash)

SF Timeline

• Each decade has SF films that reflect the anxieties of their time, much like the horror genre.

• The trajectory typically runs from the Cold War obsessions of 1950s’ cinema (Invasion of the Body Snatchers), through ecological disaster films of the 1970s (Soylent Green, THX 1138) to the post-modern cityscapes depicted in films like Blade Runner.

The Visual Style of SF

• Defines the SF genre• A clash between alien and familiar

images• Sometimes the characters are not even

human, but are imagined aliens or other products of earth evolution

• The spaces of SF cinema are all extrapolated spaces (landscapes, buildings etc.)

Why are SF movies appealing?

• To “hard SF” fans, SF movies allow the impossible to be realised - it’s up there on the screen.

• This also allows thoughts or concepts to be made “real”

• Star Wars Episode II - Attack of the Clones

SF Audiences & Fandom

• SF is seen as a genre that by its very nature rejects classical “truths”.

• SF aficionados (geeks) see themselves as standing out from the crowd, mainly because of what they think they know about society (Cyberpunk & The Matrix analogy).

SF Audiences & Fandom

• Arguably, there are 2 types of SF audience - the geeks & the occasional viewer.

• This is different to horror.• The geeks - often SF authors form part

of the fan community.• Fans can influence future stories in an

SF series, and also how classic SF texts are treated in movie versions.

SF Geeks

• Have fan conventions (have no lives)• A good place for movie makers to sell

merchandise & actors to make money through personal appearances

• SF actors are often typecast & can often be seen as a defining icon of the genre due to the way they are “worshipped” by fans (geeks).

The Occasional SF Viewer (Non-Geek)

• Tend to enjoy the more “popular” SF films - Star Wars

• Are mainly interested in seeing special effects

• Many occasional SF viewers will be children - plenty of marketing opportunities here. (Just ask George Lucas).

SF Genre as “contract”

• SF genre, like horror, can be seen as a “contract” between audiences & institutions.

• There are some SF movies that will satisfy both groups of SF fans - The Matrix being the most obvious example.