Long before “Little Green Men” or references to the “Greys” began appearing in extraterrestrial folklore – thanks in large part to books such as The Interrupted Journey and Whitley Streiber’s iconic Communion – the earliest and most celebrated UFO contactees reported interactions with beings that looked remarkably human, often described as beautiful, blonde, and “Nordic.” […]
JUST WHAT AMERICA HAS BEEN WAITING FOR. Yet another show about cops. And doctors. And lawyers. But this time there’s a twist! Meet Dr. Jack Newsome. He’s a fully certified brain surgeon. But he’s also a federal prosecutor who just happens to be the Chief of Police in Pleasantville, California. We all know America loves […]
LeiLane Nishime’s essay The Mulatto Cyborg: Imagining a Multiracial Future argues that SF cinema is so effective because it uses fantasy to tell stories about problematic social issues in our own reality. SF cinema can be more bold and take far more risks than if the story was set in the ‘real’ world. Effective SF […]
More than any other movie genre, Science Fiction (SF) cinema has traditionally been able to explore thorny issues like class, race, and gender in a manner that is thought provoking and even profound. If one examines the genre more closely, however, a different picture emerges. Grotesque racial stereotypes are a major feature in most SF […]
‘The City’ is an iconic and constantly recurring theme in Science Fiction (SF) cinema. Huge, sprawling mega-cities are the dominant settings for many SF films. As author John R. Gold points out in his essay Under Darkened Skies: The City in Science Fiction Film, the city of the future is often as much part of […]
Science Fiction [SF] cinema has never received the degree of analytical and theoretical attention devoted to other film genres. In her book Alien Zone, author Annette Kuhn demonstrates that SF has been difficult to define as an actual genre, simply because it encompasses so many different elements. SF films rework and transform established themes and […]
