XXI century as a cultural turn in American space fiction cinema

Abstract

The purpose of this article is the analysis of new stage in American space fiction cinema’s history, which started from the XXI century and set the new directions for genre, which were shown in movies “The Martian” (2015, director — R. Scott), “Guardians of the Galaxy” (2014, director — J. Gunn), “Interstellar” (2014, director — K. Nolan), “Thor” (2011, director — K. Brannah), “Ad Astra” (2019, director — J. Gray), “Avengers” (2012, director — J. Whedon). The methodology of this article includes the use of historical, comparative and systematic methods. Each of these methods helps to reveal the place of space fiction’s new era in the whole history of this genre in XX–XXI centuries, and to find the cultural senses and messages, which the new stage proposes to society. The results of this work present a detailed survey of newest stage of American cinema space fiction in XXI century and key directions, for which the new films are produced. Moreover, this work reveals how these directions from new stage influence on the genre’s perspectives and development in the future. The scientific novelty of the research. This work fills the gap of cultural studies dedicated to the topic of the article, as the vast majority of materials that analyze the theme of fantasy in cinema are humanitarian. The practical significance of the article. The article will be useful for scholars who want to expand their knowledge on the topic mentioned in the title, as well as for anyone interested in cinema, science fiction, American cinematography and media culture in general.