Abstract:This article studies a specific and relatively under-examined manifestation of the ‘strong female protagonist’ trope in sf – that of the female astronaut. From the late 1990s to the present this figure has proliferated in films like Event Horizon (1997), Mission to Mars (2000), Red Planet (2000), Supernova (2000), Sunshine (2007), Gravity (2013), Europa Report (2013), Interstellar (2014), Life (2017) and The Cloverfield Paradox (2018). Yet there are some striking consistencies of visual depiction that are sustained across the period, particularly in the close-ups that capture the female astronaut at work, and which also seek to express her strength and resilience. Drawing together detailed analysis of specific films and writing on gender in sf and on the face in cinema, I will explore why such a consistent visual treatment recurs in these space-set sf films, and the extent to which these fictional women remain marked by historically gendered ideas about strength, competence, bodily integrity and access to space technologies.
{"title":"Square-jawed strength: Gender and resilience in the female astronaut film","authors":"Lisa Purse","doi":"10.3828/SFFTV.2019.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/SFFTV.2019.04","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article studies a specific and relatively under-examined manifestation of the ‘strong female protagonist’ trope in sf – that of the female astronaut. From the late 1990s to the present this figure has proliferated in films like Event Horizon (1997), Mission to Mars (2000), Red Planet (2000), Supernova (2000), Sunshine (2007), Gravity (2013), Europa Report (2013), Interstellar (2014), Life (2017) and The Cloverfield Paradox (2018). Yet there are some striking consistencies of visual depiction that are sustained across the period, particularly in the close-ups that capture the female astronaut at work, and which also seek to express her strength and resilience. Drawing together detailed analysis of specific films and writing on gender in sf and on the face in cinema, I will explore why such a consistent visual treatment recurs in these space-set sf films, and the extent to which these fictional women remain marked by historically gendered ideas about strength, competence, bodily integrity and access to space technologies.","PeriodicalId":42550,"journal":{"name":"Science Fiction Film and Television","volume":"12 1","pages":"53 - 72"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44302016","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:At our current cultural and technological moment, both the iconic figure of the astronaut and the history of spaceflight are being expanded. We see this in Hidden Figures (2016) about the African-American women who worked for NASA as human computers during the 1960s space race and in the increasing visibility of female astronauts in sf film and television. Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity (2013) features a woman stranded in space alone and it is her repeated act of untethering herself from (and with) technology that enables her to survive. In this way, Gravity defines a relationship between the female astronaut and technology that departs from the defining man-machine symbiosis in films like The Right Stuff (1983) and Apollo 13 (1995) as well as in the masculine environment at NASA. This article uses textual analysis of Gravity in the context of these earlier narratives, the cultural and historical reception of astronaut representation, popular and critical discourse, and the film’s production contexts to argue that Gravity’s Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) character effectively reimagines the mythic figure of the astronaut by uniquely configuring her in a collaborative, professional relationship with the technologies of spaceflight.
{"title":"Untethered technology in Gravity: Gender and spaceflight from science fact to fiction","authors":"Lorrie Palmer","doi":"10.3828/SFFTV.2019.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/SFFTV.2019.03","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:At our current cultural and technological moment, both the iconic figure of the astronaut and the history of spaceflight are being expanded. We see this in Hidden Figures (2016) about the African-American women who worked for NASA as human computers during the 1960s space race and in the increasing visibility of female astronauts in sf film and television. Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity (2013) features a woman stranded in space alone and it is her repeated act of untethering herself from (and with) technology that enables her to survive. In this way, Gravity defines a relationship between the female astronaut and technology that departs from the defining man-machine symbiosis in films like The Right Stuff (1983) and Apollo 13 (1995) as well as in the masculine environment at NASA. This article uses textual analysis of Gravity in the context of these earlier narratives, the cultural and historical reception of astronaut representation, popular and critical discourse, and the film’s production contexts to argue that Gravity’s Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) character effectively reimagines the mythic figure of the astronaut by uniquely configuring her in a collaborative, professional relationship with the technologies of spaceflight.","PeriodicalId":42550,"journal":{"name":"Science Fiction Film and Television","volume":"12 1","pages":"29 - 51"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3828/SFFTV.2019.03","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46639194","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:This article examines the newest television programme in the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: Discovery (2017–) and National Geographic’s part-documentary, part-fictional series Mars (2016–). I argue that Discovery and Mars make visible the depiction of developing technology and a breadth and depth of female astronaut characters, two elements that have been historically marginalised in sf narratives such as Star Trek: The Original Series (1966–9). Discovery and Mars both emphasise the purposeful centrality of female characters and their positions of authority as female astronauts and ship leaders. Each programme also foregrounds the representation and framing of technology, emphasising the not-yet-perfect science and the loss of lives associated with complex space expeditions.
{"title":"Visible/invisible: Female astronauts and technology in Star Trek: Discovery and National Geographic’s Mars","authors":"Amanda Keeler","doi":"10.3828/SFFTV.2019.07","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/SFFTV.2019.07","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article examines the newest television programme in the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: Discovery (2017–) and National Geographic’s part-documentary, part-fictional series Mars (2016–). I argue that Discovery and Mars make visible the depiction of developing technology and a breadth and depth of female astronaut characters, two elements that have been historically marginalised in sf narratives such as Star Trek: The Original Series (1966–9). Discovery and Mars both emphasise the purposeful centrality of female characters and their positions of authority as female astronauts and ship leaders. Each programme also foregrounds the representation and framing of technology, emphasising the not-yet-perfect science and the loss of lives associated with complex space expeditions.","PeriodicalId":42550,"journal":{"name":"Science Fiction Film and Television","volume":"12 1","pages":"127 - 150"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45124453","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:This article explores the gendered work of the Star Wars franchise within the generic frame of sf. In the context of this special issue around women in space, I explore here the mise-en-scène of adventure in the Star Wars franchise, focusing on The Force Awakens (2015) and Rogue One (2016). Space and the juxtaposition of planets with spacecraft provides one of the series’ recurrent establishing shots, indicating points of arrival and departure; along with the representation of light speed through a vanishing point, such shots serve to signal distance in both spatial and temporal terms. Although narrative and thematic elements are important aspects of the argument presented here, the article elaborates the centrality of setting and landscape in the twenty-first-century films, notably the construction of multiple worlds as sets for melodramatic action. Female heroism is staged in the films I explore here in a cinematic space of visual effects and spectacle across diverse settings including desert and forest landscapes, mechanised interiors and, of course, space itself. I argue that these spectacular settings are important both visually and thematically, elaborating key themes of freedom, loss and redemption in and through the ground, the environment and space.
{"title":"Women, sf spectacle and the mise-en-scène of space adventure in the Star Wars franchise","authors":"Y. Tasker","doi":"10.3828/SFFTV.2019.02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/SFFTV.2019.02","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article explores the gendered work of the Star Wars franchise within the generic frame of sf. In the context of this special issue around women in space, I explore here the mise-en-scène of adventure in the Star Wars franchise, focusing on The Force Awakens (2015) and Rogue One (2016). Space and the juxtaposition of planets with spacecraft provides one of the series’ recurrent establishing shots, indicating points of arrival and departure; along with the representation of light speed through a vanishing point, such shots serve to signal distance in both spatial and temporal terms. Although narrative and thematic elements are important aspects of the argument presented here, the article elaborates the centrality of setting and landscape in the twenty-first-century films, notably the construction of multiple worlds as sets for melodramatic action. Female heroism is staged in the films I explore here in a cinematic space of visual effects and spectacle across diverse settings including desert and forest landscapes, mechanised interiors and, of course, space itself. I argue that these spectacular settings are important both visually and thematically, elaborating key themes of freedom, loss and redemption in and through the ground, the environment and space.","PeriodicalId":42550,"journal":{"name":"Science Fiction Film and Television","volume":"12 1","pages":"28 - 9"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3828/SFFTV.2019.02","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46129696","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-01-07DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-03195-4
Stephen H. Webb
{"title":"New Light Through Old Windows: Exploring Contemporary Science Through 12 Classic Science Fiction Tales","authors":"Stephen H. Webb","doi":"10.1007/978-3-030-03195-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03195-4","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42550,"journal":{"name":"Science Fiction Film and Television","volume":"44 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80698300","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:Charlton Heston was an epic actor who went from literally playing God in The Ten Commandments (1956) to playing 'god' as a messianic scientist in The Omega Man (1971). Best known for playing Moses, Heston became an unlikely science-based cinema star during the early 1970s. He was reimagined as a scientist, but the religiosity of his established persona was inescapable. Heston and the science-based films he starred in capitalised upon the utopian promises of real science, and also the fears of the vocal activist counterculture. Planet of the Apes (1968), Omega Man (1971), Soylent Green (1973) and other science-based films made between 1968–77 were bleak countercultural warnings about excessive consumerism, uncontrolled science, nuclear armament, irreversible environmental damage and eventual human extinction.Heston's transition from biblical epic star to sf anti-hero represents the way in which the role and interpretation of science changed in post-classical cinema. Despite the shift from religious epic to science-based spectacle, religion remained a faithful component of Hollywood output indicating the ongoing connection between science and religion in US culture. This article considers the transition from sacred to science-based narratives and how religion was utilised across the production process of films that commented upon scientific advances.
摘要:查尔顿·赫斯顿是一位史诗级演员，他从1956年的《十诫》(The Ten Commandments)中扮演上帝，到1971年的《欧米茄人》(The Omega Man)中扮演救世主科学家的“上帝”。赫斯顿最出名的角色是摩西，在20世纪70年代初，他成为了一个不可思议的科学电影明星。他被重新塑造成一名科学家，但他已确立的人格中的宗教虔诚是不可避免的。赫斯顿和他主演的以科学为基础的电影利用了真正科学的乌托邦承诺，也利用了直言不讳的激进反文化分子的恐惧。《人猿星球》(1968)、《欧米伽人》(1971)、《Soylent Green》(1973)等1968年至1977年间拍摄的科学电影都是对过度消费主义、不受控制的科学、核军备、不可逆转的环境破坏和最终的人类灭绝的悲观反文化警告。赫斯顿从圣经史诗明星到科幻反英雄的转变代表了后古典电影中科学的角色和解释的变化。尽管从宗教史诗转向以科学为基础的奇观，宗教仍然是好莱坞作品的忠实组成部分，表明美国文化中科学与宗教之间的持续联系。本文考虑了从神圣到科学叙事的转变，以及宗教是如何在评论科学进步的电影制作过程中被利用的。
{"title":"From sacred to scientific: Epic religion, spectacular science and Charlton Heston's sf cinema","authors":"Amy C. Chambers","doi":"10.3828/sfftv.2019.18","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/sfftv.2019.18","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Charlton Heston was an epic actor who went from literally playing God in The Ten Commandments (1956) to playing 'god' as a messianic scientist in The Omega Man (1971). Best known for playing Moses, Heston became an unlikely science-based cinema star during the early 1970s. He was reimagined as a scientist, but the religiosity of his established persona was inescapable. Heston and the science-based films he starred in capitalised upon the utopian promises of real science, and also the fears of the vocal activist counterculture. Planet of the Apes (1968), Omega Man (1971), Soylent Green (1973) and other science-based films made between 1968–77 were bleak countercultural warnings about excessive consumerism, uncontrolled science, nuclear armament, irreversible environmental damage and eventual human extinction.Heston's transition from biblical epic star to sf anti-hero represents the way in which the role and interpretation of science changed in post-classical cinema. Despite the shift from religious epic to science-based spectacle, religion remained a faithful component of Hollywood output indicating the ongoing connection between science and religion in US culture. This article considers the transition from sacred to science-based narratives and how religion was utilised across the production process of films that commented upon scientific advances.","PeriodicalId":42550,"journal":{"name":"Science Fiction Film and Television","volume":"34 1","pages":"303 - 322"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-01-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89385755","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Screening Cosmos-politanism","authors":"Kirk Boyle, D. Mrozowski","doi":"10.3828/sfftv.2019.20","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/sfftv.2019.20","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42550,"journal":{"name":"Science Fiction Film and Television","volume":"73 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89814728","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-01-01DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-04553-1_2
V. A. Smith
{"title":"The Biology Behind Carolyn’s Code","authors":"V. A. Smith","doi":"10.1007/978-3-030-04553-1_2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04553-1_2","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42550,"journal":{"name":"Science Fiction Film and Television","volume":"38 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88557797","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-01-01DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-04553-1
Dr. V. Anne Smith
{"title":"A Code for Carolyn","authors":"Dr. V. Anne Smith","doi":"10.1007/978-3-030-04553-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04553-1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42550,"journal":{"name":"Science Fiction Film and Television","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88110823","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:This article argues that video games have a unique mode of generating speculation within the context of sf. While the formal speculative qualities of written material and films are well known and understood, the techniques of speculation that are unique to games are under-theorised. By looking to two short games whose primary mode of interaction is the click, this article elucidates the moment when video games generate speculation. Speculation is defined here both in the context of sf as a genre and speculation itself as a philosophical act that contemplates being beyond the accepted bounds of reality and empiricism. In conversation with the philosophical work of Quentin Meillassoux, this article concludes that games can offer a speculative mode of thinking that goes beyond empirical projection, and that the speculation provided by a video game can escape contemporary modes of thought and generate new ones.
{"title":"The click of a button: Video games and the mechanics of speculation","authors":"Cameron Kunzelman","doi":"10.3828/SFFTV.2018.27","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/SFFTV.2018.27","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article argues that video games have a unique mode of generating speculation within the context of sf. While the formal speculative qualities of written material and films are well known and understood, the techniques of speculation that are unique to games are under-theorised. By looking to two short games whose primary mode of interaction is the click, this article elucidates the moment when video games generate speculation. Speculation is defined here both in the context of sf as a genre and speculation itself as a philosophical act that contemplates being beyond the accepted bounds of reality and empiricism. In conversation with the philosophical work of Quentin Meillassoux, this article concludes that games can offer a speculative mode of thinking that goes beyond empirical projection, and that the speculation provided by a video game can escape contemporary modes of thought and generate new ones.","PeriodicalId":42550,"journal":{"name":"Science Fiction Film and Television","volume":"11 1","pages":"469 - 490"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2018-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41904269","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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