Mike Ashley
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780853237693
- eISBN:
- 9781781380840
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780853237693.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter examines the boom years of science fiction magazines that began in 1952, which saw the publication of seven new science fiction and fantasy magazines in the United States. It was in 1952 ...
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This chapter examines the boom years of science fiction magazines that began in 1952, which saw the publication of seven new science fiction and fantasy magazines in the United States. It was in 1952 that three new digest magazines appeared within three months of each other: If: Worlds of Science Fiction, Fantastic, and Space Science Fiction. The end of the science fiction boom came with the demise of the pulp magazines that hit the field in 1954. During the 1940s the pulp magazine faced stiff competition not only from the comic books, but also from paperback pocketbooks. The pocketbook emerged as a significant part of publishing with the success of Penguin Books in Britain and Pocket Books in the United States. Pocket Books were soon joined by Avon Books and other publishers, few of which published science fiction as a recognised genre.Less
This chapter examines the boom years of science fiction magazines that began in 1952, which saw the publication of seven new science fiction and fantasy magazines in the United States. It was in 1952 that three new digest magazines appeared within three months of each other: If: Worlds of Science Fiction, Fantastic, and Space Science Fiction. The end of the science fiction boom came with the demise of the pulp magazines that hit the field in 1954. During the 1940s the pulp magazine faced stiff competition not only from the comic books, but also from paperback pocketbooks. The pocketbook emerged as a significant part of publishing with the success of Penguin Books in Britain and Pocket Books in the United States. Pocket Books were soon joined by Avon Books and other publishers, few of which published science fiction as a recognised genre.
Mike Ashley
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780853237693
- eISBN:
- 9781781380840
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780853237693.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
From 1955 to the end of the 1950s, science fiction experienced its most turbulent period. All of the pulp magazines had almost disappeared by the middle of the decade, as their readers began to ...
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From 1955 to the end of the 1950s, science fiction experienced its most turbulent period. All of the pulp magazines had almost disappeared by the middle of the decade, as their readers began to explore other avenues. Competition for science fiction magazines came from everywhere: comics, digest magazines, paperbacks, men's magazines, cinema, radio, and television. At the same time, science fiction was becoming more topical and relevant every day due to advances in science, especially with the dawn of the space age in October 1957. These factors provided science fiction a wider and more appreciative readership, to which the magazines had to respond while facing the challenge of their opposition. This chapter examines the consequences of all these factors for the turbulent science fiction magazine market from 1956 to 1960. Among the magazines that existed during the period were Astounding Science, Galaxy, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Amazing Stories, Science Fiction Stories, Science Fiction Quarterly, Satellite SF, Michael Shayne Mystery Magazine, and Science Fiction Adventures.Less
From 1955 to the end of the 1950s, science fiction experienced its most turbulent period. All of the pulp magazines had almost disappeared by the middle of the decade, as their readers began to explore other avenues. Competition for science fiction magazines came from everywhere: comics, digest magazines, paperbacks, men's magazines, cinema, radio, and television. At the same time, science fiction was becoming more topical and relevant every day due to advances in science, especially with the dawn of the space age in October 1957. These factors provided science fiction a wider and more appreciative readership, to which the magazines had to respond while facing the challenge of their opposition. This chapter examines the consequences of all these factors for the turbulent science fiction magazine market from 1956 to 1960. Among the magazines that existed during the period were Astounding Science, Galaxy, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Amazing Stories, Science Fiction Stories, Science Fiction Quarterly, Satellite SF, Michael Shayne Mystery Magazine, and Science Fiction Adventures.
Mike Ashley
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781846310027
- eISBN:
- 9781781380536
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781846310027.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter discusses the changes in the science-fiction-magazine industry during the late 1970s, which witnessed the passing of numerous science fiction magazines, such as Galileo, Cosmos Science ...
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This chapter discusses the changes in the science-fiction-magazine industry during the late 1970s, which witnessed the passing of numerous science fiction magazines, such as Galileo, Cosmos Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine, and Fantastic. With the decline of science fiction magazines, the period experienced a growth of science fiction and fantasy book sales, even bringing new titles. Cinema also underwent a dramatic growth after the success of the science fiction motion picture Star Wars in 1977, establishing a new generation of science fiction fans through visual imagery and special effects brought about by cinema.Less
This chapter discusses the changes in the science-fiction-magazine industry during the late 1970s, which witnessed the passing of numerous science fiction magazines, such as Galileo, Cosmos Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine, and Fantastic. With the decline of science fiction magazines, the period experienced a growth of science fiction and fantasy book sales, even bringing new titles. Cinema also underwent a dramatic growth after the success of the science fiction motion picture Star Wars in 1977, establishing a new generation of science fiction fans through visual imagery and special effects brought about by cinema.
Andy Sawyer
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780853238348
- eISBN:
- 9781781380741
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780853238348.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
The present volume emerged from the ‘Speaking Science Fiction’ conference held in Liverpool in July 1996. The conference, organized by the University of Liverpool with the support of the Science ...
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The present volume emerged from the ‘Speaking Science Fiction’ conference held in Liverpool in July 1996. The conference, organized by the University of Liverpool with the support of the Science Fiction Foundation, was part of an ongoing dialogue between various ‘wings’ or ‘tendencies’ of those involved in researching, studying, and writing science fiction. This chapter describes some of the themes which became apparent through the three days of the conference.Less
The present volume emerged from the ‘Speaking Science Fiction’ conference held in Liverpool in July 1996. The conference, organized by the University of Liverpool with the support of the Science Fiction Foundation, was part of an ongoing dialogue between various ‘wings’ or ‘tendencies’ of those involved in researching, studying, and writing science fiction. This chapter describes some of the themes which became apparent through the three days of the conference.
Gwyneth Jones
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780853237839
- eISBN:
- 9781786945389
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780853237839.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Gwyneth Jones’s Deconstructing the Starships: Science Fiction and Reality is a collection of critical essays, speeches and reviews, split into three sections: ‘All Science is Description’, ‘Science, ...
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Gwyneth Jones’s Deconstructing the Starships: Science Fiction and Reality is a collection of critical essays, speeches and reviews, split into three sections: ‘All Science is Description’, ‘Science, Fiction and Reality’, and ‘The Reviews’.
The book looks at 20th century science fiction through a feminist lens and explores the evolution of science fiction and fantasy writing during an era of scientific and technological development. From a feminist point of view, Jones discusses the relationships between men and women in science fiction and unpacks the significance of the power imbalances that come out of those relationships. Jones also addresses the increasing closeness in the barriers between science fiction and reality and offers insightful predictions towards the future.Less
Gwyneth Jones’s Deconstructing the Starships: Science Fiction and Reality is a collection of critical essays, speeches and reviews, split into three sections: ‘All Science is Description’, ‘Science, Fiction and Reality’, and ‘The Reviews’.
The book looks at 20th century science fiction through a feminist lens and explores the evolution of science fiction and fantasy writing during an era of scientific and technological development. From a feminist point of view, Jones discusses the relationships between men and women in science fiction and unpacks the significance of the power imbalances that come out of those relationships. Jones also addresses the increasing closeness in the barriers between science fiction and reality and offers insightful predictions towards the future.
Peter Wright
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780853238188
- eISBN:
- 9781846312618
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780853238188.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Attending Daedalus is the first book-length study of Gene Wolfe's four-volume The Book of the New Sun and its sequel, The Urth of the New Sun, known collectively as ‘The Urth Cycle’. Rejecting the ...
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Attending Daedalus is the first book-length study of Gene Wolfe's four-volume The Book of the New Sun and its sequel, The Urth of the New Sun, known collectively as ‘The Urth Cycle’. Rejecting the conventional spiritual reading of the text, the book employs evolutionary theory to argue for a controversial secular reception of a narrative in which Wolfe plays an elaborate game with his reader. After exposing the concealed story at the heart of Wolfe's novels, it adopts a variety of approaches to establish Wolfe as the designer of an intricate textual labyrinth intended to extend into the reading experience his thematic preoccupations with subjectivity, the unreliability of memory, the manipulation of individuals by social and political systems, and the psychological potency of myth, faith and symbolism. Drawing evidence not only from the first thirty years of Wolfe's career but from sources as diverse as reception theory, palaeontology, the Renaissance Hermetic tradition, mythology and science fiction's subgenre of dying sun literature, the book provides a comprehensive and closely argued analysis of one of the key works of twentieth-century science fiction.Less
Attending Daedalus is the first book-length study of Gene Wolfe's four-volume The Book of the New Sun and its sequel, The Urth of the New Sun, known collectively as ‘The Urth Cycle’. Rejecting the conventional spiritual reading of the text, the book employs evolutionary theory to argue for a controversial secular reception of a narrative in which Wolfe plays an elaborate game with his reader. After exposing the concealed story at the heart of Wolfe's novels, it adopts a variety of approaches to establish Wolfe as the designer of an intricate textual labyrinth intended to extend into the reading experience his thematic preoccupations with subjectivity, the unreliability of memory, the manipulation of individuals by social and political systems, and the psychological potency of myth, faith and symbolism. Drawing evidence not only from the first thirty years of Wolfe's career but from sources as diverse as reception theory, palaeontology, the Renaissance Hermetic tradition, mythology and science fiction's subgenre of dying sun literature, the book provides a comprehensive and closely argued analysis of one of the key works of twentieth-century science fiction.
Chris Pak
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781781382844
- eISBN:
- 9781786945426
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781781382844.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This book explores the emergence and development of terraforming in science fiction from H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds (1898) to James Cameron’s blockbuster Avatar (2009). Terraforming is the ...
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This book explores the emergence and development of terraforming in science fiction from H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds (1898) to James Cameron’s blockbuster Avatar (2009). Terraforming is the process of making other worlds habitable for human life. Its counterpart on Earth—geoengineering—has been positioned as a possible means of addressing the effects of climate change. This book asks how science fiction has imagined the ways we shape both our world and other planets and how stories of terraforming reflect on science, society and environmentalism. It traces the growth of the motif of terraforming in stories by such writers as H.G. Wells and Olaf Stapledon in the UK, American pulp science fiction by Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, the counter cultural novels of Frank Herbert, Ursula K. Le Guin and Ernest Callenbach, and Pamela Sargent’s Venus trilogy, Frederick Turner’s epic poem of terraforming, Genesis, and Kim Stanley Robinson’s acclaimed Mars trilogy. It explores terraforming as a nexus for environmental philosophy, the pastoral, ecology, the Gaia hypothesis, the politics of colonisation and habitation, tradition and memory. This book shows how contemporary environmental awareness and our understanding of climate change is influenced by science fiction, and how terraforming in particular has offered scientists, philosophers, and many other readers a motif to think in complex ways about the human impact on planetary environments. Amidst contemporary anxieties about climate change, terraforming offers an important vantage from which to consider the ways humankind shapes and is shaped by their world.Less
This book explores the emergence and development of terraforming in science fiction from H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds (1898) to James Cameron’s blockbuster Avatar (2009). Terraforming is the process of making other worlds habitable for human life. Its counterpart on Earth—geoengineering—has been positioned as a possible means of addressing the effects of climate change. This book asks how science fiction has imagined the ways we shape both our world and other planets and how stories of terraforming reflect on science, society and environmentalism. It traces the growth of the motif of terraforming in stories by such writers as H.G. Wells and Olaf Stapledon in the UK, American pulp science fiction by Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, the counter cultural novels of Frank Herbert, Ursula K. Le Guin and Ernest Callenbach, and Pamela Sargent’s Venus trilogy, Frederick Turner’s epic poem of terraforming, Genesis, and Kim Stanley Robinson’s acclaimed Mars trilogy. It explores terraforming as a nexus for environmental philosophy, the pastoral, ecology, the Gaia hypothesis, the politics of colonisation and habitation, tradition and memory. This book shows how contemporary environmental awareness and our understanding of climate change is influenced by science fiction, and how terraforming in particular has offered scientists, philosophers, and many other readers a motif to think in complex ways about the human impact on planetary environments. Amidst contemporary anxieties about climate change, terraforming offers an important vantage from which to consider the ways humankind shapes and is shaped by their world.
Brian Willems
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781474422697
- eISBN:
- 9781474438629
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474422697.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
A human-centred approach to the environment is leading to ecological collapse. One of the ways that speculative realism challenges anthropomorphism is by taking non-human things to be as valid ...
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A human-centred approach to the environment is leading to ecological collapse. One of the ways that speculative realism challenges anthropomorphism is by taking non-human things to be as valid objects of investivation as humans, allowing a more responsible and truthful view of the world to take place. Brian Willems uses a range of science fiction literature that questions anthropomorphism both to develop and challenge this philosophical position. He looks at how nonsense and sense exist together in science fiction, the way in which language is not a guarantee of personhood, the role of vision in relation to identity formation, the difference between metamorphosis and modulation, representations of non-human deaths and the function of plasticity within the Anthropocene. Willems considers the works of Cormac McCarthy, Paolo Bacigalupi, Neil Gaiman, China Miéville, Doris Lessing and Kim Stanley Robinson are considered alongside some of the main figures of speculative materialism including Graham Harman, Quentin Meillassoux and Jane Bennett.Less
A human-centred approach to the environment is leading to ecological collapse. One of the ways that speculative realism challenges anthropomorphism is by taking non-human things to be as valid objects of investivation as humans, allowing a more responsible and truthful view of the world to take place. Brian Willems uses a range of science fiction literature that questions anthropomorphism both to develop and challenge this philosophical position. He looks at how nonsense and sense exist together in science fiction, the way in which language is not a guarantee of personhood, the role of vision in relation to identity formation, the difference between metamorphosis and modulation, representations of non-human deaths and the function of plasticity within the Anthropocene. Willems considers the works of Cormac McCarthy, Paolo Bacigalupi, Neil Gaiman, China Miéville, Doris Lessing and Kim Stanley Robinson are considered alongside some of the main figures of speculative materialism including Graham Harman, Quentin Meillassoux and Jane Bennett.
Jad Smith
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252037337
- eISBN:
- 9780252094514
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252037337.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This chapter details the early life of John Brunner. Brunner had first meaningful encounter with science fiction (SF) when grandfather's rare 1898 Heinemann edition of H. G. Wells' The War of the ...
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This chapter details the early life of John Brunner. Brunner had first meaningful encounter with science fiction (SF) when grandfather's rare 1898 Heinemann edition of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds (1898) ended up misshelved in his playroom. At six and a half years old, Brunner read it, adorned its endpapers with Martian fighting-machines, and that was that. By nine, Brunner was a full-fledged SF addict. During his final term at Cheltenham College in the fall of 1951, Brunner's first printed story appeared alongside fiction by A. Bertram Chandler, Kenneth Bulmer, and Manly Banister in Walt Willis' celebrated fanzine Slant. Though only a page long, “The Watchers” (1951) leaves little doubt that the seventeen-year-old Brunner began his career as a devoted idealist. In April 1966, Brunner became the first recipient of the British Science Fiction Association's Fantasy Award.Less
This chapter details the early life of John Brunner. Brunner had first meaningful encounter with science fiction (SF) when grandfather's rare 1898 Heinemann edition of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds (1898) ended up misshelved in his playroom. At six and a half years old, Brunner read it, adorned its endpapers with Martian fighting-machines, and that was that. By nine, Brunner was a full-fledged SF addict. During his final term at Cheltenham College in the fall of 1951, Brunner's first printed story appeared alongside fiction by A. Bertram Chandler, Kenneth Bulmer, and Manly Banister in Walt Willis' celebrated fanzine Slant. Though only a page long, “The Watchers” (1951) leaves little doubt that the seventeen-year-old Brunner began his career as a devoted idealist. In April 1966, Brunner became the first recipient of the British Science Fiction Association's Fantasy Award.
Gwyneth Jones
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780853237839
- eISBN:
- 9781786945389
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780853237839.003.0014
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
In this review of David Brin’s Glory Season, Jones foregrounds the issues that arise when feminism is looked at from a male perspective. She criticises the text for presenting a feminist utopia so ...
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In this review of David Brin’s Glory Season, Jones foregrounds the issues that arise when feminism is looked at from a male perspective. She criticises the text for presenting a feminist utopia so clearly designed by a man and analyses the sexual stereotyping that comes out of it.Less
In this review of David Brin’s Glory Season, Jones foregrounds the issues that arise when feminism is looked at from a male perspective. She criticises the text for presenting a feminist utopia so clearly designed by a man and analyses the sexual stereotyping that comes out of it.
Brian Willems
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781474422697
- eISBN:
- 9781474438629
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474422697.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Paolo Bacigalupi’s Nebula award-winning novel The Windup Girl (2009) sets up a dialectical situation which it then disrupts. This is important for two reasons. First, dialectic formations are often ...
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Paolo Bacigalupi’s Nebula award-winning novel The Windup Girl (2009) sets up a dialectical situation which it then disrupts. This is important for two reasons. First, dialectic formations are often also assemblages or networks, meaning that their constituent parts are defined by how they interact with each other rather than by the essence which is withdrawn from such interactions. In the previous chapter, symbiosis was seen as a powerful tool for change. However, the way it was described often bordered on a dialectical structure, as did the doubling of double-vision and the contradiction of crisis energy. The Windup Girl offers a different strategy, the short circuit. In brief, this means that one of the terms of a symbiosis disrupts the symbiosis. This disruption takes the form of spatial and temporal tensions, as described above and developed below.Less
Paolo Bacigalupi’s Nebula award-winning novel The Windup Girl (2009) sets up a dialectical situation which it then disrupts. This is important for two reasons. First, dialectic formations are often also assemblages or networks, meaning that their constituent parts are defined by how they interact with each other rather than by the essence which is withdrawn from such interactions. In the previous chapter, symbiosis was seen as a powerful tool for change. However, the way it was described often bordered on a dialectical structure, as did the doubling of double-vision and the contradiction of crisis energy. The Windup Girl offers a different strategy, the short circuit. In brief, this means that one of the terms of a symbiosis disrupts the symbiosis. This disruption takes the form of spatial and temporal tensions, as described above and developed below.
Peter Pels
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780823249800
- eISBN:
- 9780823252480
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823249800.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter explores the history of science fiction in relation to religious ideas about cosmology, human nature, fate, and techno-science. Documenting the evolution of the literary genre from ...
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This chapter explores the history of science fiction in relation to religious ideas about cosmology, human nature, fate, and techno-science. Documenting the evolution of the literary genre from ‘classic’ authors such as Arthur Conan Doyle, Hugo Gernsback, and Isaac Asimov, to the rise of ‘cyberpunk’ authors such as William Gibson, the chapter examines the relationship of these authors with religious movements such as Theosophy, modern occultism, and New Age spirituality. The chapter argues that science fiction (and science-fictionalized everyday life) constitutes a form of religion outside religious contexts – a secularized, commercially driven religiosity, based on a shared vocabulary of ‘wonder’, ‘awe’, ‘amazement’, ‘redemption’, and ‘salvation’.Less
This chapter explores the history of science fiction in relation to religious ideas about cosmology, human nature, fate, and techno-science. Documenting the evolution of the literary genre from ‘classic’ authors such as Arthur Conan Doyle, Hugo Gernsback, and Isaac Asimov, to the rise of ‘cyberpunk’ authors such as William Gibson, the chapter examines the relationship of these authors with religious movements such as Theosophy, modern occultism, and New Age spirituality. The chapter argues that science fiction (and science-fictionalized everyday life) constitutes a form of religion outside religious contexts – a secularized, commercially driven religiosity, based on a shared vocabulary of ‘wonder’, ‘awe’, ‘amazement’, ‘redemption’, and ‘salvation’.
Terence McSweeney (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781474413817
- eISBN:
- 9781474430456
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474413817.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
American Cinema in the Shadow of 9/11 is a ground-breaking collection of essays by some of the foremost scholars writing in the field of contemporary American film. Through a dynamic critical ...
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American Cinema in the Shadow of 9/11 is a ground-breaking collection of essays by some of the foremost scholars writing in the field of contemporary American film. Through a dynamic critical analysis of the defining films of the turbulent post-9/11 decade, the volume explores and interrogates the impact of 9/11 and the 'War on Terror' on American cinema and culture. In a vibrant discussion of films like American Sniper (2014), Zero Dark Thirty (2012), Spectre (2015), The Hateful Eight (2015), Lincoln (2012), The Mist (2007), Children of Men (2006), Edge of Tomorrow (2014) and Avengers: Age of Ultron> (2015), noted authors Geoff King, Guy Westwell, John Shelton Lawrence, Ian Scott, Andrew Schopp, James Kendrick, Sean Redmond, Steffen Hantke and many others consider the power of popular film to function as a potent cultural artefact, able to both reflect the defining fears and anxieties of the tumultuous era, but also shape them in compelling and resonant ways.Less
American Cinema in the Shadow of 9/11 is a ground-breaking collection of essays by some of the foremost scholars writing in the field of contemporary American film. Through a dynamic critical analysis of the defining films of the turbulent post-9/11 decade, the volume explores and interrogates the impact of 9/11 and the 'War on Terror' on American cinema and culture. In a vibrant discussion of films like American Sniper (2014), Zero Dark Thirty (2012), Spectre (2015), The Hateful Eight (2015), Lincoln (2012), The Mist (2007), Children of Men (2006), Edge of Tomorrow (2014) and Avengers: Age of Ultron> (2015), noted authors Geoff King, Guy Westwell, John Shelton Lawrence, Ian Scott, Andrew Schopp, James Kendrick, Sean Redmond, Steffen Hantke and many others consider the power of popular film to function as a potent cultural artefact, able to both reflect the defining fears and anxieties of the tumultuous era, but also shape them in compelling and resonant ways.
Heidi Wilkins
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781474406895
- eISBN:
- 9781474418492
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474406895.003.0006
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter considers the representation of gender in the late 1970s and 1980s in the so-called blockbuster era, focusing specifically on the science fiction genre. The aural dimension of these ...
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This chapter considers the representation of gender in the late 1970s and 1980s in the so-called blockbuster era, focusing specifically on the science fiction genre. The aural dimension of these types of films immediately conjures up ideas of space, technology and other worlds and thus potentially appear as acoustically distinct from the experimental or avant-garde nature of New Hollywood or the loud, pervasive sounds of weaponry, shouting and male camaraderie in war films, which, as previously discussed, explored alternative representations of masculinity in mainstream US cinema. Financially, the most successful American films to emerge in the post-New Hollywood era were Hollywood blockbusters. These films, which were popular from the late 1970s onwards, saw a return to classical movie formulas and genres which, according to some scholars, also saw the re-emergence of strong male heroes and passive female characters and thus a noticeable return to binary representations of gender.Less
This chapter considers the representation of gender in the late 1970s and 1980s in the so-called blockbuster era, focusing specifically on the science fiction genre. The aural dimension of these types of films immediately conjures up ideas of space, technology and other worlds and thus potentially appear as acoustically distinct from the experimental or avant-garde nature of New Hollywood or the loud, pervasive sounds of weaponry, shouting and male camaraderie in war films, which, as previously discussed, explored alternative representations of masculinity in mainstream US cinema. Financially, the most successful American films to emerge in the post-New Hollywood era were Hollywood blockbusters. These films, which were popular from the late 1970s onwards, saw a return to classical movie formulas and genres which, according to some scholars, also saw the re-emergence of strong male heroes and passive female characters and thus a noticeable return to binary representations of gender.
Melissa Mia Hall
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781846310577
- eISBN:
- 9781846314056
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781846310577.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Reprinted from Amazing Science Fiction Stories, September 1981, Hall's interview takes place at the 1980 World Science Fiction Convention in Boston. Her conversation with Wolfe explores his ...
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Reprinted from Amazing Science Fiction Stories, September 1981, Hall's interview takes place at the 1980 World Science Fiction Convention in Boston. Her conversation with Wolfe explores his development as a writer, his use of symbolism and intertextuality, his sense of humour, and his major themes. In a series of brief exchanges, Wolfe reflects on the state of fantasy and science fiction, his early fiction, his writing schedule, and his appreciation of the innovations of Ursula LeGuin, R. A. Lafferty, Ron Goulart and Somtow Sucharitkul.Less
Reprinted from Amazing Science Fiction Stories, September 1981, Hall's interview takes place at the 1980 World Science Fiction Convention in Boston. Her conversation with Wolfe explores his development as a writer, his use of symbolism and intertextuality, his sense of humour, and his major themes. In a series of brief exchanges, Wolfe reflects on the state of fantasy and science fiction, his early fiction, his writing schedule, and his appreciation of the innovations of Ursula LeGuin, R. A. Lafferty, Ron Goulart and Somtow Sucharitkul.
Brian Willems
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781474422697
- eISBN:
- 9781474438629
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474422697.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
The Zug effect is part of only certain moments in science fiction which are open to representing ambiguity. Thus the book offers a different definition of sf because it focuses on the roles of ...
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The Zug effect is part of only certain moments in science fiction which are open to representing ambiguity. Thus the book offers a different definition of sf because it focuses on the roles of ambiguity and the unknowable in the genre; thus it will lead to a different set of questions and answers. In other words, rather than foregrounding the way sf extrapolates current scientific facts into future plots, this book searches out objects which resist incorporation into any past, present or future scientific understanding. Such objects are key for speculative realism because they indicate an independence from human thought or perception. Authors such as Joanna Russ, Damon Knight, Samuel Delany and Kim Stanley Robinson are used to develop this argument.Less
The Zug effect is part of only certain moments in science fiction which are open to representing ambiguity. Thus the book offers a different definition of sf because it focuses on the roles of ambiguity and the unknowable in the genre; thus it will lead to a different set of questions and answers. In other words, rather than foregrounding the way sf extrapolates current scientific facts into future plots, this book searches out objects which resist incorporation into any past, present or future scientific understanding. Such objects are key for speculative realism because they indicate an independence from human thought or perception. Authors such as Joanna Russ, Damon Knight, Samuel Delany and Kim Stanley Robinson are used to develop this argument.
Jonathan R. Eller
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252036293
- eISBN:
- 9780252093357
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252036293.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This chapter discusses Ray Bradbury's achievement in fiction as a student at Los Angeles High School and his membership in Science Fiction League (SFL). It begins with a discussion of Bradbury's ...
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This chapter discusses Ray Bradbury's achievement in fiction as a student at Los Angeles High School and his membership in Science Fiction League (SFL). It begins with a discussion of Bradbury's early obsession with Hollywood, as seen in his snapshots of scores of Hollywood stars and in more than a thousand autographs of Hollywood personalities, as well as with radio. It then considers Bradbury's fascination with the concept of space and on space and time travel during his time at Los Angeles High School; his participation in the activities of the Los Angeles SFL and editorial work with the organization; and his involvement with the school's poetry club known as “The Ink Beasts.” It also discusses how Bradbury's narratives were inspired by science fiction and fantasy pulps, such as those of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Finally, it recounts Bradbury's performance at a school production in May 1938.Less
This chapter discusses Ray Bradbury's achievement in fiction as a student at Los Angeles High School and his membership in Science Fiction League (SFL). It begins with a discussion of Bradbury's early obsession with Hollywood, as seen in his snapshots of scores of Hollywood stars and in more than a thousand autographs of Hollywood personalities, as well as with radio. It then considers Bradbury's fascination with the concept of space and on space and time travel during his time at Los Angeles High School; his participation in the activities of the Los Angeles SFL and editorial work with the organization; and his involvement with the school's poetry club known as “The Ink Beasts.” It also discusses how Bradbury's narratives were inspired by science fiction and fantasy pulps, such as those of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Finally, it recounts Bradbury's performance at a school production in May 1938.
Gwyneth Jones
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780853237839
- eISBN:
- 9781786945389
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780853237839.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter is the first of four in the first section of the text titled ‘All Description is Science’. ‘Getting Rid of the Brand Names’ was first published in The World and I in October 1987 as part ...
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This chapter is the first of four in the first section of the text titled ‘All Description is Science’. ‘Getting Rid of the Brand Names’ was first published in The World and I in October 1987 as part of a feature called ‘Science Fiction and Reality’. The essay focuses heavily on the language of science fiction and interprets the requirements of a science fiction story. It discusses the use of unnatural language; invented language; and language games, while looking at the importance of borrowing from real-world culture to furnish an imaginary world. The chapter also pays attention to the study of science in science fiction and analyses the ways in which narrative time can be used to accompany a story.Less
This chapter is the first of four in the first section of the text titled ‘All Description is Science’. ‘Getting Rid of the Brand Names’ was first published in The World and I in October 1987 as part of a feature called ‘Science Fiction and Reality’. The essay focuses heavily on the language of science fiction and interprets the requirements of a science fiction story. It discusses the use of unnatural language; invented language; and language games, while looking at the importance of borrowing from real-world culture to furnish an imaginary world. The chapter also pays attention to the study of science in science fiction and analyses the ways in which narrative time can be used to accompany a story.
Terence McSweeney
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780748693092
- eISBN:
- 9781474408547
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748693092.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
American film in the first decade of the 21st century became a cultural battleground on which a war of representation was waged, but did these films endorse the 'War on Terror' or challenge it? More ...
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American film in the first decade of the 21st century became a cultural battleground on which a war of representation was waged, but did these films endorse the 'War on Terror' or challenge it? More than just reproducing these fears and fantasies, The 'War on Terror' and American Film argues that American cinema has played a significant role in shaping them, restructuring how audiences have viewed this most tumultuous of decades in particularly influential ways. This compelling and theoretically informed exploration of contemporary American cinema charts the evolution of the impact of 9/11 on Hollywood film through a range of genres-war films, superhero movies, historical dramas, horror and even alien invasion films - each revealing a cinema not of escapism but one that engages profoundly with the turbulent era in which their films were made. Through a vibrant analysis of films as diverse as War of the Worlds (2005), United 93 (2006), 300 (2007), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), Zero Dark Thirty (2012), Marvel Avengers Assemble (2012) and many others, The 'War on Terror' and American Film explores the influence of the cultural trauma of 9/11 and the subsequent 'War on Terror' on American cinema in the first decade of the new millennium and beyond.Less
American film in the first decade of the 21st century became a cultural battleground on which a war of representation was waged, but did these films endorse the 'War on Terror' or challenge it? More than just reproducing these fears and fantasies, The 'War on Terror' and American Film argues that American cinema has played a significant role in shaping them, restructuring how audiences have viewed this most tumultuous of decades in particularly influential ways. This compelling and theoretically informed exploration of contemporary American cinema charts the evolution of the impact of 9/11 on Hollywood film through a range of genres-war films, superhero movies, historical dramas, horror and even alien invasion films - each revealing a cinema not of escapism but one that engages profoundly with the turbulent era in which their films were made. Through a vibrant analysis of films as diverse as War of the Worlds (2005), United 93 (2006), 300 (2007), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), Zero Dark Thirty (2012), Marvel Avengers Assemble (2012) and many others, The 'War on Terror' and American Film explores the influence of the cultural trauma of 9/11 and the subsequent 'War on Terror' on American cinema in the first decade of the new millennium and beyond.
Nancy Kress, Calvin Rich, and Earl G. Ingersoll
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781846310577
- eISBN:
- 9781846314056
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781846310577.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
In an interview reprinted from Australian Science Fiction Review, November 1985, Wolfe discusses his conception of ‘the landscape of fantasy’ ss ‘the landscape of the future’. To illustrate his ...
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In an interview reprinted from Australian Science Fiction Review, November 1985, Wolfe discusses his conception of ‘the landscape of fantasy’ ss ‘the landscape of the future’. To illustrate his position, he discusses the biological or genetic ‘revolution’ that may produce a future populated by engineered creatures inspired by mythology. In response to subsequent questions, Wolfe considers repetition and variation in sf and fantasy, the academic study of his work, science fiction readers, science fantasy, brainstorming, and the importance of sustained reading and writing in the creative process.Less
In an interview reprinted from Australian Science Fiction Review, November 1985, Wolfe discusses his conception of ‘the landscape of fantasy’ ss ‘the landscape of the future’. To illustrate his position, he discusses the biological or genetic ‘revolution’ that may produce a future populated by engineered creatures inspired by mythology. In response to subsequent questions, Wolfe considers repetition and variation in sf and fantasy, the academic study of his work, science fiction readers, science fantasy, brainstorming, and the importance of sustained reading and writing in the creative process.
