Inez ven der Spek
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780853238140
- eISBN:
- 9781781380444
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780853238140.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
At the heart of this study is a science fiction story by James Tiptree Jr (Alice Sheldon-Bradley, 1916–1987) about a brother and a sister (and fifty-eight other human beings) who encounter an alien ...
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At the heart of this study is a science fiction story by James Tiptree Jr (Alice Sheldon-Bradley, 1916–1987) about a brother and a sister (and fifty-eight other human beings) who encounter an alien while on a starship travelling to discover a habitable planet. The book includes an outline of Tiptree's work and of her remarkable life as the only child of jungle explorers, as a painter, an American agent during and after World War II, an experimental psychologist, and a female science fiction writer in male disguise.Less
At the heart of this study is a science fiction story by James Tiptree Jr (Alice Sheldon-Bradley, 1916–1987) about a brother and a sister (and fifty-eight other human beings) who encounter an alien while on a starship travelling to discover a habitable planet. The book includes an outline of Tiptree's work and of her remarkable life as the only child of jungle explorers, as a painter, an American agent during and after World War II, an experimental psychologist, and a female science fiction writer in male disguise.
Robert Markley
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780252042751
- eISBN:
- 9780252051616
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252042751.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
The final chapter considers Robinson’s two most recent novels, Aurora (2015) and New York 2140 (2017), that offer different visions of the future. Aurora drives a stake through the heart of ...
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The final chapter considers Robinson’s two most recent novels, Aurora (2015) and New York 2140 (2017), that offer different visions of the future. Aurora drives a stake through the heart of interstellar romance by depicting the failed mission of a multigenerational starship to colonize another solar system. Narrated in large measure by the spaceship’s artificial intelligence, Aurora brilliantly experiments with the narrative structures of sf even as it explores the ecological and biogeographical limits of terrestrial life. New York 2140, in contrast, depicts the struggle for the city’s political and environmental future in a future where a sea-level rise of forty feet above today’s level has occurred and rampant financial speculation still drives a capitalist worldview. Rather than a dystopian struggle for survival, however, the novel offers a utopian comedy of political and ecological regeneration.Less
The final chapter considers Robinson’s two most recent novels, Aurora (2015) and New York 2140 (2017), that offer different visions of the future. Aurora drives a stake through the heart of interstellar romance by depicting the failed mission of a multigenerational starship to colonize another solar system. Narrated in large measure by the spaceship’s artificial intelligence, Aurora brilliantly experiments with the narrative structures of sf even as it explores the ecological and biogeographical limits of terrestrial life. New York 2140, in contrast, depicts the struggle for the city’s political and environmental future in a future where a sea-level rise of forty feet above today’s level has occurred and rampant financial speculation still drives a capitalist worldview. Rather than a dystopian struggle for survival, however, the novel offers a utopian comedy of political and ecological regeneration.
Christine Cornea
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748624652
- eISBN:
- 9780748671106
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748624652.003.0005
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter investigates the representation of the feminine subject in science fiction. It is shown that feminine subjects have traditionally been joined within the science fiction film. The 1990s ...
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This chapter investigates the representation of the feminine subject in science fiction. It is shown that feminine subjects have traditionally been joined within the science fiction film. The 1990s saw the development of a different kind of female figure in science fiction cinema. The chapter states that female figures which emerged in science fiction/action films appeared to take on a functioning role more normally assigned to the male hero. Comparative analyses of three films in which a female hero appears are given: Hardware, The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Nemesis 2: Nebula. Both Hardware and Nemesis 2 exploit the Terminator films, but each in its way also subverts the narrative trajectory of their blockbuster counterparts. Starship Troopers effectively takes both the female hero and the femme fatale. An interview with Director Paul Verhoeven regarding the female heroes is also offered.Less
This chapter investigates the representation of the feminine subject in science fiction. It is shown that feminine subjects have traditionally been joined within the science fiction film. The 1990s saw the development of a different kind of female figure in science fiction cinema. The chapter states that female figures which emerged in science fiction/action films appeared to take on a functioning role more normally assigned to the male hero. Comparative analyses of three films in which a female hero appears are given: Hardware, The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Nemesis 2: Nebula. Both Hardware and Nemesis 2 exploit the Terminator films, but each in its way also subverts the narrative trajectory of their blockbuster counterparts. Starship Troopers effectively takes both the female hero and the femme fatale. An interview with Director Paul Verhoeven regarding the female heroes is also offered.
Omar Ahmed
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781911325253
- eISBN:
- 9781800342231
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781911325253.003.0006
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter explores the legacy of Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop in terms of the original critical reception, the film's relationship with its two sequels, and the marketing of the film. Released in the ...
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This chapter explores the legacy of Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop in terms of the original critical reception, the film's relationship with its two sequels, and the marketing of the film. Released in the summer season of 1987, RoboCop was an unexpected commercial success, leading to the creation of the RoboCop universe, extending into television, video games, animation, and numerous sequels. The chapter then considers Verhoeven's work in the Hollywood science-fiction genre. The success of RoboCop led to an interest in science-fiction cinema that would lead Verhoeven to direct three more science-fiction films: Total Recall (1990), Starship Troopers (1997), and Hollow Man (2000). None of the films are pure science fiction but hybrids, fusing conventions from a broad range of genres including war movie, horror, and the political thriller.Less
This chapter explores the legacy of Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop in terms of the original critical reception, the film's relationship with its two sequels, and the marketing of the film. Released in the summer season of 1987, RoboCop was an unexpected commercial success, leading to the creation of the RoboCop universe, extending into television, video games, animation, and numerous sequels. The chapter then considers Verhoeven's work in the Hollywood science-fiction genre. The success of RoboCop led to an interest in science-fiction cinema that would lead Verhoeven to direct three more science-fiction films: Total Recall (1990), Starship Troopers (1997), and Hollow Man (2000). None of the films are pure science fiction but hybrids, fusing conventions from a broad range of genres including war movie, horror, and the political thriller.
Todd Berliner
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190658748
- eISBN:
- 9780190658786
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190658748.003.0009
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies, Criticism/Theory
Whereas chapter 8 demonstrates how ideology can complicate a film’s artistic design, chapter 9 shows how a film’s artistic design can complicate its ideology. Starship Troopers illustrates the ...
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Whereas chapter 8 demonstrates how ideology can complicate a film’s artistic design, chapter 9 shows how a film’s artistic design can complicate its ideology. Starship Troopers illustrates the commercial risks, and the aesthetic excitement, of a Hollywood film whose formal properties muddle up its ideological content. The film’s unconventional use of genre devices leads to ideological complexities that pose challenges for spectators trying to make sense of the film’s form and meaning. Starship Troopers employs the conventions of the Hollywood war film and the war film satire in ways that make the film’s worldview incoherent. The film’s mercurial form limited its success in a mass market but exhilarated cult audiences engaged by the film’s unusual design.Less
Whereas chapter 8 demonstrates how ideology can complicate a film’s artistic design, chapter 9 shows how a film’s artistic design can complicate its ideology. Starship Troopers illustrates the commercial risks, and the aesthetic excitement, of a Hollywood film whose formal properties muddle up its ideological content. The film’s unconventional use of genre devices leads to ideological complexities that pose challenges for spectators trying to make sense of the film’s form and meaning. Starship Troopers employs the conventions of the Hollywood war film and the war film satire in ways that make the film’s worldview incoherent. The film’s mercurial form limited its success in a mass market but exhilarated cult audiences engaged by the film’s unusual design.