Science Fiction Film Research Articles

Imagined reality, the liquid, dystopia, and virtuality in science fiction cinema: Don’t Worry Darling, a case study

The history of cinema has never shied away from the representation of the future, and beyond the abstract nature of the contemporary concept and its temporal fluctuations, the sheer profusion of scenarios and their different links to the very concept of the real have generated a wide range of futuristic film references, especially those conceptually linked to the dystopian. This article presents a case study of Don’t Worry Darling, directed by Olivia Wilde in 2022. It is a contemporary science fiction film proposal that condenses retro aestheticism and the American Way of Life with the historical proposals of science fiction and its forecasts about humanity’s connection or disconnection with sensory reality and the birth of virtuality. The analytical methodology, which links patriarchal dystopia, virtual reality and gender studies, is based on the analysis of differentiating elements that provide signs with which to question the reality of the experiences of the film’s main character and the environment that surrounds her. This research employs a qualitative analysis by means of case analysis with a dual approach: the audiovisual language and signs of gaps in the filmic reality created. Firstly, the audiovisual language will be analysed through the use of the decoupage technique and, secondly, the sequences that generate gaps in the filmic fiction and lead the spectator to realize that he or she is facing a simulation of reality will be organized. The anomalies identified and inferred have been subdivided for analysis into: unrealistic space/time (synchronizations and repetitions, duplications, spatial incongruities, logical errors and perfections), mediated reality and the eye metaphor and, finally, diegetic technological analysis.

Futures past and present: history, architecture and dystopia in Brazil (1985) and the Hunger Games series (2012-15)

ABSTRACT This article examines the temporality of recent science fiction films, specifically the ways in which architectural histories are used to imagine and characterise dystopias of the future. Drawing on the writing of Fredric Jameson and particularly on François Hartog’s analysis of ‘presentism’ in historical discourse, the article proposes that the dystopias shown in many recent science fiction films provide visions of the future which have been decoupled from modernist notions of historical progress. This argument is developed through analysis of the built environments of Brazil (1985) and the Hunger Games series (2012–15). In the former, historicising and modernist architecture are combined to create a dysfunctional, highly bureaucratic dystopia from which escape is impossible. In the latter films, monumental classical forms are the dominant architectural element in a dystopia marked by excessive state violence and surveillance. The postmodern housing project Les Espaces d’Abraxas, designed by Ricardo Bofill, features in both Brazil and the final Hunger Games film, providing common ground for their repudiation of utopian modernist design. The strong presence of architectures from the past in science fiction films is thus more than pastiche; instead, it establishes a temporality in which aspects of the past continue to haunt and encroach on present-day notions of the future.

The Gothic Pasts of Stranger Things

ABSTRACT Critical analysis of Netflix’s hit show Stranger Things has largely emphasized its nostalgic engagement with 1980s Americana, and particularly that decade’s science fiction and horror films. However, trappings of the Gothic in Stranger Things do not merely align it with the twentieth century’s recent past; they also function in ways that demonstrate Stranger Things’ connection to the more distant past of the Romantic period’s Gothic novels. This article extends the Gothic inheritance of Stranger Things beyond 1980s’ science fiction horror to the Romantic Gothic novel’s investment in the found manuscript, the departure point for examining the use of Dungeons & Dragons in Stranger Things alongside Mary Shelley’s use of found manuscripts in Frankenstein and The Last Man. This article reads the found manuscript as a collaboratively produced parergon (a framing device sitting both inside and outside of the text), which works through acts of translation and recreation to bring the past to bear on the present. Through examining Stranger Things’ conceptual framing of its alternate dimension, the Upside Down, and the monstrous Demogorgon through Dungeons & Dragons, this article argues that Dungeons & Dragons functions in Stranger Things as a Gothic found manuscript, drawing literary and Gothic pasts into the show’s present.

A Functional Study of Film Sound Design in Science Fiction Films

As a form of art combining audio and visual, movie sound effect is an important element in building the story world of the movie. When sound films first appeared, they were recognized and welcomed by the public, and it is extremely important to use sound effects in narrative films so that the audience can have a better connection with the fictional world. As one of the popular cinema genres, science fiction movies were loved by the audience when they first appeared, attracting the audience's attention with brilliant special effects, but the role played by sound effects in them should not be neglected. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of sound effects in science fiction films, and will use Avatar, Inception, The Prestige and Gravity, the four films, respectively, to explain the three functions that sound effects have. They are to enhance the realism of the movie, to help complete the temporal construction of the movie and to express the inner world of the characters.

Alien Archaeology in science fiction cinema

Alien Archaeology in science fiction cinema

Отражение пост-экономических проблем в научно-фантастических сериалах «Звездный путь» и «Вавилон 5»

The article examines “Star Trek” and “Babylon 5” as components of American political culture and collective memory, focusing on their portrayal of economic issues. It aims to analyze how economic ideas are depicted in science fiction films and how they are absorbed into mass culture to fit the needs of a consumer society. The study draws on interdisciplinary historiography and economic theory, integrating insights from economic and cultural anthropology as well as sociology. Its novelty lies in analyzing how economic and social issues are perceived and how alien economic development is portrayed in the visual narratives of science fiction series. The analysis focuses on how these series represent economic experiences and social contradictions, such as inequality and development disparities in American society. It also explores the political and ideological dimensions of the economy as a driver of social and cultural transformation, particularly amid economic globalization and growing criticism of capitalist rationality. Additionally, the study considers how economic development is understood through collective memory, with socio-economic traumas from modernization and globalization intensifying inequality and disparities. The study further explores how “Star Trek” and “Babylon 5” shape perceptions of economic issues in U.S. society by promoting the idea of a socially responsible economy. The author argues that these series envision a post-capitalist economy grounded in humanism, progress, and development. In conclusion, the findings suggest that “Star Trek” and “Babylon 5” serve as cultural mechanisms for the assimilation and reevaluation of economic concepts, addressing collective traumas and ideological contradictions as society balances social responsibility with market dynamics.

Research on the theme selection of Chinese films in the new environment

This selection is important because the film is a good way for the country to show itself to foreign countries. China’s progress can be shown to foreign countries through improvements in film production, and it can also reduce some high-cost low-income films and make the direction of film development clearer. The comparative analysis method is used to analyze the paper more comprehensively and focused. It is found that the film needs to be richer in macro construction and less in narrative and lyrical storytelling. Because science fiction films need to be more well-made for the imagination of the wide world, China is still too conservative and wants to add a sense of home and country to the film, which is sometimes counterproductive. This paper goes from comparing the two films to analyzing the success and failure of similar films to the problems and suggestions encountered in developing science fiction films in China. Hopefully, it can play some role in Chinese films’ development direction and methods.

«АЭЛИТА» ЯКОВА ПРОТАЗАНОВА: МАРС КАК ЧАСТЬ БЕССОЗНАТЕЛЬНОГО ГЕРОЯ-ИНТЕЛЛИГЕНТА 1920-х

The article delves into Yakov Protazanov’s film Aelita (1924), marking its 100th anniversary. It aims to bring to light the nuances of the film, which were overlooked within Soviet film studies, while also highlighting the key differences between Alexei Tolstoy’s original novel and its cinematic adaptation. The Martian storyline, reimagined as the fantastical realm of engineer Mstislav Los by the screenwriters, can be interpreted as the subconscious of the intellectual hero of the 1920s in order to explore its symbolic meaning. The Martian landscape not only embodies governmental conservatism, but, through its constructivist style, symbolizes modernity, a technologically advanced civilization, as well as reflects concerns that come not from the past, but are projected towards the future. The paper analyzes the interplay between the fears and dreams of the intellectual protagonist, whose values were shaped before the 1917 revolution. Unlike his literary counterpart, the screen image of Los has changed: in the film, the engineer is an active man, an adventurer, a person of passion. The ethereal Aelita, the sovereign of Mars, is juxtaposed to Los’ wife, Natasha, a Soviet bureaucrat. While Natasha embodies the democratic ethos of an energetic Soviet woman, Aelita personifies aristocratic ideals. The emotional openness, energetic movements and tactile interactions, and active work and social contacts—the Soviet anthropological ideal—stand in contrast to the personal convictions of Los, who aestheticizes emotional restraint, interpersonal detachment, and social elitism. The article explores the motifs common to the Moscow and Martian storylines: the yearning for interplanetary connections, the need to transcend the usual mode of life in pursuit of something new, different, unattainable, and the willingness to make sacrifices for loftier objectives. In summary, the screenwriters have radically transformed the world of Tolstoy’s novel, which manifests the impotence of an individual in the face of revolutionary turmoil and emotional depression over the loss of a beloved one. Protazanov’s film underscores the importance of active participation of not only the Red Army soldier (Gusev), but also the intellectual (Los). While aligning with certain tenets of Soviet ideology, the film also contains subtexts that challenge it. Such is the (imaginary) revolution on Mars, which turns out to be driven not by a collective awakening among the working people of Mars, but rather by the individualistic ambitions of two Earthly men: the inertia of soldier Gusev’s ardor and the jealousy of intellectual Los, his detachment from with his Soviet wife and his yearning for emotional and erotic solace with a woman of royal lineage. The article surveys critical and theoretical analyses (both domestic and international) on Aelita, revealing motifs resonant with the Western European cinematic trends of the 1920s and of subsequent decades, from auteur (Robert Wiene, Fritz Lang, Andrei Tarkovsky) to popular science fiction films and series of the early 21st century (Cloud Atlas, Dune, Foundation, etc.). This reconfirms the scale of Protazanov’s Aelita, its predictive potential and artistic merit within the tapestry of global cinema.

Science Fiction's Facial Optics

abstract: In science fiction films involving space travel, the face is often linked aesthetically and conceptually not only with the flat surface of the screen interface but also the spherical environments of the helmet, the spacecraft, and the planetary atmosphere. I explore the relations between eye, face, and screen in Stanley Kubrick's 2001 and its successors, showing how they use facial-optical motifs to mediate encounters between human subjectivity and unfathomable otherness. Ultimately, investigating the ethical dimensions of space exploration cinema's aesthetics of roundness, I argue that recent films display a turning inward and a contraction of both ethical and ontological spheres.

Towards the Future through the Past? Present-day Singularities of the Brazilian Science Fiction Film

Towards the Future through the Past? Present-day Singularities of the Brazilian Science Fiction Film

An Investigation into the Sustainable Evolution of Color Design within Chinese Science Fiction Films in the Context of Intelligent Science—Exemplified by the Wandering Earth Series

An Investigation into the Sustainable Evolution of Color Design within Chinese Science Fiction Films in the Context of Intelligent Science—Exemplified by the Wandering Earth Series

Diverse Themes, Genre Fusion, and Audiovisual Spectacle: A Study of South Korean Science Fiction Films

Diverse Themes, Genre Fusion, and Audiovisual Spectacle: A Study of South Korean Science Fiction Films

A case for peace education through science fiction: migration

ABSTRACT Given the increasing popularity of the science-fiction genre, its capacity for worldbuilding and its long-durée vision, coupled with both the difficulty of discussing issues of migration in today’s world as something more than a problem of the present and the necessity to go beyond this presentism, the author argues that science-fiction films provide an excellent tool for peace education inside and outside the classroom in general and to address migration in particular. This article discusses the why and how of using science fiction films for peace education, which the author claims is not necessarily taught in the classroom or special programs but should also be seen as part of lifelong learning/continuous education.

A study on Bernard Herrmann’s science fiction film music

The early sound film and “classical-style” Hollywood film periods were important representatives in the history of Hollywood films, producing many classic films as well as many famous film music composers. Among them, Bernard Herrmann was a unique and distinctive representative with his own personal compositional style, and was also the representative composer for thriller, horror, mystery and science fiction films during this period. When analyzing film music, especially Bernard Herrmann’s works, using tonal music analysis, many harmonic progressions cannot be accurately expressed. Harmonic function analysis emphasizes the principles of tonality, while neo-Riemannian theory breaks away from the framework of tonality and harmonic functions, emphasizing the spatial progression between chords. For Bernard Herrmann’s music, using neo-Riemannian theory can reasonably analyze the characteristics and patterns of musical progression, and explain many chord progressions that harmonic functions cannot. One of the films that can be given as an example of this situation is The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). The Day the Earth Stood Still is a Hollywood science fiction film made in 1951. This work played an important role in the development of later science fiction films. Bernard Herrmann chose to abandon the traditional orchestral instrumentation and used a specific instrumental ensemble to form Herrmann’s unique science fiction film music space. Transformational analysis shows that the music uses modes, hexatonic scales and octatonic scales to form melodies and harmonies with ambiguous characteristics, and the use of these modes and scales also provides important color elements for film music of specific styles. Neo-Riemannian theory has been around for less than 50 years. As an emerging music theory system, it is not yet mature and complete, and is still expanding and improving. However, as an analysis tool for nonfunctional tonal film music, it can provide a brand new perspective. This researcher also believes that neo-Riemannian theory can provide theoretical basis for analyzing various styles of film music as an analytical tool.

The Innovation and Inspiration of Science Fiction Movies to Interior Design Based on Future Perspective

The interrelation between science fiction film and future interior design is inevitable.Both are the art of space,one is embodied in virtual space,the other is embodied in real space.Science fiction movies express space through image language,while interior design embodies three-dimensional space through the basic elements of entity.This paper explains the concepts of sci-fi film and interior design,defines the similarities and differences of the two concepts,summarizes the development of interior design, combs the commonness of the two cross-connections through their characteristics,and discusses the application and influence of sci-fi film in interior space by the method of practical case study.

Globalization and Commercial Analysis of Science Fiction Films: Observing Regional Markets, Production Costs, and Marketing Strategies

Globalization and Commercial Analysis of Science Fiction Films: Observing Regional Markets, Production Costs, and Marketing Strategies

An Analysis of Narrative Structure in Interstellar and Ready Player One

This article explores science fiction films, a popular genre known for its depiction of technology as a symbol of the future. The future depicted in these science fiction films is a sign of hope and critics of a particular social problem. Using Interstellar and Ready Player One as case studies, this research aims to explore the broader and deeper meanings conveyed through the narrative structure of the films, including language, issues discussed, and the use of other elements. The analysis uses a qualitative method, which involves observing the movie, recording important data, and connecting the narrative with visual aspects. The research reveals how narrative and visual elements complement each other to create a memorable cinematic experience. The results show that Interstellar is identified as a science fiction film rooted in scientific principles, with a focus on space exploration and time dilation. Ready Player One, on the other hand, leans more towards fantasy, incorporating virtual reality and magical elements. Despite this difference, both movies are considered science fiction, as fantasy shares elements with the genre.

Educational Paradigms of Communication of the 21st Century: Educational Challenges for the Specialists of the Future

Language has always been the most powerful and versatile means of communication. Then the pictures painted in caves by primitive people gave us much more detail about their lives and their habits. If we move through time the ability to represent and communicate in others' language has been enriched. We have moved to moving images and transmitted images. Since its inception, cinema has become a global entertainment. Unlike television, cinema has always introduced audiences into a virtual space. Cinema creates emotions with an extraordinary power to polarize audiences. Each of us has at least one film to which we owe this involvement, for example, mine was "Blade Runner." Blade Runner is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, Metaverse The metaverse is a new adventure that we have thanks to a huge amount of hardware and software technologies; for example, VR, AI, and AR have generated ever larger and more detailed spaces, think of the movie Matrix. The Metaverse is Ali Baba's new cave: all the riches are there, but you need the magic word. We are now on the threshold of a new transition. The Metaverse is a space populated by many suitors, none of whom have the dowry to claim the princess as their bride. I belong to one group of suitors. Looking back to some visionary writers we have a shining example of the metaverse: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The book was published before the invention of cinema. Alice in Wonderland is a "metaverse" described by Luis Carrol, a famous Oxford scientist. Alice goes in and out of a paradoxical world, a world populated by characters who do not follow the natural rules to which we are accustomed. Language, however, is still the most versatile, and that is where we must start if we are to understand the new paradigms of communication.

Arctic cinema: from horror through dramas and thrillers To Actiоn movies and fiction (Part II)

The article examines Arctic thrillers, action films and fantasy films. Presented kaleidoscope of horror, drama, thriller, science fiction and action films, with all its plot differences, is united by almost a single location, the Arctic north. Against his background, all maginable and unimaginable events occur. It enhances or weakens the role of what is happening with its whiteness, making the viewer’s screen even whiter. This is an artistic space in which characters are placed and actions, are performed. The silence of the Arctic is its action. The films reviewed are extremely different, responding to the spirit of the time when they were filmed. Their placement about genres is conditional since they all have a cinematic hybridity. Each tape combines all kinds of genres under consideration. We tried to correlate a number of films with temporary political-social processes.

A Study on the Construction of the National Media Image of American Science Fiction Films in the New Century

As a significant genre of Hollywood blockbusters, science fiction films showcase the unbeatable technological prowess of the United States, serving as a vital avenue for international communication and the display of a powerful national image. Science fiction films have left a distinctive impression on audiences worldwide, portraying the United States as the global leader in technology, owing to the presence of real scientific research facilities, enigmatic scientific symbols, advanced research equipment, and extraordinary imagination within the genre. Since the turn of the century, American science fiction films have undergone a significant shift in their communication strategy, presenting a "hardcore Iron Man" national media image. This paper, employing agenda-setting theory and content analysis methodology, explores the specific pathways through which American science fiction films constructed the national media image from 2000 to 2019.