Science Fiction Film Genre:
Science fiction film is a film genre which
emphasizes actual, extrapolative, or
speculative science and the empirical method,
interacting in a social context with the lesser
emphasized, but still present,
transcendentalism of magic and religion, in an
attempt to reconcile man with the unknown
(Sobchack 63).
War of Worlds Preface.
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Some topics SF film explore range from: The End of
the World Scenarios, Artificial Intelligence, Alien
Abduction & Takeover, and Germ & Bio Warfare.
--All SF films feature humans in some form, usually
they are fighting for their lives or their
lifestyle/planet, enabling instant connection for the
spectator.
--Survival is universal, we can all connect.
-- All SF films utilize some form of Jungian
Archetype like Us Vs Them, Man Vs Animal,
Man Vs Other.
Starship Troopers Clip1
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Narrative Premise in Science
Fiction Film.
What is the Studium?
What is the Punctum?
Spectrum or Spectacle?
Propaganda?
“In making attack unreal, industrial warfare
ceased to be that huge funeral apparatus
denounced by moralists and eventually became
the greatest mystification of all: an apparatus of
deception.” Paul Virilio
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Spectrum: the individual/sociological value
placed on the image by the spectator
including place in history.
Punctum: the important detail created by
the Operator for the viewer. In SF film this
would be the underlying social message or
cause for the film.
Omega Man. Chap 6 Russian
Fear
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SF Narrative Vs Documentary.
Does it change the film’s purpose?
Can narratives more freely reflect upon
society? Which reflects our social issues
and fears more clearly?
Werner Herzog: REALITY .
“Lessons of Darkness”. Real
footage of bombs over
Baghdad.
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Film and War
War and Film have benefited each other. Film’s
first major use was to document war.
-Cameras, stock, and equipment have been
enhanced due to their use for war.
-Most names of film equipment come from
their war use.
Paul Virilio states “the landscape of war
became cinematic” in regards to the use of AV
and modern warfare. J.P. Telotte notes that
“with recent conflicts, the key fallout of this
visual kinship is that warfare itself becomes a
kind of detached spectacle, an image as
divorced from real destruction of objects and
bodies it entails as any generic war film…”
THE END.