Overview

Can science fiction--especially sci-fi cinema--save the world? It already has, many times. Retired officers testify that films like Doctor Strangelove, Fail-Safe, On the Beach and War Games provoked changes and helped prevent accidental war. Soylent Green and Silent Running recruited millions of environmental activists. The China Syndrome and countless movies about plagues helped bring attention to those failure modes. And the grand-daddy of self-preventing prophecy -Nineteen Eighty-Four-girded countless citizens to stay wary of Big Brother. It's not been all dire warnings. While optimism is much harder to dramatize than apocalypse, both large and small screens have also encouraged millions to lift their gaze, contemplating how we might get better, incrementally, or else raise grandchildren worthy of the stars. Come along on a quirky quest for unusual insights into the power of forward-looking media. How the romantic allure of feudalism tugs at men and women who benefited vastly from modernity. Or explore why almost every Hollywood film preaches Suspicion of Authority, along with tolerance, diversity and personal eccentricity, and how those messages helped keep us free. No one is spared scrutiny! Not Spielberg or Tolkien or Cameron or Costner... nor Dune or demigods or zombie flicks. Certainly not George Lucas or Ayn Rand! Though some critiques are offered from a lifetime of respect and love... and gratitude.

Full Product Details

Author:   David Brin
Publisher:   McFarland & Co Inc
Imprint:   McFarland & Co Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 0.90cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.320kg
ISBN:  

9781476683386

ISBN 10:   1476683387
Pages:   241
Publication Date:   05 March 2021
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vi Prologue: Science Fiction and Cinema: Saving the Future by Believing There Will Be One 1 Part One: A Flickering Light on the World 1. The Self-Preventing Prophecy: How a Dose of Nightmare Might Tame Tomorrow's Perils 9 2. Society and Citizens Are Fools! The Favorite Cliche of Cinema and Fiction 15 3. 2001: A Space Odyssey: Shining Light on How Far We've Come 27 4. Living in a Science Fictional World: Biology and Destiny and Life 'n' Such 32 5. A Quirky Must-See Guide to Science Fiction Movies 44 Part Two: Admirable (But Flawed) Blockbusters 6. J'accuse George Lucas ... or Zola Meets Yoda 51 7. Avatar. Just Avatar. 75 8. The Lord of the Rings: J.R.R. Tolkien vs. the Modern Age 89 Part Three: Grinding Axes 9. Roll Over, Frank Miller: Street Kids Are Better Than Those 300 Spartans! 101 10. Atlas Shrugged: The Hidden Context of the Book and Film 107 11. Demigods and Chosen Ones ... Would It Hurt If Humanity Got to Play, Too? 117 12. Getting Science Fictional About a Better World: Marxists and Feminists and Feudalists and Libertarians, Oh My! 122 Part Four: Heroes and Villains 13. Name That Villain: Bad Guys and Aliens in Sci-Fi Movies 135 14. King Kong Is Back! The Ape in the Mirror 141 15. The Matrix: Tomorrow May Be Different 148 16. A Mini-Rant: Why All Those Zombies Mean You'd Better Vote! 159 17. Buffy the Old-Fashioned Hero 162 Part Five: Dark Visions and Hope 18. Dune: What This Classic Teaches About Point of View 165 19. The Postman: The Book vs. the Movie 172 20. Man Against Machine: Surrogates, Clones and Dittos 177 21. Gravity: Unbearable Lightness ... but Solid Storytelling 198 22. Great Opening Lines from Science Fiction Tales 202 23. From Metaphor to Movie Magic-or Why We're Such Good Liars 205 Chapter Notes 221 Index 225

Reviews

What you have here is a fistful of invitations to the best coffee-after-the-movie chats you'll ever have. If you love what Tinsel Town does to science fiction, or if you hate it, you'll find much food for thought in David Brin's cogent commentaries. -- Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of FlashForward

Author Information

David Brin is a California astrophysicist who serves on NASA's Innovative and Advanced Concepts program (NIAC) advisory board and speaks or consults on a wide range of topics including AI, SETI, privacy and national security. His best-selling novels have won Hugo, Nebula and other awards and appeared in more than 20 languages.

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