Description
Book SynopsisToward the end of the twentieth century, science fiction television took a dark turn. Series like The X-Files, Millennium, and Dark Skies wove menacing technologies, paranormal forces, and shadowy government agencies into complex tales of corruption and cover-ups. Mind control, alien abductions, secret government laboratories, and implacable men in black moved from the fringes to the mainstream of American culture, making weekly appearances in living rooms everywhere. Other series that played on fears of new technologiessuch as virtual realityset the stage for unfamiliar kinds of exploitation, while Dark Angel offered glimpses of a near-future wasteland devastated by a technological catastrophe.In The Paranormal and the Paranoid: Conspiratorial Science Fiction Television, Aaron John Gulyas explores the themes that permeated and defined science fiction television at the turn of the millennium. The author traces the roots of this phenomenon in an earlier generation of series including Th
Trade ReviewThe book should be a treat for people who love science fiction television series . . . It contains a wealth of facts and interesting contexts. . . .[This book] is recommended for anyone who wants to understand ufomytens [UFOs] development. * UFO-Mail *
This is a helpful volume, and one that should be appreciated by scholars. * The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1: Conspiracy Theory and the Paranormal in the Late Twentieth Century Chapter 2: Paranoid and Paranormal Precursors from the 1960s to the 1990s Chapter 3: The X-Files: The Intersection of Real and Manufactured Mythology Chapter 4: “History as We Know It Is a Lie”: Dark Skies, Roswell, and Paranoid History in 1990s Television Chapter 5: Sinister Forces: The Conspiratorial Mood in 1990s Science Fiction Television Chapter 6: Our Dark Future: The Intersection of Conspiracy and Technology Epilogue: Changing Times and Changing Fears Videography Bibliography Index About the Author
