Description
Book Synopsis 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
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 Cliché 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
