Projecting tomorrow : science fiction and popular cinema / James Chapman & Nicholas J. Cull.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chapman, James, 1968- author.

Cull, Nicholas John, author.

Contributor:

Mark B. Adams Science Fiction Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Series:

Cinema and society

Cinema and society series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Science fiction films--History and criticism.

Science fiction films.

Genre:

Science fiction.

Penn Provenance:

Adams, Mark B. (donor) (Adams Collection copy)

Physical Description:

xiv, 240 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Other Title:

Science fiction and popular cinema

Place of Publication:

London [England] ; New York, NY : I.B. Tauris ; New York, NY : Distributed in the United States and Canada exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

Summary:

Cinema and science fiction were made for each other. The science fiction genre has produced some of the most extraordinary films ever made, yet science fiction cinema is about more than just special effects. It has also provided a vehicle for filmmakers and writers to comment on their own societies and cultures. This new exploration of the genre examines landmark science fiction films from the 1930s to the present. They include genre classics such as 'Things to Come', 'Forbidden Planet' and '2001: A Space Odyssey' alongside modern blockbusters 'Star Wars' and 'Avatar'. Chapman and Cull consider both screen originals and adaptations of the work of major science fiction authors. They also range widely across the genre from pulp adventure and space opera to political allegory and speculative documentary - there is even a science fiction musical.

Contents:

Dry future: Just imagine (1930)

The prophet and the showman: Things to come (1936)

Screening Wells for cold war America: The war of the worlds (1953)

The British invasions: The Quatermass experiment (1955), Quatermass 2 (1957) and Quatermass and the pit (1967)

Sex and the single robot: Forbidden planet (1956)

The watershed: 2001: a space odyssey (1968)

Monkey business: Planet of the apes (1968)

Stretching the genre: The Hellstrom chronicle (1971)

Future imperfect: Logan's run (1976)

No time for sorrows: Star wars (1977)

Rust-belt messiah: RoboCop (1987)

The image as hero: Avatar (2009).

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Includes filmography (pages [223]-229).

Local Notes:

Adams Collection copy presented to the Penn Libraries in 2015 by Dr. Mark B. Adams.

Cited in:

Internet Speculative Fiction Database, 405958

ISBN:

9781780764092

1780764103

9781780764108

178076409X

OCLC:

835017937