had legends, myths and folk tales. Many of these dealt with monsters that cannot be found on the planet Earth, at least any more, especially the myths of ancient Greece. In such cases, there can be a fine line between where myth ends and science fiction starts. In Catherine Lucille Moore’s short story "Shambleau," one such myth crosses that line. That myth is the ancient Greek myth of the Gorgons. Gorgons had snakes for hair and could turn anyone into stone by looking at them in the eyes. "Shambleau"
The genre of what is called science fiction has been around since The Epic of Gilgamesh (earliest Sumerian text versions BCE ca. 2150-2000). The last 4000 years has evolved science fiction and combined it with all categories of genres comprising action, comedy, horror, drama, and adventure in many different ways. From chest bursting aliens, to robot assassins sent back in time science fiction has successfully captured the imagination of nearly everyone that has been introduced to it. The movies Close
H.P. Lovecraft was an American author known for his mysterious and unusual stories. He mainly wrote about his belief in supernatural and extraterrestrial beings in the universe. He had a very unusual philosophy about life, and many of his articles and short stories were written to his local newspaper, even though he was not very social. Lovecraft’s literature to this day still has an impact on the world because of his unusual style, his chilling tone, and his abnormal beliefs. First, Lovecraft’s
issues in a multicultural society is vitally important nowadays as the society is undergoing changes. Some people believe that science fiction has no correlation with modern plights of the society. However, the scholarly research refutes these beliefs. In this essay I will explore the cinematic representation of racial injustice and xenophobia in the modern science fiction film “District 9” to demonstrate that Neil Blomkamf, the film director, investigates racial relations on the example of aliens and
One of my favorite science fiction movies is The Fourth Kind. I saw this movie the night it came out with my aunt Tabitha and a few of her friends. Generally speaking, most movies that are intended to be scary have no effect on me, however this film had me freaked out and covered in goose bumps the entire time. I absolutely loved the movie when I first saw it, and have watched it several more times since then. One of the reasons why I am so obsessed with The Fourth Kind is because it is my favorite
In 1997, Carl Sagan’s science fiction novel Contact was finally adapted to film by director Robert Zemeckis. Although originally written as a film in 1980 by Sagan and his wife Ann Druyen, production proved to be troublesome leading Sagan to publish Contact as a novel in 1985. The film portrays humanity’s first contact with extraterrestrials, but unlike most alien encounter stories that concentrate on the direct conflict of humans meeting aliens, Contact focuses on humanity’s cultural struggles when
science fiction is not always the case that we as humans still tend to get surprised by events or characters that don't actually occur on true events. On the first poem it was suggested that science fiction was dead and that there was other forms of proving science fiction but not by showing unrealistic characters or events. It should be creative yet, true to the real life. We have experienced different events and we should learn to come up with different stories without using science fiction and make
E.T. Independence Day. Marvin The Martian. These characters are often thought of when it comes to extraterrestrial life. But, would the stereotypical image of the little green men really resemble an extraterrestrial lifeform? Most would associate the idea of alien life with a ridiculous science fiction story. However, considering that we have over two hundred billion galaxies within our universe and billions of star systems within them, is it really possible that there is no other intelligent life
H.R.Giger's Alien "Hollywood's conception of extraterrestrial life was pretty much limited to either whimsical little green men or clumsy bug-eyed monsters. In a gritty future, Scott brought to life Swiss surrealist H.R.Giger's terrifying biomechanical beastie: an acid-bleeding, razor-toothed, overgrown cockroach with an ugly practice of gestating its offspring in human hosts……. Suddenly, space was a pretty scary place to be." (Schwarzbaum, 27) In 1979 an alien was born. Before 1979 the movie
When hearing the term “science fiction” one would imagine a film filled with unrealistic gadgets, humans with super powers and even technology of the future. However, science fiction is much more than that. Science fiction is a genre of speculative fiction dealing with whimsical concepts such as futuristic settings, futuristic science and technology, space and time travel, parallel universes and extraterrestrial life. Over time, this genre has changed and thrived due to an increase in available technology
existence of Extraterrestrial life has been seen as a possibility through the discovery of Exoplanets, Kepler Missions, and mathematical formulas. Others doubt the possibilities of an Alien species such as Enrico Fermi, and Pope Zachary. Although the thought of aliens has created numerous cults and science fiction books, many mainstream scientist have begun devoting money and time seeking the answer, do aliens exist? The world is full of possibilities. The possibility of extraterrestrial life is one
Why do we fear the unknown? In the process of answering this question, science-fiction genre films successfully capture the history of American society at distinct points in time. The genre is so closely linked to social and historical contexts that its development relies solely on this connection. Sci-fi myths and conventions have remained static for decades, and the only measurable change in the genre lies in the films’ themes (Gehring 229-230). For example, Robert Wise’s The Day the Earth Stood
peace,” and then start gusting everything up with their minuscule spaceships. These movies are of course fiction, mainly because it is believed that aliens don’t exist. But what if, thee movies becomes a reality? What if there’s something out there, exceeding our knowledge, some millions of galaxies away? What if, life really does exist out there, beyond our understanding? These Extraterrestrials don’t have to look like what we’ve always imagined, driving spaceships and taking over planets. They might
find alien life. Then, through the work of science fiction, ideas about aliens began to develop and evolve, creating books and movies sparking interest
imagination after he returns from the war. As he is a victim of this undiagnosed mental illness, he uses science fiction’s effect on him as a coping mechanism. Through the experiences of Billy Pilgrim, Kurt Vonnegut explores the powerful impact science fiction had on a vulnerable
Genre of Science Fiction Illustrated in Beginning of film Independence Day Films normally have a certain type of genre. A genre is formed when certain elements from a type of film or book become essential to that type of film or book. There are different type of genre likes Horror, Romance and Comedy. The film, which I am studying, is called 'Independence Day'. The genre for this film is science fiction. This means people are expecting to see space ships, good or evil aliens, machines
This Daedalean to Join Perhaps most of what is considered “science fiction” today do not deserve such a prestigious title. Rather, they should fall under the genre of space adventure, or one of the many fantasy genres. This is what Philip K. Dick argues in an essay titled My Definition of Science Fiction. He regards stories that simply take place in the future—typically in space—cannot automatically be considered science fiction even if they involve advanced technologies beyond our current understanding
The science fiction genre is a very elusive genre of fiction as it deals with futuristic settings, advanced technology, extraterrestrial life forms, parallel universes and space travel. The following essay will analyze and compare three science fiction films in order to explain why ‘District 9’ can be viewed as more evolved than ‘Avatar’ based on the themes of xenophobia, biological advancements, technology and space as well as other worldly settings, that are common to the science fiction genre. Typically
Insight or Foresight? Downplayed and underestimated, science fiction as a genre suffers many misconceptions. People assume that the authors of the stories in this genre are just making very loose predictions of what may be in the future, but this genre goes much deeper, into the writer’s intrinsic beliefs and original insights into reality. Science fiction novels contain the author’s perception concerning social elements of the present extrapolated far into the future. This genre deals with the futuristic
The origins of this monument range from logical theories to totally far fetched science fiction and middle age theories. This site has been around for over 4 millennia, but before the stones were even erected or on British land, it was used as a burial site. Then comes the weird theories, like Merlin from the King Arthur tales using his powers to move all of the stones into their formation or extraterrestrials coming down from outer space and giving knowledge to the ancient people in the area. Aside