Abstract
The depiction of space in films was a natural merging of technologies borne out of the Renaissance and Industrial Revolution: one that could create alternative worlds and others that created the expectation that new worlds could actually be explored. However, the mental device of estrangement embedded in science fiction as a narrative genre was strengthened when the power of story became amplified with the arrival of film. The mirror of self-reflection that estrangement gave to humankind transformed into a more immersive experience in film with its visual illusions. It allowed the exploration of narrative settings in space and led to the creation of new genres as forms of estrangement. This article sets out to explore the emblematic films that form part of cinematic science fiction and endeavours to establish their meaning and importance in popular culture as it relates to space.
Anton de Waal Alberts, Advocate of the High Court of South Africa, Member of the Provincial Parliament of Gauteng Province, South Africa.
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Notes
- 1.
Suvin, D. 1972. On the Poetics of the Science Fiction Genre. College English.
- 2.
Ibid.
- 3.
It should be noted that for this study space-related films include those films that show very little of space itself or only references space as part of the narrative.
- 4.
Nagl, M., & Clayton, D. 1983. The Science-Fiction Film in Historical Perspective. Science Fiction Studies.
- 5.
Freedman, C. 1998. Kubrick’s “2001” and the Possibility of a Science-Fiction Cinema. Science Fiction Studies.
- 6.
Ibid.
- 7.
Ibid 2.
- 8.
Ibid 6.
- 9.
Ibid 6.
- 10.
Ibid 6.
- 11.
Blade Runner is one of the many SF films based on the literary works of the prolific SF author, Philip K. Dick. Others are, amongst others, Total Recall, Minority Report, Impostor, and Paycheck.
- 12.
Blade Runner’s narrative does not take place in space, but its setting is a future dystopian space-faring earth society with references to space travel.
- 13.
Based on a military science fiction novel by the well-known SF author, Robert A. Heinlein.
- 14.
Authored by the famous cosmologist Carl Sagan.
- 15.
Based on a novel written by Polish author Stanislaw Lem.
- 16.
Ridley Scott’s off-shoot of his original ground-breaking Alien.
- 17.
Another Ridley Scott film.
- 18.
Gelmis J, “An Interview with Stanley Kubrick (1969)”, Stanley Kubrick, http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0069.html (accessed on 01 March 2019).
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de Waal Alberts, A. (2020). The Use of Space in a Meaningful Manner as Part of Popular Culture in the Form of the Science Fiction Film. In: Froehlich, A. (eds) Outer Space and Popular Culture. Southern Space Studies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22656-5_3
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