Introduction+to+Science+FIction+Notes


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 * //–noun//** a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding.


 * DYSTOPIA (dystopic)**: **An imagined universe (usually the future of our own world) in which a worst-case scenario is explored**; the opposite of utopia. Dystopic stories have been especially influential on postmodernism, as writers and film-makers imagine the effects of various aspects of our current postmodern condition, for example, the world's take-over by machines (//The Matrix//); the social effects of the hyperreal (//Neuromancer//); a society completely run by media commercialism (//The Running Man//); the triumph of late capitalism (//Blade Runner//); bureaucratic control run amok (//Brazil, 1984//); and so on.


 * Science Fiction Films** are usually scientific, visionary, comic-strip-like, and imaginative, and usually visualized through fanciful, imaginative settings, expert film production design, advanced technology gadgets (i.e., robots and spaceships), scientific developments, or by fantastic special effects. Sci-fi films are complete with heroes, distant planets, impossible quests, improbable settings, fantastic places, great dark and shadowy villains, futuristic technology and gizmos, and unknown and inexplicable forces. Many other SF films feature time travels or fantastic journeys, and are set either on Earth, into outer space, or (most often) into the future time. Quite a few examples of science-fiction cinema owe their origins to writers Jules Verne and H.G. Wells.

Science Fiction easily overlaps with //[|horror]// films, particularly when technology or alien life forms become malevolent, as in the "Atomic Age" of sci-fi films in the 1950s. Horror films are designed to frighten and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at the same time. Horror is often combined with //science fiction// when the menace or monster is related to a corruption of technology, or when Earth is threatened by aliens.

This film genre has long served as a vehicle for thinly-disguised and often thoughtful social commentary. Presentation of issues that are difficult or disturbing for an audience can be made more acceptable when they are explored in a future setting or on a different, earth-like world. The altered context can allow for deeper examination and reflection of the ideas presented, with the perspective of a viewer watching remote events.

The type of commentary presented in a science fiction film often an illustrated the particular concerns of the period in which they were produced. Early sci-fi films expressed fears about automation replacing workers and the dehumanization of society through science and technology. Later films explored the fears of environmental catastrophe or technology-created disasters, and how they would impact society and individuals.


 * __Science Fiction films commonly contain the following elements:__**


 * Low key lighting
 * Cold dystopic colours (red, green, black, silver)
 * Low angles on aliens, high angles on humans
 * Impressive Special Effects and technology focus (SFX)
 * Music – menacing, threatening
 * Plot - Science fiction plots often express the potential of technology to destroy humankind through Armaggedon-like events, wars between worlds, Earth-imperiling encounters or //disasters.//
 * Contain a ‘hero’ who saves the day (god/scientist/everyman)