Science Fiction & other Cinematic Speculations
Professor Jennifer Bean [she/hers]
Overview
This course examines the development of science-fiction cinema, predominantly films and media produced in the U.S., from the early twentieth to the early twenty-first centuries. At the broadest level, science fiction offers an artistic and intellectual space to speculate on what is in relation to what might be. It is a vehicle for expressing and questioning ideas related to technology, history, society, and identity. As Samuel Delany writes, “Science fiction is a tool to help you think.” We can also understand the films and media objects we are studying as “speculative fictions” (another variation of SF) meaning they encourage cognitive estrangement from the known world and compel us to imagine alternative possibilities and realities. Importantly, science fiction also engages our senses, evoking feelings that range from terror and repulsion to awe, curiosity and wonder.
The structure of this course will be historical, ranging from Trip to the Moon (1902) to War of the Worlds (1953) and Aliens (1979) through Blade Runner (1982) and Interstellar (2014) among many others. We will consider each film in relation to its cultural context, to shifts in the infrastructure of the film industry, and to innovations in audiovisual technologies. But our focus will be analytical. Students will develop skills for analyzing cinematography, editing, sets, make-up, lighting, narrative structure, and sound design among other techniques.
All required films and/or episodes will be streamed for enrolled students through Canvas. Assignments include weekly quizzes, and four formal exercises.
There are no textbooks for this class. But registered members will be required to download DaVinci Resolve 20, a free, professional-level editing software, to produce several formal assignments. If you do not have a computer, laptops are available for checkout through the Student Technology Loan Program. No previous experience with digital editing is required.