essay about science fiction movies

Why Science Fiction is the Best Film Genre

• Joseph Tomastik
• July 22, 2022

Science fiction has shown itself to be the best genre in film by combining the real and unreal in countless exciting and impactful ways. Here’s why.

In one way or another, everyone has had at least some exposure and experience with the science fiction genre. It’s pretty much impossible for someone to avoid it with how much it’s ingrained itself into our popular culture across every medium of art, from centuries-old texts to modern films. Some people may say they’re not fans of science fiction or even dismiss it as nothing more than a gimmick, but I think they’d be hard-pressed to look deeply into their history with entertainment and not find something in the genre that left a meaningful impact on them. I’ve definitely had more than a few such instances … so much so that, for years, I’ve considered science fiction to be the best genre of storytelling, particularly in film . If I were to list my favorite films of all time, science fiction would be the most common type to pop up. It’s inspired my imagination in a variety of ways from childhood through adulthood, and it allows for seemingly endless possibilities that fall nicely into the sweet spot of my personal tastes in media.

So, I want to celebrate science fiction by exploring what defines it, what makes it so special to me, and why I think it’s the best film genre that’s just as important and relevant now as it’s ever been!

WHAT DEFINES SCIENCE FICTION?

First, it’s best to properly establish what I consider to define science fiction as a genre. Science fiction is exactly that: science and fiction. It’s taking the setting, rules, and science of our real world and, to varying degrees, adding some sort of fictional spin to them. It’s not completely driven by undisputed fact, but it’s also not based entirely on the ideas of the artists. I think that, for something to be science fiction, the starting point of its conception has to be pure reality. The environment, history, and rules of the story all need to be rooted in what we know without question to be fact in our world. So, films like Star Wars or Dune don’t count in my eyes, as their universes are pretty much designed completely from the ground up, making them pure fantasy. The best way I can think to succinctly put it is that science fiction injects something fictional into reality , rather than having reality be put into something fictional.

Once those ground rules are defined, that’s when the fiction comes into play, able to be implemented in any number of ways. You can bring in one or two elements that haven’t been proven to exist in our universe yet, like time travel or intelligent alien life. You can have the story take place in the future with multiple technological innovations that we’ve yet to experience and may never see. You can take some known natural occurrence and distort or twist it around, or have the setting be an alternate reality with a few select changes while everything else is true to our world.

Additionally, all of those changes to reality should have at least some basis in pre-defined scientific concepts . This is why certain horror films like Annihilation and Alien , for instance, can also count as science fiction, as their horror elements are consistently linked to scientific and biological phenomena like cellular alterations and extraterrestrial life, whereas other horror films like The Conjuring or Hereditary don’t count because their fictional aspects are rooted solely in the supernatural. Like a lot of genres, the line can be blurry at times, but these are the criteria as I’ve come to accept them.

THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS: BALANCING SCIENCE AND FICTION

So, what is it about science fiction that makes its appeal so instant and long-lasting to me and many others? Above all else, what I love most about science fiction is its ability to balance the strictly real with the strictly unreal to, when done properly, get the best of both worlds . In fantasy films and other such stories, creators can make up almost any rules and lore that they want, not needing to worry about whether or not it adheres to what someone else says is fact. While this allows imaginations to run wild as audiences are transported to entirely new worlds, it also creates a potentially higher barrier in getting people invested in those worlds. In the science fiction genre, the “real world” needs to be recognizable to at least some degree. As a result, it’s often a lot easier to connect to the settings and environments on a much more relatable level . There’s not nearly as much ground work that needs to be laid out that could potentially alienate us, and there aren’t nearly as many hurdles to jump through in selling us on the world being portrayed, because … well, it’s our own world, or at least a variation of it.

Plenty of straightforward dramas, action movies, and other kinds of films centered in reality have this same advantage, but what elevates science fiction as the best genre in that regard is that, at the same time, you also get the fun of messing around with that reality . Science fiction has the privilege of being able to twist, distort, or even outright change the pre-established real world to dazzle, frighten, or mystify the viewer with something they’ve never seen before. It can be as small as Ex Machina , where an artificially intelligent creation the likes of which we’ve yet to achieve can be brought to life for us to observe, think about, and even connect with on an emotional level because of how startlingly realistic it feels. Or it can be as grand as Inception , where the protagonists literally enter people’s dreams, resulting in exhilarating action sequences that couldn’t have worked had the film not played with reality in any way … while still having a starting point in reality that everyone is familiar with to make it feel more believable.

Science fiction at its best allows for the identifiable connection of something more grounded, and the wonder and memorability of something more heightened, all at once. It can definitely be a difficult tightrope walk , as you run the risk of the made-up or exaggerated parts of the story clashing with what’s supposedly more realistic. I think this is a big part of why some people say they don’t watch science fiction. They’ve likely been exposed to too many instances where these two sides clash and found them too off-putting. But that only makes it more impressive when the balancing act is pulled off. How does someone take the ordinary and believably twist it into something extraordinary? What doors are suddenly opened by mixing the real with the unreal? How does that change the motivations of the characters in the story…, and, by extension, what does that say about how we would behave if we experienced these changes in our actual lives? In the right hands, the potential for greatness in the genre is far higher than some may initially think.

SCIENCE FICTION SPANS MULTIPLE GENRES

Another one of my favorite aspects of science fiction is its versatility across multiple different genres . Think about some of the best, most iconic science fiction films ever made. The Thing, Back to the Future, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Inception , 12 Monkeys, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind … these films are all so distinct from one another, ranging from pure horror to pure comedy to dark satire to fun action. Yet all of them are classified as at least partially science fiction, if not entirely. They all retain the essentials of what makes science fiction what it is, but they use those essentials to create very different experiences. Some of them are meant to be taken stone-cold seriously, some are happy-to-lucky crowd pleasers, and some fall in between, that last case requiring a balance of fun and serious within the balance of science and fiction. Regardless, these and other diverse entries in the genre all aim to do the same thing: bring something abnormal into normalcy and see how the world and characters deal with it.

I would even classify some comic book films as science fiction. Maybe not the purely grounded ones like The Dark Knight or those that heavily involve the supernatural like Doctor Strange , but the X-Men film series absolutely counts, since it establishes the existence of mutant human beings while otherwise keeping our own world and history intact. The same thing applies to a lot of monster movies , like Godzilla , whose titular creature is unleashed through scientific means and combated through science as well. Both of these films use their sci-fi conventions as means to portray and comment on real and important subjects – prejudice and identity in X-Men ’s case, and nuclear warfare and natural destruction in Godzilla ’s – giving them the social relevance that most of the best science fiction is known for.

Because of how universally applicable science fiction is to a wide range of genres, I question those who say they’re not really into it. Granted, I think that when a lot of people in the general public hear the term “science fiction” or “sci-fi”, it’s natural for their thoughts to immediately turn to some of the sillier, campier popcorn films of the genre. Big crowd-pleasing blockbusters like Independence Day , Back to the Future , or The Fifth Element are usually the most widely-recognized science fiction films to the population at large, and as a result, I think many people have a limited perspective of what science fiction can really be. I’m not at all saying that these are lesser films, just that they don’t represent the wide spectrum of what the genre is capable of. If anyone is looking for something more serious and intellectual, for instance, they may not think to turn to science fiction because of these kinds of preconceptions .

But no matter what your tastes are, I guarantee that there’s something in the sci-fi genre that’s right up your alley, which is something I can’t say for many other genres. Even horror, which is also very versatile in what can be done with it, has its limits on who will enjoy it, as not everyone is going to like being scared, disturbed, or shocked in any capacity. The action genre similarly won’t appeal to those who see no appeal in violence or destruction as entertainment, so even the best films of that genre have a limited reach. Science fiction doesn’t have a ceiling like that. It has something for everyone and can fit into whatever someone’s tastes may be , maybe even expanding their tastes by serving as a gateway to more surreal ideas outside of their comfort zone. I think that anyone who says they don’t care much for sci-fi simply hasn’t found the stories that are right for them yet.

THE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF SCIENCE AND FICTION

Such broad appeal raises questions regarding the merits that come from how much you focus on the science and how much you focus on the fiction of any given sci-fi film or story. Sometimes the more “realistic” an exploration of certain concepts is, the more startling it is to see it taken to unproven extremes. Interstellar , my favorite film of all time, makes amazing narrative use of gravitational time dilation. In the film, astronauts travel across galaxies and are exposed to the gravitational effects of a black hole that cause them to age decades more slowly than their loved ones on Earth. Though Interstellar absolutely takes liberties with a few of its scientific concepts, this is a phenomenon that actually happens, and the film heavily leans into the details of how it works. And because it’s portrayed as closely to proven fact as possible , the emotional impact and frightening nature of the situation are so much more palpable, audiences perhaps learn about something they’d never have thought was possible, and the film’s few forays into unprovable fiction have a lot more weight to them.

But it’s one thing to have only a few aspects of science be exaggerated. What about when an entire world is drenched in that exaggeration? The Blade Runner films technically take place in versions of our own world, but there are so many visual differences and advanced technological feats that they sometimes don’t even resemble our world. But they’re meant to portray the futures of the times they came out, and the future is open to a lot of different interpretations because we obviously don’t know what it entails. Seeing someone’s imagination of what present-day problems could possibly amount to in the future is often the best source of commentary for “cyberpunk” films like these, with Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 showing us environmental devastation , the line between life and machinery, and the god complexes of those in power, all of which were valid concerns then and are even more relevant now.

Some science fiction films start out fully centered in reality before dipping themselves into the complete unknown. Arguably the most prolific film in the genre to do this is 2001: A Space Odyssey. This classic starts out looking like a pretty believable take on human life in space, but it then introduces HAL 9000 as an artificial intelligence who runs amok trying to keep order and maintain the illusion of his perfection. The film then ends with one of the most trippy, bizarre sequences ever that comes solely from the minds of the filmmakers. These three segments vary wildly in how far-fetched they are, covering so much of science fiction’s range within a single film to explore how humanity’s search to advance themselves may end with those advancements overpowering them. The ending has no clear meaning, but I see it as the ultimate culmination of someone learning all that they can and realizing how small they are as a result. An infant in the grand scheme of things, if you will.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SCIENCE FICTION IN FILM AND BEYOND

As the popular saying goes, truth is often stranger than fiction . The universe is a challenging, complicated, and ambiguous place, whether it comes to our own human nature, events and shifts in landscapes and societies, or what lies beyond our understanding and awareness. Obviously, film and other artistic mediums are at their most powerful when they dig deep into these concerns and help us either make sense of them or, at the very least, think more deeply about them. Science fiction has proven to be no exception to this throughout history, and I consider it to be the best, mosteffective form through which to tell such stories. It gets people’s attention with creativity and spectacle, and it uses that as a gateway to explore a huge variety of profound questions and subjects viewers may have never considered before.

Don’t get me wrong, pretty much every genre has accomplished this in some way. But because of the blend of fact and fiction that science fiction not only heavily hinges on but often puts so much emphasis on, and because any and every point in time has a treasure trove of potential for the commentary science fiction provides, I believe science fiction is the genre in which those accomplishments come the most naturally. It’s also arguably one of the first “genres” to make it big with societies at large . As early as the original Frankenstein novel or as recently as Everything Everywhere All At Once , science fiction has always had something new and jaw-dropping to entrance audiences and make them think more deeply about the nature of their own lives and surroundings. And as long as there are storytellers who continue to tap into that, science fiction will remain the genre I consider the best and hold in the highest regard and importance.

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How sci-fi movies have changed in each decade (& why).

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Science fiction was one of the first genres to emerge in film history, and it has changed dramatically in the 100+ years that it's been around. Sci-fi existed long before the invention of cinema, and originating in novels as far back as the early 1800s. Many historians of literature believe that Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is the first true work of science fiction in literary canon, helping to establish certain identifiable trends in the genre - such as the arrogant genius, and the potential dangers of scientific ambition.

After making the jump from literature to film in the early 1900s, science fiction was able to plumb new depths. What began as written imagination flourished on camera, and the genre began to explore new and exciting subgenres on-screen. Dozens of popular science-fiction novels were adapted into films that rendered the intangible into the visual. And outside of just adaptations, genre filmmakers were pushing the envelope with stories that reflected the realities of life in fantastical and futuristic ways. Movies like Planet of the Apes , Blade Runner , and The Terminator were all incredibly instrumental in establishing science-fiction as an ever-growing canon with its own set of tropes, characteristics, and cinematic language.

Related: Tron: Why The '80s Sci-Fi Movie Was So Expensive

As popular as sci-fi films are now, this wasn't necessarily always the case. With modern genre films experiencing heightened levels of popularity, it's important to note that this renaissance is the result of years of cinematic transformation, and dozens of science-fiction movies that pushed the envelope and broke new ground. Each decade brought new films, new trends, new tropes, and new ways to imagine the future of the human experience.

In the early 1900's, film had yet to become the dominating entertainment medium that it is recognized as today. In fact, the earliest recognized film recording, the Roundhay Garden Scene, had only been filmed 12 years before the turn of the century. The dawn of the 1900s popularized film being used as a source of entertainment, as before then the pioneers of the technology considered it a technology to be used in a solely scientific capacity. The Lumière Brothers (who were the first to showcase a moving picture to a gathered audience, essentially birthing cinema) believed that film was reserved for filming "actualities," the predecessor of the documentary. Unlike the documentary, actualities were unedited: raw recordings intended to depict life in as unaltered a manner as possible.

While the actuality was wildly popular at the end of the 1800s, film inevitably began to be used as a source of entertainment. Early filmmakers such as George Méliès began to push the boundaries of what film could be, with his short films A Trip to the Moon and The Impossible Voyage, released in 1902 and 1904 respectively. Both films represent the general atmosphere surrounding science fiction films at the time, even though in retrospect they'd lie more in the realm of science fantasy. Méliès films generally followed groups of intellectuals and theorists who decide to make a voyage to a fantastical realm or achieve some nigh-impossible goal, through the usage of absurd yet vaguely scientific equipment. Wildly popular across the globe, these movies inspired a wealth of imitators such as 1910's An Interplanetary Marriage,  and established science fiction as a major force of imagination even in the early days of film.

Over 20 years after the creation of the first cinema camera, film was becoming more and more of an accessible artform. While not nearly as commonplace as our modern day excursions to the movie theater, all across the world artists from other mediums were beginning to view film as a revolutionary craft, leading to more and more features and short films being created. With George Méliès' last film, The Conquest of the Pole, being released in 1912, science fiction films were generally beginning to move away from his highly fantastical approach and settling into a more grounded atmosphere.

Related: How Inception Revolutionized Sci-Fi Movies For The 2010s

Movies such as 1916's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, the first movie ever filmed partially underwater, and The Master Mystery, an American film serial from 1918 starring Harry Houdini, showcased cinema's transition towards harder, more tangible scientific fiction. Subject matter included scientific expeditions and robotic automatons, representing the world's budding curiosity regarding the technological advancements of the day. Because of the rapid advancements in cinematic techniques, audiences also began to become more accustomed to the feature length film, a transition that would continue to the point where short films are much more niche today than they were 60 years ago.

During the early days of film, specifically the 1910s, a lot of the short films being made were escapist fantasies; experimental stories made by book authors and magicians. However, the 1920s marked a distinct shift in the structure of a lot of genre film, specifically science fiction. As filmmaking became a more sophisticated form, screenwriters and directors were beginning to infuse social commentary into the movies they were making. Science-fiction literature set the precedent, but the 1920s seriously established the capacity for movies to be a social allegory.

The greatest example of this to come out of the decade is Fritz Lang's 1927 masterpiece Metropolis , a shining example of the German expressionist movement. Heavily inspired by German industrialism as well as the widening gap between the rich elites and the poor working class, Metropolis depicts a future in which the lower class workers are forced to toil away underground while the 1% lives in towering skyscrapers. The atrocious disparity of living between the two classes was a direct parallel to the economic turmoil experienced by Germany in the aftermath of World War 1. To this day, Metropolis is a gold-standard for not only the dystopian future, but sci-fi entertainment in general.

While the genre flourished in the decades prior to the 1930s, the early 1930s saw the world climbing out of the economic horrors that marked the Great Depression. As a result of this, the science fiction genre was less idealistic than it had been in years prior. Both literature and film experienced a considerably darker shift in the genre, reflected in the growing prominence of science fiction being fused with other genres.

Related: Why Sci-Fi Movies Starring AI Actors Is Actually A Good Idea

The most iconic movies to come out of the decade were the Universal and Paramount sci-fi horror movies , most notably Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Invisible Man. These films lie in a middle ground between the escapist fantasy of earlier pioneers as well as the harder sci-fi of the 20s and 30s, and the end result are movies that use science and technology to reflect the growing apprehension and dread felt by international audiences slowly moving out of the Great Depression. Unfortunately, things across the world got worse before they got better, as the aftermath of the Great Depression inevitably led to other, greater global horrors.

The 1940s bore witness to the largest scale global conflict of all-time: the meat-grinder known as World War 2. Countless lives were lost, and the effects were felt in culture and art across the world. While the most popular movies being produced at the time were war films , particularly outright propaganda drumming up support for either cause, sci-fi films also experienced the effects of the war effort. With Universal and Paramount continuing to pump out their iconic monster films, many American studios used science fiction tropes in pulp fiction like Flash Gordon to show the horrors of fascism and authoritarianism.

One film from this era, 1945's Strange Holiday, is very on-the-nose about its anti-authoritarian message. John Stevenson, the main character, comes back from a vacation and is shocked to discover that fascists have taken over the United States of America. Like lots of innocuous films at the time, the movie was actually secretly written by the General Motors corporation, a common practice at the time. Lots of industrial companies were repurposed to aid in the war effort, and one of the ways that they did this was using their funds to promote movies that justified the United States' actions in the war.

Science fiction in the 1950s went through one of the biggest cultural shifts to ever take place in the genre, a transformation which was directly tied to one of the most horrifying scientific breakthroughs ever. The first and only recorded usage of nuclear weapons was perpetrated against Japan at the tail end of World War 2. Little Boy and Fat Man were detonated over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, three days apart, in August of 1945, and the combined death toll of both bombings lies somewhere around 200,000. Since then, for better or worse, the shadow of nuclear annihilation has loomed large over international affairs and modern society.

Related: Why Sci-Fi Movies Are So Divisive At The Box Office

Science fiction films were some of the first sources of entertainment to tackle this massive event. Using pulpy, garish filmmaking techniques, movies such as Them! and It Came From Beneath The Sea terrorized audiences with freakishly large animals either warped or unearthed by nuclear testing. The granddaddy of the kaiju film, Gojira , came out in 1954, directly inspired by the atomic fears borne out of the nuclear bombings.

However, the atomic age wasn't the only social issue being addressed in science fiction films. With the Soviet Union growing in power and influence, a major theme tackled in science-fiction films was the fear of invasion, a thinly-veiled allegory for the American fear of communism. The original Invasion of the Body Snatchers came out during this time, and with its emotionless alien imitators, the movie paradoxically became a double-edged allegory for both the Red Scare as well as the McCarthyist witch hunts that seized the nation.

The popularity of the films made during the "Golden Age" of science fiction persisted through the 1960s, leaving audiences with a deluge of atomic-inspired sci-fi horror as well as the total domination of the Shōwa-era Godzilla films. For most of the '60s it seemed as if aliens and radioactive creatures were everywhere, mostly because those types of films could be produced with relatively small budgets and were guaranteed money-makers for the studio. However, the tail end of the 1960s rejuvenated the sci-fi genre with two particular films that abandoned the hokey tone of their predecessors, and carried strands of Metropolis' socially-charged DNA.

1968 introduced moviegoers to Franklin J. Schaffner's Planet of the Apes, a scathing critique of the nuclear obsession that also happened to revolutionize special effects. Later that same year, Stanley Kubrick's widely-beloved masterwork 2001: A Space Odyssey was released, exploring a wealth of different themes ranging from humanity's search for meaning to the sentience of artificial intelligence. Both movies re-ignited the spark for intellectual science fiction on-screen and paved the way for many of the movies we have now.

Related: 1970s vs 1980s Sci-Fi Movies: Which Decade Was Better

While the cheap sci-fi horror film never fully went away, 2001 directly led to a surge in smart sci-fi thrillers being released internationally. Movies like The Andromeda Strain, Soylent Green, and Solaris were all slow, methodical science-fiction films that leaned heavily into the philosophical implications of the stories they were telling. At the same time however, the movie circuit was just beginning to understand the power of the blockbuster and what it could do when coupled with other types of movies.

The one-two punch of Star Wars in 1977 and Superman: The Movie in 1978 forever changed the landscape of filmmaking. One an original property, the other a comic book adaptation, both were insanely successful and led to the creation of massive game-changing franchises. Superman was almost twenty years ahead of the superhero movie curve and pioneered special effects work, while Star Wars...  well, everyone knows what Star Wars did.

As popular movies generally do in Hollywood, the impact of Star Wars led to a wealth of imitators, most of which fell on the scale of cheap to decent. Battle Beyond the Stars is arguably the most famous of these imitations, mostly due to the fact that the advanced special effects were done by James Cameron himself. Cameron would go on to define the science-fiction genre in the 80s with his own film, The Terminator. One of a few truly original time-travel films, not only did The Terminator essentially write the book on time-travel paradoxes , but it also fit into a budding trend for sci-fi in the 80s, which was the futuristic apocalypse setting. Many different films used this in different ways, including Blade Runner and the animated Akira , but the collective panic surrounding a bleak technological future was undoubtedly inspired by the uncertainty revolving the ongoing Cold War.

If the '50s reflected the paranoia and fear regarding the world's entry into the nuclear age, then the '90s were all about the collective apprehension surrounding the dawn of the Internet Age. Countless films of this time period regarded technology with a sort of curious terror, such as Hardware, which follows a murderous robot enacting a rampage across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Terminator 2 also reflected this kind of cybernetic paranoia, with the reveal that the Skynet system emerged from the creation of a complex super-processor.

Related: Is Sci-Fi's Origin Anti-Science?

Of course, no movie from the 90s more accurately reflected the post-modernist attitude towards developing technology and the atmosphere surrounding the budding internet culture than The Matrix . Pulling from a wealth of different inspirations (including Buddhism, Superman, and Ghost in the Shell ), the Wachowskis' vision of a dystopian future in which humanity has been enslaved by robots perfectly captured the cultural zeitgeist, and inspired a wave of films that picked at those same themes.

The advent of CGI heavily influenced many films during this time, especially science fiction films, and nowhere is that more evident than the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Despite their complex and intricate world-building, Lucas' over-reliance on visual effects and cheap humor undercut what could have been a stellar return to a galaxy far, far away. However, that didn't stop other filmmakers from taking Lucas' pioneering work with CGI and repurposing it on other projects. James Cameron's 2009 film Avatar is, to this day, one of the most groundbreaking movies ever made simply because of the strides made in the department of visual effects . Coupling CGI and 3D technology gave moviegoing audiences an audio-visual experience whose impact can never be understated.

Ever since the dawn of the blockbuster in the 1970s, they have become more and more popular in the studio system, and the 2010s is arguably when they hit critical mass. Huge blockbuster franchises flourished during this time period, such as the Transformers movies as well as most of the Marvel Cinematic Universe . While superhero films first and foremost, most of them have roots in pulp science-fiction concepts and wear those influences on their sleeves when dealing with artificial intelligence or extraterrestrial superheroes.

Towards the tail end of this period the arthouse science fiction film grew in popularity. In the same vein as movies like 2001, indie filmmakers were pumping out daring and original concepts such as Under the Skin and Ex Machina , and even studios were occasionally taking risks on larger intellectual sci-fi films like Nolan's Interstellar .

Related: How Dune Changed Sci-Fi Movies (& Denis Villenueve Can Do It Again)

2020s and Beyond

Even with the trends of decades past behind us, it's hard to identify exactly where sci-fi will go next. While audiences have their eyes on certain upcoming releases such as Tenet and Denis Villenueve's long-anticipated Dune adaptation, no one knows for certain what could come next for the genre. Ever since its early days in the pages of classic literature, science-fiction has reflected the discoveries and experiences of the society that informs it. As long as culture and technology continue to develop across the globe in new and exciting ways, so too will science fiction continue to shock and surprise audiences worldwide.

More: How Director Jack Arnold Defined American Sci-Fi Movies

• SR Originals

The Genre of Science Fiction in Movies Term Paper

Introduction, “the war of the worlds”, “star wars”, “the fifth element”.

Bibliography

In this paper we will analyse “The War of the Worlds” (1953), “Star Wars” (1977) and “The Fifth Element” (1997), as movies that reflect the genre of science fiction being transformed from something that used to help people expanding their minds and to provide them with the insight onto the future, into the mere tool of entertainment, which in its turn, reflects the fact that, during the course of second half of twentieth century, White people’s existential vitality have been steadily undermined by degenerative socio-political doctrines, associated with the rise of neo-Liberalism.

When we closely analyze the traditional subtleties of literary genre of science fiction, we will be able to define its two most important characteristics: 1) It is exclusively associated with Western (White) civilization; 2) Classical science fiction works utilize futuristic motifs as the tool of attracting wider audience. Therefore, we can say that, up until comparatively recent times, the genre of science fiction in literature and movies was simply reflecting White people’s ability to push forward scientific and cultural progress. It is not by pure coincidence that this genre was at the peak of its popularity in late 19 th and early 20 th century, when after being released out of Christian imprisonment, Western creative genius was producing groundbreaking scientific discoveries every 2-3 years. However, if we look at the pace of scientific progress in last fifty years, it will appear that, within this period of time, not a single scientific breakthrough of universal magnitude was being accomplished. It is only informational technologies, associated with the rise of Internet (70% of Internet traffic relates to promotion of pornography), that were able to advance rapidly. Americans stopped sending manned spacecrafts to the Moon, Russians allowed their space station “Mir” to crush into the Earth. The whole concept of space exploration is now associated with rich moneybags getting cheep thrills out of being launched into the space as “tourists”, rather then with evolutionary progress of a mankind, as it used to be the case in comparatively recent times. Therefore, it will only be logical, on our part, to expect modern science fiction movies to reflect the reality of humanity’s civilizational progress being reversed backwards, as a result of more and more people in Western countries being preoccupied with “celebration of diversity”, as the only thing they are capable of doing. In the following parts of this paper, we will substantiate the conceptual validity of this statement, by embarking on closer analysis of movies mentioned in the initial thesis statement.

The movie “The War of the Worlds” was produced in 1953, when America’s national integrity was at its strongest and when Americans thought that such integrity could only be threatened from outside. It is now being often suggested that this movie had sublimated Americans’ subconscious fears of Commies. We can agree with such point of view to a certain extent, however, it is wrong to refer to “The War of the Worlds” as such that has apocalyptic motifs incorporated in its very core. Despite the fact that even U.S. military appears to be utterly helpless, while trying to deal with hostile Martians, the majority of movie’s characters do not yield to panic. They understand perfectly well that it is only the knowledge of Martians’ physical constitution that might provide them with a clue as to how fight them in most effective manner. This is why, throughout the movie, its main characters continue to discuss Martians’ appearance as such that relates to the physical conditions of their native planet: “Supposedly they are Martians Professor, what would they look like? Bigger then us, smaller? – Our gravitational force would weight them down; our heavier air would’ve pressed them. – You think they’d be breathing creatures like us? What about blood, hearts, and all that? – If they do have hearts, they’d be certainly beating at slower rate, but their sense might be quite different from ours…” (IMDB, 2000).

In other words, movie popularizes scientific notions among viewers, which actually corresponds to the original essence of science fiction as genre. This is because, people who are not being affected by racial mixing and by degenerative socio-political doctrines, derive aesthetic pleasure out of absorbing scientific knowledge, rather then out of watching people being blown to pieces. It is not by simple accident that the genre of science fiction has been traditionally liked by young people more then by representatives of older generations – in fifties, the sci-fi movies were actually helping teenagers to gain a better understanding of surrounding reality. Back then, in order to be considered as “cool”, a young man needed to know how to built model rockets and to be capable of swimming for 2 miles, for example, as opposed to today’s concept of “coolness” that closely relates to “gangsta” lifestyle. This is the reason why “The War of the Worlds” was able to gross US$ 2,000,000 (a huge amount of money in fifties) by satisfying people’s scientific curiosity as to the possible consequences of alien life forms being brought to the Earth. We can say that, unlike in many modern sci-fi movies, the essence of this particular genre in “The War of the Worlds” did not contradict the actual science. In fifties, Americans did not have doubts as to the value of their empirical sense of rationale, which is why “The War of the Worlds” does not feature any mystical motifs – the arrival of hostile aliens to Earth and their eventual demise correspond to biological laws of nature, as we know them. Therefore, we can refer to this particular movie as sci-fi classic, because in “The War of the Worlds”, the events revolve around scientific notions and not the other way around, as it became a customary practice in today’s science fiction movies.

George Lucas’ cinematographic masterpiece “Star Wars” was being subjected to extensive cultorogical studies ever since the time of its release in 1977, with majority of critics agreeing on movie’s high aesthetic value. However, even though that it formally relates to the genre of science fiction, we can barely discuss it as sci-fi movie, because “Star Wars” is nothing but an extrapolation of modern White people’s existential inadequateness, in form of futuristic “fairy tale”. In his article “Back to the Future”, where he talks about movies “Harry Potter”, “Lord of the Rings” and “Star Wars”, Michael Moses makes a very good point when he suggests that in seventies, the genre of sci-fi had ceased to relate to empirical science and was being transformed into the instrument for citizens to conduit their subconscious anxieties: “They (movies) nonetheless respond to a specifically modern set of social anxieties. Indeed, each expresses a deep discomfort with modernity itself. If the fundamental narrative structure of the films borrows heavily from tradition, the specific forms that both good and evil assume within them are those of the modern world… One of the contemporary discontents to which all three series respond is a general boredom with modern bourgeois existence. The escapism of these stories is an antidote to the routine that is the special curse of safe, static middle-class life” (Moses, p. 49). We can only agree with the author – “Star Wars” is a cinematographic quintessence of White people’s existential idealism, as it links metaphysical evil with corruption and implies that only young people, untainted by mental and physical inadequacy, are capable of “restoring justice in the Galaxy”.

One of movie’s most memorable scenes is when Luke Skywalker sits in the bar with Obi One Kenobi, while being surrounded by ugly creatures from outer space, who “celebrate diversity” by drinking, gambling and shooting each other. Kenobi talks about “civilized times”, which he clearly associates with the existence of law and order and which he considers as being inconsistent with “galactic multiculturalism”, seen on Tatooine. This scene provides us with the insight on “Star Wars” immense popularity. Apparently, movie promotes the idea that “fish begins to rot from the head”. In seventies, many White Americans were beginning to suspect that there was something seriously wrong with this nation – they were still remaining masters in their own country, but they sensed that such situation will not last for long. While being unable to rationalise their subconscious fears, Whites were increasingly tending to sublimate these fears into “cinematographic escapism”. “Star Wars” appears to be utterly unscientific, within a context of its portrayal of space travel, for example – yet, it is absolutely scientific in how it presents the very essence of the concept of scientific progress, as closely related to the notion of justice and to people’s inborn sense of idealism. It is not simply a coincidence that Luke Skywalker, while being shown as classic idealist, also embodies the ideal of Aryan physical perfection. It is White people’s existential idealism, which allowed them to operate with highly abstract categories (IQ rate), which in its turn, set preconditions for the emergence of culture and science. It is their genetic idealism that made it possible for the Whites to come winners out of seemingly impossible circumstances, throughout the history, and to become undisputed masters of the world by the end of 19 th century, while remaining at the spearhead of the process of biological evolution. This notion is not being taught to Whites in schools, however, it is being perceived by them on subconscious level, which is why the idea of idealistic young White man being able to effectively resist the forces of darkness, contained in “Star Wars”, continues to appeal to many Americans even today. Thus, we can conclude that “Star Wars” corresponds to the middle stage of the process of sci-fi genre being deprived of its scientific spirit; as such, that reflected the essence of world’s socio-political dynamics in seventies and eighties.

In last century, before the collapse of Roman Empire, the overwhelming majority of mongrelized Roman citizens were preoccupied with seeking entertainment, as the solemn purpose of their existence. As a result, in the eyes of corrupted Romans, the value of their science, philosophy and literature, was being increasingly perceived through the lenses of entertainment. We all know how Romans ended up. But apparently, not many people are capable of learning from the lessons of history, which is why America is now closely following the footsteps of ancient Rome, with hordes of barbarians from Third World eagerly waiting for Americans to fully succumb to existential decadence. It appears that they will not have to wait for much longer, as hook-nosed Hollywood producers had succeeded in “redesigning” the genre of science fiction to serve purely entertaining purposes. Nothing substantiates the validity of this statement better then Luc Besson’s movie “The Fifth Element”, which is nothing but masterfully designed set of special effects, with movie’s actual plot existing only in the minds of viewers. We can say that “The Fifth Element” actually portrays the beauty of living in “multicultural” society (primitive Arab tunes serving as musical accompaniment, neon advertisements in Chinese, Mangalores – whose level of intelligence and physical appearance remind us the residents of the “hood”). Still, it is quite unexplainable why “The Fifth Element” is being referred to as science fiction movie, as the only truly futuristic element in the movie are yellow cabs, sustained in the air by some mysterious force, subtleties of which Luc Besson does not bother to reveal to viewers. During the course of movie’s production, Besson’s main task was to instil his “masterpiece” with enough explosions and violence, in order to attract marginalized audience, rather then to provide people with the insight on things to come. Nevertheless, we cannot discuss “The Fifth Element” as such that does not deserve our attention, because just as “Star Wars”, it contains an idea of racial purity as directly corresponding to the essence of cultural and scientific progress, even though that instilling movie with such idea was the last thing on Besson’s mind.

In “The Fifth Element”, the humanity is portrayed as being corrupted beyond the point of recovery, which is why it fully deserves to be destroyed by Evil from outer space. Nevertheless, mankind does have a chance – Leeloo (perfect Aryan specimen) is capable of stopping the Evil from descending upon the Earth, by the fact of its mere existence. Korben Dallas (another perfect Aryan specimen), as person who likes to continuously show homosexual Ruby Rhod where he belongs, is being chosen to assist Leeloo in saving the humanity. After having succeeded in fighting off the Evil, both characters move to the next stage of process of saving humanity – making Aryan babies. Despite being presented in rather humorous manner, this idea possesses scientific properties, as we have illustrated earlier. This is why “The Fifth Element” is now being criticized for its apparent lack of “tolerance” by self-appointed “experts on racial relations”, such as Brian Ott, who in his article “Counter-Imagination as Interpretive Practice: Futuristic Fantasy and The Fifth Element” suggested that Besson’s flick should be outlawed: “The Fifth Element constructs sexual and racial difference in a manner that privileges and naturalizes White heterosexual masculinity. It destabilizes the categories of sexual and racial difference as they are negotiated within appeals to popular imagination” (Ott, p. 149). Therefore, we can say that, despite its essence as an entertainment flick, “The Fifth Element” does posses a scientific value, simply because it infuriates the hawks of political correctness, who strive to slow down and to eventually reverse the course of scientific progress as such that contradicts their dogma of “racial equality”.

In order for us to summarize this paper, we need to state the following: the genre of science fiction in movies has been traditionally linked with people’s ability to push forward scientific progress, which in its turn corresponds to their racial affiliation. The reason why early sci-fi movies can be described as rather “technocratic” then “entertaining”, is because at the time of their creation, Western societies were racially homogeneous, which caused viewers to associate “sci-fi pleasure” with gaining a scientific information. The practice of racial mixing undermines people’s ability to operate with abstract categories and makes it harder for them to keep their animalistic urges under control. Given the fact that “celebration of diversity” has been going on in America for more then 30 years, it comes as no surprise that more and more Americans tend to succumb to their primeval instincts, while being incapable to indulge in intellectual activities whatsoever. The evolution of sci-fi genre simply reflects this process – this genre has effectively ceased being associated with science and now only serves the purpose of providing marginalized population with cheep thrills. Thus, we can conclude that if current demographical trends continue to gain a momentum (in 2030, Whites will amount to only 2% of Earth’s population), the genre of sci-fi in movies will cease to exist, simply as result of people starting to regress backwards, in evolutionary sense of this word, while being increasingly incapable of understanding of what the concept of science stands for, in the first place.

Appleyard, B. “Why Don’t we Love Science Fiction?”. 2007. Times Online. 2008. Web.

Arango, T. “ At Sci Fi Channel, the Universe Is Expanding and the Future Is Now ”. 2008. The New York Times. Web.

Edelman, S. “Erasing the Smell of Sci-Fi”. 2006. Sci Fi Weekly. Web.

Polselli, A. “The Fall of the Sci-Fi Genre in Film”. 2007. Web.

Moses, M. (2003) “Back to the Future”. Reason, v. 35, no. 3, p. 48-57.

The War of the Worlds (1953). 2000. The Internet Movie Database. 2008. Web.

Ott, B. (2004). “Counter-Imagination as Interpretive Practice: Futuristic Fantasy and the Fifth Element”. Women’s Studies in Communication, v. 27, no. 2, p. 149-76.

McLean, G. “ The New Sci-Fi ”. 2007. Guardian News and Media. 2008. Web.

Morris, T. “The SciFi Superiority Complex: Elitism in SF/F/H”. 2004. Strange Horizons. 2006. Web.

Masterson, L. “Science Fiction Sub-Genres”. 2005. Sci-Fi Factor. 2008. Web.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2021, September 26). The Genre of Science Fiction in Movies. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-genre-of-science-fiction-in-movies/

"The Genre of Science Fiction in Movies." IvyPanda , 26 Sept. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/the-genre-of-science-fiction-in-movies/.

IvyPanda . (2021) 'The Genre of Science Fiction in Movies'. 26 September.

IvyPanda . 2021. "The Genre of Science Fiction in Movies." September 26, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-genre-of-science-fiction-in-movies/.

1. IvyPanda . "The Genre of Science Fiction in Movies." September 26, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-genre-of-science-fiction-in-movies/.

IvyPanda . "The Genre of Science Fiction in Movies." September 26, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-genre-of-science-fiction-in-movies/.

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Whether you are a science or literature student, you have one task in common:

Writing an essay about science fiction!

Writing essays can be hard, but writing about science fiction can be even harder. How do you write an essay about something so diverse and deep? And where do you even start?

In this guide, we will discuss what science fiction is and how to write an essay about it. You will also get possible topics and example essays to help get your creative juices flowing.

So read on for all the information you need to ace that science fiction essay.

• 1. What Is Science Fiction?
• 2. What Is a Science Fiction Essay?
• 3. Science Fiction Essay Examples
• 4. How to Write an Essay About Science Fiction?
• 5. Science Fiction Essay Topics
• 6. Science Fiction Essay Questions 
• 7. Science Fiction Essay Tips

What Is Science Fiction?

Science fiction is a genre of literature that often explores the potential consequences of scientific, social, and technological innovations. These might affect individuals, societies, or even the entire human race in the story.

The central conflict in many science fiction stories takes place within the individual human mind, addressing questions about the nature of reality itself. 

It often follows themes of exploration, speculation, and adventure. Science fiction is popular in novels, films, television, and other media.

At its core, science fiction uses scientific concepts to explore the human condition or to create alternate realities. It often asks questions about the nature of reality, morality, and ethics in light of scientific advancements.

Now that we understand what science fiction is let's see some best essays on science fiction!

What Is a Science Fiction Essay?

Science fiction essays are written in response to a specific prompt, often focusing on a particular theme or idea. 

They can be either creative pieces of writing or analytical works that examine the genre and its various elements.

It is different from a science essay , which discusses scientific topics in detail. 

Science fiction essay aims to explore the implications of science fiction themes for our understanding of science and reality.

For science students, writing about science fiction can be useful to enhance their scientific curiosity and creativity.

Literature students get to write these essays a lot. So it is useful for them to be aware of some major scientific concepts and discoveries.

Here’s a video about what is science fiction:

Tough Essay Due? Hire Tough Writers!

Science Fiction Essay Examples

It can be helpful to look at examples when you're learning how to write an essay. 

Here are some sample science fiction essay PDF examples:

Essay on Science Fiction Literature Example

Example Essay About Science Fiction

Short Essay About Science Fiction - Example Essay

Science Fiction Short Story Example

How to Start a Science Fiction Essay

Le Guin Science Fiction Essay

Pessimism In Science Fiction

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The Peculiarities Of Science Fiction Films

Essay on Science Fiction Movies

Looking for range of science essays? Here is a blog with some flawless science essay examples .

How to Write an Essay About Science Fiction?

Writing an essay on science fiction can be fun and exciting. It gives you the opportunity to explore new ideas and worlds.

Here are a few key steps you should follow for science fiction essay writing.

Know What Kind of Essay To Write

Science fiction essays can be descriptive, analytical, or exploratory. Always check with your instructor what kind of essay they want you to write.

For instance, a descriptive science fiction essay topic may describe the story of your favorite sci-fi novel or tv series.

Similarly, an analytical essay might require you to analyze a concept (e.g., time travel) in the light of science fiction literature.

On the other hand, explanatory essays require you to go beyond the literature to explore its background, influence, cultural impact, etc.

So different types of essays require different types of topics and writing styles. So it is important to know the type and purpose of your science fiction essay.

Find an Interesting Topic

There is a lot of science fiction out there. Find a movie, novel, or science fiction concept you want to discuss.

Think about what themes, messages, and ideas you want to explore. Look for interesting topics that can help make your essay stand out.

You can find a good topic by brainstorming the concepts or ideas that you find interesting. For instance, do you like the idea of traveling to the past or visiting futuristic worlds?

You'll find some great science fiction topics about the ideas you like to explore.

Do Some Research

Read more about the topic or idea you have selected.

Read articles, reviews, research papers, and talk to people who know science fiction. Get a better understanding of the idea you want to explore before diving in.

When doing research, take notes and keep track of sources. This will come in handy when you start writing your essay.

Organize Your Essay Outline

Now that you have done your research and have a good understanding of the topic, it's time to create an outline.

An outline will help you organize your thoughts and make sure all parts of your essay fit together. Your outline should include a thesis statement , supporting evidence, and a conclusion.

Once the outline is complete, start writing your essay.

Start Writing Your First Draft

Start your first draft by writing the introduction. Include a hook , provide background information, and identify your thesis statement.

Here is an example of a hook for a science fiction essay:

Your introduction should be catchy and interesting. But it also needs to show what the essay is about clearly.

Afterward, write your body paragraphs. In these paragraphs, you should provide supporting evidence for your main thesis statement. This could include quotes from books, films, or other related sources. Make sure you also cite any sources you use to avoid plagiarism.

Finally, conclude your essay with a summary of your main points and any final thoughts. Your science fiction essay conclusion should tie everything together and leave the reader with something to think about.

Edit and Proofread

Once your first draft is complete, it's time to edit and proofread.

Edit for any grammar mistakes, typos, or errors in facts. Check for sentence structure and make sure all your points are supported with evidence.

After that, read through your essay to check for flow and clarity. Make sure the essay is easy to understand and flows well from one point to the next.

Finally, make sure that the science fiction essay format is followed. Your instructor will provide you with specific formatting instructions. These will include font style, page settings, and heading styles. So make sure to format your essay accordingly.

Once you're happy with your final draft, submit your essay with confidence. With these steps, you'll surely write a great essay on science fiction!

Read on to check out some interesting topics, essay examples, and tips!

Science Fiction Essay Topics

Finding a topic for your science fiction essay is a difficult part. You need to find something that is interesting as well as relatable. 

That is why we have collected a list of good topics to help you brainstorm more ideas. You can create a topic similar to these or choose one from here. 

Here are some possible essay topics about science fiction:

• The Evolution of Science Fiction
• The Impact of Science Fiction on Society
• The Relationship Between Science and Science Fiction
• Discuss the Different Subgenres of Science Fiction
• The Influence of Science Fiction on Pop Culture
• The Role of Women in Science Fiction
• Describe Your Favorite Sci-Fi Novel or Film
• The Relationship Between Science Fiction and Fantasy
• Discuss the Major Themes of Your Favorite Science Fiction Story
• Explore the themes of identity in sci-fi films

Need prompts for your next science essay? Check out our 150+ science essay topics blog!

Science Fiction Essay Questions 

Explore thought-provoking themes with these science fiction essay questions. From futuristic technology to extraterrestrial encounters, these prompts will ignite your creativity and critical thinking skills.

• How does sci-fi depict AI's societal influence?
• What ethical issues arise in genetic engineering in sci-fi?
• How have alien civilizations evolved in the genre?
• What's the contemporary relevance of dystopian themes in sci-fi?
• How do time travel narratives handle causality?
• What role does climate change play in science fiction?
• Ethical considerations of human augmentation in sci-fi?
• How does gender feature in future societies in sci-fi?
• What social commentary is embedded in sci-fi narratives?
• Themes of space exploration in sci-fi?

Science Fiction Essay Tips

So you've been assigned a science fiction essay. Whether you're a fan of the genre or not, this essay can be daunting.

But don't fear!

Here are some helpful tips to get you started on writing a science fiction essay that will impress your teacher and guarantee you a top grade.

Choose a Topic That Interests You

When it comes to writing a science fiction essay, it’s important to choose a topic that interests you. 

Not only will this make the writing process more enjoyable, but it will also ensure that your essay is more engaging for the reader. 

If you’re not sure what topic to write about, try brainstorming a few science fiction essay ideas until you find one that feels right.

Make Sure Your Essay is Well-Organized

Another important tip for writing a science fiction essay is to make sure that your essay is well-organized. 

This means having a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. It also means ensuring that each paragraph flows smoothly into the next. 

If your essay is disorganized or difficult to follow, chances are the reader will lose interest quickly.

Use Strong Verbs

When writing any type of essay, it’s important to use strong verbs. However, this is especially true when writing a science fiction essay.

Using strong verbs will help add excitement and energy to your writing, making it more engaging for the reader. Some examples of strong verbs include “discover,” “create,” and “explore.”

Be Creative

One of the best things about writing a science fiction essay is that you have the opportunity to be creative. This means thinking outside the box and coming up with new and innovative ideas.

If you’re struggling to be creative, try brainstorming with someone else or looking at other essays for inspiration. 

Use Quotes Appropriately

While quotes can be helpful in supporting your argument, it’s important not to rely on them too heavily in your essay.

If you find yourself using too many quotes, chances are you’re not doing enough of your own thinking and analysis. 

Instead of relying on quotes, try to paraphrase or summarize the main points from other sources.

To conclude the blog,

Writing a science fiction essay doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With these steps, examples, and tips, you can be sure to write an essay that will impress your teacher and guarantee you a top grade. 

Whether it’s an essay about science fiction movies or novels, you can ace it with these steps! Remember, the key is to be creative and organized in your writing!

Don't have time to write your essay? 

Don't stress! Leave it to us! Our science essay writing service is here to help! 

Contact the team of experts at our essay writing service . We can help you write a creative, well-organized, and engaging essay for the reader. We provide free revisions and other exclusive perks!

Moreover, our AI-based essay typer will provide sample essays for you completely free! Try it out today! 

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Betty is a freelance writer and researcher. She has a Masters in literature and enjoys providing writing services to her clients. Betty is an avid reader and loves learning new things. She has provided writing services to clients from all academic levels and related academic fields.

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Keep reading

Why Science Fiction Is the Most Important Genre

Slide: 1 / of 1 . Caption: Jonathan Nicholson/NurPhoto/Getty Images

• Author: Geek's Guide to the Galaxy. Geek's Guide to the Galaxy Culture
• Date of Publication: 09.08.18. 09.08.18
• Time of Publication: 8:50 am. 8:50 am

Yuval Noah Harari, author of the best-selling books Sapiens and Homo Deus , is a big fan of science fiction, and includes an entire chapter about it in his new book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century .

“Today science fiction is the most important artistic genre,” Harari says in Episode 325 of the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast. “It shapes the understanding of the public on things like artificial intelligence and biotechnology, which are likely to change our lives and society more than anything else in the coming decades.”

Because science fiction plays such a key role in shaping public opinion, he would like to see more science fiction that grapples with realistic issues like AI creating a permanent ‘useless class’ of workers. “If you want to raise public awareness of such issues, a good science fiction movie could be worth not one, but a hundred articles in Science or Nature , or even a hundred articles in the New York Times ,” he says.

But he thinks that too much science fiction tends to focus on scenarios that are fanciful or outlandish.

“In most science fiction books and movies about artificial intelligence, the main plot revolves around the moment when the computer or the robot gains consciousness and starts having feelings,” he says. “And I think that this diverts the attention of the public from the really important and realistic problems, to things that are unlikely to happen anytime soon.”

AI and biotechnology may be two of the most critical issues facing humanity, but Harari notes that they’re barely a blip on the political radar. He believes that science fiction authors and filmmakers need to do everything they can to change that.

“Technology is certainly not destiny,” he says. “We can still take action and we can still regulate these technologies to prevent the worst-case scenarios, and to use these technologies mainly for good.”

Listen to the complete interview with Yuval Noah Harari in Episode 325 of Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy (above). And check out some highlights from the discussion below.

Yuval Noah Harari on automation:

“It’s questionable how many times a human being can reinvent himself or herself during your lifetime—and your lifetime is likely to be longer, and your working years are also likely to be longer. So would you be able to reinvent yourself four, five, six times during your life? The psychological stress is immense. So I would like to see a science fiction movie that explores the rather mundane issue of somebody having to reinvent themselves, then at the end of the movie—just as they settle down into this new job, after a difficult transition period—somebody comes and announces, ‘Oh sorry, your new job has just been automated, you have to start from square one and reinvent yourself again.'”

Related Stories

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Yuval Noah Harari on dystopias:

“The only question left open after you finish reading 1984 is How do we avoid getting there? But with Brave New World , it’s much, much more difficult. Everybody is satisfied and happy and pleased with everything that happens. There are no rebellions, no revolutions, there is no secret police, there is just free sex and rock and roll and drugs and whatever. And nonetheless you have this very uneasy feeling that something is wrong here, and it’s very difficult to put your finger on what’s wrong with a society in which you’ve hacked people in such a way that they’re satisfied all the time. … When it was published, it was obvious to everybody that this was a frightening dystopia, but today, more and more people read Brave New World as a straight-faced utopia. I think this shift is very interesting, and says a lot about the changes in our worldview over the last century.”

Yuval Noah Harari on immortality:

“What kind of relations between parents and children would we have when the parents know that they are not going to die someday and leave their children behind? If you live to be 200, and, ‘Yes, when I was 30 I had this kid, and he’s now 170, but that was 170 years ago, this was such a small part of my life.’ What kind of parent-offspring relations do you have in such a society? I think this is another wonderful idea for a science fiction movie—without robot rebellions, without some big apocalypse, without a tyrannical government—just a simple movie about the relationship between a mother and a son when the mother is 200 years old and the son is 170 years old.”

Yuval Noah Harari on technology:

“You could have envisioned 50 years ago that we would develop a huge market for organ transplants, with developing countries having these huge body farms in which millions of people are being raised in order to harvest their organs and then sold to rich people in more developed countries. Such a market could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars, and technologically it is completely feasible—there is absolutely no technical impediment to creating such a market, with these huge body farms. … So there are many of these science fiction scenarios which never materialize because society can take action to protect itself and regulate the dangerous technologies. And this is very important to remember as we look to the future.”

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What does the future hold? In our new series “Imagining the Next Future,” Polygon explores the new era of science fiction — in movies, books, TV, games, and beyond — to see how storytellers and innovators are imagining the next 10, 20, 50, or 100 years during a moment of extreme uncertainty. Follow along as we deep dive into the great unknown.

Science fiction is going through an era of rapid change and expansion. Just as fantasy television, superhero movies, comics, cosplay, and other traditionally marginalized fan pursuits have moved into the mainstream, science fiction media has become much more visible over the last decade, reaching a wider audience, and changing to accommodate that audience.

In America in particular, what was once a nerdy subgenre, dominated by pulp writers and amateur scientists and philosophers, has become vibrant and wildly divergent, running the gamut from old-school sprawling space opera to heady alternate-history philosophy to pop adventure-novel bestsellers to a growing wave of Afrofuturism . What’s next?

Polygon recently sat down with a group of gatekeepers and tastemakers in science fiction literature to talk about the biggest changes they’ve seen in the books field over the last decade, and what science fiction novels they most recommend for hungry readers right now.

[ Ed. note: All quotes have been edited for concision and clarity.]

Ali Fisher, senior editor, Tor Books : One of the coolest changes, as far as I’m concerned, is that there’s been a pretty significant shift to ensemble casts vs. chosen individuals. Even when the casts in older works are big, for instance in something like Dune , you still have your significant primary individuals. Whereas I think some of the more interesting science fiction literature right now is happening with groups of characters working together to make change happen, in stories like the Expanse series, or Annalee Newitz’s The Future of Another Timeline . As opposed to more escapist spacefaring, space-opera stuff, seeing people who are actually protecting and preserving the home we have is really invigorating, motivating, and inspiring.

Miriam Weinberg, senior editor, Tor Books: We’re all thinking more and more about what connectivity and community mean. In a pandemic, that’s even more relevant than ever, having the type of communication that technology can provide. For a while, there was a strong trend of alternate history and the rise of steampunk, because people were trying to figure out how they could recapture the fun of technology without the problems, where we’re all sitting in our beds at 11 p.m., checking email one last time before we close our eyes. And that died out quickly, partly because the ideas moved backward, not forward.

Sheila Williams, editor, Asimov’s Science Fiction : We’re seeing a lot being written right now about concepts that are in the news at the moment, like genetic manipulation or climate change. But we’re also seeing a lot of stories about authoritarian governments, and economic inequity. Those kinds of stories have been around for decades, but there’s a certain urgency at the moment.

Neil Clarke, editor, Clarkesworld : The markets today are making the effort to be more open to international works. The simple fact is that the internet changed everything in terms of submissions. Once magazines started taking online submissions, that removed a lot of the financial obstacles of international submissions. I’m finding interesting stories coming in from places that might not have always been part of the mainstream community, places [America] might have been sending science fiction for decades, but not hearing much from.

There are a lot of interesting things happening in China. The world’s largest science fiction magazine, in terms of total readership, is China’s Science Fiction World . Last year, we had a grant from South Korea to translate some of their science fiction. I’ve been talking to more people in South America. We’ve had a few Brazilian stories. We’re seeing an increase in stories coming out of India. With the wider variety of people being represented, you’ve got a much broader range of stories now, with different perspectives. I think everyone out there is more likely to encounter stories that feel like, “Hey, these are people like me.” I think that makes science fiction a little bit more welcoming. It broadens the appeal.

Sheila Williams: I am publishing stories from authors who are writing in Chinese and then translating to English, authors who are writing in Czech and then translating to English — stories out of a lot of different cultures. I have a black American author who is living in Mexico and writing fiction coming out of that experience. It’s wonderful to have a variety of points of view. In a magazine, you want each story to be different from the story that came before it, so I think all the new sources really create a exciting environment.

Greta Johnsen, host of WBEZ’s Nerdette podcast : I think the big difference, and the most positive one, is that we’re seeing changes in who’s allowed to tell stories. For a long time, science fiction was almost exclusively a white, male, cis area. These days, it’s much easier for women to enter the field, and for marginalized or underrepresented groups. We’re getting these elaborate parables for racism, in books like Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone or Micaiah Johnson’s The Space Between Worlds , and they’re helping new audiences understand prejudice and privilege.

Miriam Weinberg: Two of my favorite authors right now are Charlie Jane Anders and Sarah Gailey , a trans author and a non-binary one. There’s so much more space now in the science fiction market for people who have been overlooked or directly marginalized by society, telling how it feels and explaining what can change, and how, because sometimes when you’re looking on from the side of the road, you can see the cracks better than someone who’s standing in the middle of it.

Lee Harris, executive editor, Tor.com : The drive for inclusivity is getting a lot more interesting works out there. A lot of #OwnVoices works that we didn’t see even as little as five or 10 years ago. We’re seeing much more interesting cultures being created and reflected, and people not necessarily just leaning on the old pseudo-medieval-kingdom fantasies you perhaps grew up with. Certainly the fact that the field isn’t just driven by people that look like me anymore — that’s wonderful.

Bradley Englert, senior editor, Orbit Books : Another thing that’s changed is the rise of social media, where writers and readers can really make themselves heard, and start organic movements and conversations toward the kind of books they want to see. As publishers started to publish diverse stories, they realized, “Oh, these are connecting with the market. We’re pushing them, and there’s a corresponding pull from the market, from readers who are finally starting to feel they’re included in the genre.”

Social media is definitely changing the conversation in a lot of ways. This is a very publishing-specific thing, but there’s an agent who runs a hashtag on Twitter every few months, #DVpit , where new diverse writers can pitch their books in basically one or two sentences on Twitter, and then agents will jump in and look, and reach out to those writers to potentially represent them. Previously, writers would have to send physical manuscripts to agents, and once email happened, everyone just had huge, overstuffed email inboxes. But this is one way to curate a very specific group of writers, and help include a really wide range of voices.

Sheila Williams: I’m also seeing a lot of experimentation, where a lot of cis, white authors are exploring gay relationships and other cultures. Authors are always trying to stretch and do something from a different perspective than their own, say from a different age, or a different gender, but there’s more interesting material from that perspective now than there used to be. It’s a really creative time.

Miriam Weinberg: There’s a lot more space now for stories about people, in the way that science fiction used to mostly be stories about ideas. And that’s because the markets are thinking more about the reader than the writer, and about how to involve people on an emotional level, just as much as we want to engage them on an intellectual level. I think that makes science fiction feel richer and more urgent than just proposing a grand idea, and expecting people to want to discuss it already.

Neil Clarke: In terms of what I’m seeing in submissions, and in reading contenders for the Best Science Fiction of the Year series , I’m not seeing one single topic that feels like the hot thing of the moment. If I was judging by submissions right now, everybody’s probably running pandemic stories. [Laughs]

Sheila Williams: I haven’t seen a huge amount of pandemic fiction from professional authors, but there are a lot of submissions from people who are just coping in their everyday life right now, with being shut in and isolated. They’re turning to writing more, and they’re writing about that situation. I’m interested in those stories from, say, the isolation point of view, but I think we’re too close to this pandemic to write stories specifically about it. I haven’t seen a big uptick. Not yet. It will happen! Authors need time to think about things, to figure out where they’re going to go with it, what’s going to be their take on it. In science fiction, response to a crisis doesn’t usually show up right as the crisis is happening. It’s usually something you see later on, after a period of reflection.

Greta Johnsen: I think we’re seeing even more underdog fiction than usual right now, in part because so much of it is coming from marginalized voices. And we’re seeing a lot more content about getting to Mars, because people feel like it might happen in our lifetime, and they wonder what that’ll look like. Readers are really hungry for the promise of positive futures right now.

Ali Fisher: It’s interesting to see more personal writing in the field, like Tochi Onyebuchi’s dystopian book Riot Baby , where authors are extrapolating from specific experiences. Or something like Everina Maxwell’s Winter’s Orbit , which is a galactic empire story, very far-future, about the potentially devastating collective consequences of etiquette in politics. That book shows etiquette playing out on a really grand scale, which I see as a translation of something a lot of people are feeling right now about intimate actions being important as political actions. How we affect things not just with a vote and a public voice, but with our families and friends. All that stuff builds the fabric of our society, and can change it. Now we’re seeing that reflected in science fiction, where it rings more clearly.

Bradley Englert: We’re less interested in the classics of the genre — not that there’s anything wrong with the classics, there’s plenty of interesting content to be mined from them. The Dune movie looks great. But rather than looking at where the past was, we’re much more interested in what stories writers want to tell right now. We’re seeing more types of stories than before. Readers are looking for unique, forward-thinking takes. Writers find influence from everywhere, and often those influences can bleed into their work, but what’s exciting is seeing the story a writer can tell with their own unique voice, while not even consciously thinking of where all of the concepts they’re playing with might have come from. There’s a collective consciousness that SF has developed, and we’re all playing in that field

Lee Harris: Another thing we’re seeing is a lot of stories being written at the length they were meant to be written. It used to be that if you had a novella, the temptation was either to cut it down and sell it as a short story, or pad it unnecessarily, to sell it as a novel. Whereas these days, there is a large push for “stories at their right length.” So if you write something that’s 35,000 words that is perfect and complete and doesn’t need any more or any less, there are now markets for that.

That was certainly one of the things that attracted me to working with Tor.com, because I love books of novella-length, and it was setting up an imprint that championed that format. Over the last couple of decades, we’ve seen books just creeping up in length, until you have books now that if you hollowed them out, you could possibly have a family of four living in there. Now we’re seeing novellas being bought and sold and read in the mainstream, like Nnedi Okorafor’s Binti series , Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries , and This Is How You Lose the Time War with Amal el-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. Five, six, seven years ago, it was difficult to find anything new of that length in a bookstore, even though some of some of our favorite books are novellas: A Christmas Carol is a novella, by our current definitions. Of Mice and Men is novella-length. A lot of the classics were. But we’ve seen, gradually over time, the accepted length of a book increasing. And we set up an imprint to try to counter that.

Ali Fisher: One of the best things about science fiction is that we get to take the world as we see it, then expand on it. We either tell the cautionary tale, or the exciting, thrilling tale of what could happen, should we follow a certain path. The submissions I’m seeing in my inbox right now are more hopeful about those possible paths. I’m not sure if that’s election-based, or if the last couple of years have just inspired people to push more toward hopeful directions. I’m seeing books with more positive endings, but tackling darker themes, characters with trauma in their pasts coming into situations or worlds that are more positive for them.

What I’m not seeing is Trump stand-ins, “Dictators have taken over the world,” any of that. It’s more systemized, bureaucratic oppression that people are rising up against in a really strong way, through collective action. So much of what I’m seeing out there right now is dealing with broken systems.

To conclude each interview, we asked participants to recommend just one or two books — particularly positive ones for people who could use an emotional boost right now.

Neil Clarke: It’s tough to narrow this down! One of the authors we’ve published a lot in translation is Stanley Chan, but his real name is Chen Qiufan. He had a novel out last year , and we’ve published a lot of his short stories . He has a really good grasp on technology and the issues around it, and he digs into these cool science fiction concepts — he’s just very imaginative, and the stories are engaging.

And I have a collection of short stories coming out from a small press I started , from another Chinese author, Xia Jia. I just love her characters. They feel very real to me. She wrote one of my favorite stories, essentially a family story, in an anthology about cyborgs I did several years ago. It was about a relationship with a grandfather figure.

Rich Larson is an extremely prolific short-fiction author. He has a novel as well, but he’s just been consistently producing some of the most imaginative, fun stories I’ve been reading over the years. And A.T. Greenblatt has been producing some of the most emotional stories, where the science fiction components tie together really nicely.

Ali Fisher: The recent uptick in young superhero stories gives me the sense of optimism and hope we were talking about. I’m thinking of Lauren Shippen ’s Bright Sessions novels , based on her audio drama podcast , featuring folks with secret supernatural abilities who all see the same therapist. Or TJ Klune’s The Extraordinaries , in which a group of big-hearted teenagers get caught up in the world of their local superheroes. Or the pile of My Hero Academia manga , about a Chosen One who earned his power and then becomes stronger the more he learns to team up with his classmates and mentors. I feel like this new age of superheroes is less interested in fortresses of solitude, and more interested in building a team — a community — around their power, and working as a group to understand that power and use it well.

Miriam Weinberg: These days I alternate between comfort re-reads like mysteries and childhood favorites, and rather dark catharsis reading. Think: Tender is the Flesh , These Women , The Only Good Indians . I feel too tender for hope yet myself, but I’m working my way through an exceedingly fun YA anthology, Vampires Never Get Old , and I am trying to stay forever within the pages of Kate Racculia’s Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts , which is a little bit Scarlett Thomas, a little bit The Westing Game , and a little bit Erin Morgenstern, while being extremely itself. It’s SO DELIGHTFUL! For science fiction, I’m loving The Space Between Worlds , a debut by Micaiah Johnson, which is possibly the best multiverse adventure I’ve read yet. It feels like it’s fixing my still-present rage about Amy Pond’s abandonment episode in series six Doctor Who .

Lee Harris: M.R. Carey ’s The Book of Koli series is just fabulous. They’re science fiction in that they are set in the future, and the technology they describe is not quite what we have at the moment, but you don’t have to look at it too hard to think it’s coming. And honestly, anything by Claire North . The Gameshouse series especially.

Sheila Williams: Suzanne Palmer is so much fun. She can be both funny and very sad. Suzanne’s very thoughtful about the far future. She has great plotting and really fun characters. She definitely can be dark and deep, but she’s also a lot of fun if you just want to relax, read a book, and enjoy a fun story. Cadwell Turnbull is a very interesting new author. He grew up in the American Virgin Islands, and he’s just a really wonderful writer. He brings another viewpoint into the field. He writes about AI in family therapy, and botany, looking at climate change, so he’s getting a lot of really interesting ideas into his work. But he also has that background of growing up in the Caribbean, so that’s part of his viewpoint. He has a very fresh voice.

Greta Johnsen: For people who are feeling down right now, I always recommend David Mitchell. Everything by him, really. I’m wild about him — he’s built an entire literary universe around his philosophies, and you have to really read everything to understand what he’s getting at. I’d start from the beginning, with his first book, Ghostwritten , or with Cloud Atlas . But reading the David Mitchell Universe wiki can really help you unpack what’s going on in his work. None of his books rely on chronology. Elan Mastai’s All Our Wrong Todays is also fantastic — it’s a love story about using time travel to fix mistakes made in the past, which makes it really nice to read right now.

Bradley Englert: I always recommend James S.A. Corey ’s Leviathan Wakes [the first volume in the Expanse series] because it’s such an awesome book, and that series is incredible for people who want to be drawn into a massive world. If you like fun, fast-paced reads, Alex White ’s A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe . And then — maybe this isn’t an all-the-way-positive read, or a feel-good read — but Goldilocks , by Laura Lam , is basically The Handmaid’s Tale by way of The Martian , but more hopeful. It’s a story where five women take charge of their destiny by stealing a spaceship from NASA and planning their own space excursion. It’s super fast-paced, really interesting, and there are lots of hopeful notes throughout it. So even though that initial pitch is maybe not the most positive reading experience, it’s a great book, and I think it will surprise a lot of people.

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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Science Fiction Film Theory and Criticism

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Science Fiction Film Theory and Criticism by Ritch Calvin LAST REVIEWED: 29 May 2014 LAST MODIFIED: 29 May 2014 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199791286-0088

Defining science fiction is a difficult task. The origins of the term reside in the scientific fantasies of technological developments. However, science fiction can be defined as characteristics of the text (or film), as the speculation on or extrapolation from current events, or as a set of reading (or viewing) protocols. However, in common usage, the term science fiction often encompasses a wide range of concerns, including fantasy and horror. Arguably, the origins of all film lie in science fiction. Many of the early, short films by George Méliès, Gaston Velle, Max Fleischer, and others were depictions of trips to the moon or Mars. They speculated about other planets and offered fanciful technologies in order to reach them. However, these early films often had little to do with actual science, technology, or the laws of nature, but were fantastical in nature. Consequently, some critics argue that science fiction film came of age in 1950 with Irving Pichel’s Destination Moon by ushering in a more scientifically grounded age of science fiction films. In actual practice, science fiction film remains quite varied in its focus and topic. Much of the early writing on science fiction film dealt with techniques, with lineage, and with plot summary. A great deal of science fiction film theory and criticism has been rooted in the auteur ; that is, it is focused on the creative mind behind the work. Over time, the criticism of science fiction film shifted toward genre theory, a focus on the generic characteristics of science fiction film that both delineates the history of the genre and develops the definitive characteristics. As the number of science fiction films proliferated, and as the number of texts dedicated to its study proliferated, science fiction film theory and criticism has also become more specialized. Some texts consider the history of the genre; some undertake particular thematic considerations (such as a particular author or a particular trope); some utilize and develop a particular ideological or theoretical framework (such as feminism or Marxism); and some analyze significant films within the genre. As the number of science fiction films continues to grow each year, the number of analyses of those films and the number of approaches to those films also increase.

Although encyclopedias of film can be extremely useful, they can also vary greatly in scope and focus. Some encyclopedias attempt a comprehensive overview of the genre ( Henderson 2001 , Maxford 1997 , Young 2000 ), some offer an examination of only significant or canonical films ( Costello 2004 , Scalzi 2005 , Scarratt 2008 ), and others provide encyclopedic looks at particular topics within the genre ( Rovin 1995 ). Finally, pParticularly after the introduction of the videocassette, the DVD, and the Internet, some encyclopedias detail the availability of films ( Schwartz 1997 ).

Costello, John. Science Fiction Films . New York: Pocket Essentials, 2004.

A short volume (96 pages) that describes blockbusters, international films, and cult classics.

Henderson, C. J. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Movies: From 1897 to the Present . New York: Facts on File, 2001.

An alphabetical catalog of approximately 1,300 science fiction films. Includes studio and personnel information and plot summaries. It also notes the availability of the films on DVD or other media. Also includes the author’s opinions on the worth and watchability of each film.

Maxford, Howard. The A-Z of Science Fiction and Fantasy Films . London: B. T. Batsford, 1997.

An alphabetical catalog of science fiction films, actors, directors, and studios.

Rovin, Jeff. Aliens, Robots, and Spaceships . New York: Facts on File, 1995.

Descriptions of all manner of devices (spaceships, robots, computers, and aliens) that have appeared in science fiction film and television.

Scalzi, John. The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies . London: Rough Guides, 2005.

From the science fiction novelist Scalzi, this collection offers a history of science fiction film, descriptions of fifty “canonical” science fiction films, and then several short sections on “Icons,” “Crossovers,” “Science,” “Locations,” and “Global” science fiction film.

Scarratt, Elaine. Science Fiction Film: A Teacher’s Guide . New York: Auteur, 2008.

Provides a history of science fiction film, a primer on media studies, and an analysis of science fiction film within the broader film context. It also offers discussions of several iconic films, and a section on teaching students to create and market science fiction film.

Schwartz, Carol A. Videohound’s Sci-Fi Experience: Your Quantum Guide to the Video Universe . Detroit: Visible Ink, 1997.

A guide to the science fiction films available on videotape. Now dated in terms of available films, but certainly of interest to the historian.

Young, R. G. The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film: Ali Baba to Zombies . New York: Applause, 2000.

An alphabetical catalog of nearly nine thousand films. Includes information on writers, directors, and other studio personnel. Also includes plot summaries.

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Writing Essay about Science Fiction Movie

Are you a fan of science fiction movies? And can you write an essay about your favourite movie? Well, essay writing, especially about films, is not as easy as  write my paper with WritingAPaper writers  so you need to be patient if you’ve decided to do it all by yourself. However, there are ways you can follow to produce an interesting essay about a movie. The science-fiction movie genre uses imaginary forms or futuristic elements, time travel, among others to create fantasy; for example, in the Hunger Games series. With the recent technological advancement and the use of high-quality computer graphics, the film's genre has been on the rise in recent decades. There is a more extensive selection of science fiction movies based on different themes from which you can choose.

Find a great movie

 When you want to write an exciting essay, you need to choose a good topic too. The ability to generate a good essay topic is essential, especially when instructors recommend you to select your topic of interest; therefore, you need to choose a great movie in this case. But this may not be an easy task for some students; there are some few tips you require before selecting your exciting science fiction movie. First, you need to brainstorm for movie themes, characters, and settings; think of the latest movies that contain exciting themes such as adventure, and which receive higher ratings from viewers. Trending science fiction films will naturally produce content that is interesting to your audience. Second, get to understand the general background information or plot of the selected movie; details on time, location, and every aspect in which the story takes place may help you develop an interest in writing. Third, you can now focus on the selected film that is exciting to you and start to generate a list of practical issues from the movie. Students who face challenges in choosing interesting movies to write about, usually buy essay online at very affordable price to help them in writing their assignments.

Read essay samples

  Before starting to research or write, you must think of what the professor expects to see in your essay. Many instructors usually go through previous articles before setting an assignment. There are various papers about the movie industry in which you can find essential information for your essay. Search for essay samples from multiple online sources such as journal websites, writing services, or any other relevant sources. You can also check for articles on the same movie, which may be highly informative to help you out. The essay samples can give you an insight into the outline or structure your essay should take. Reading essay samples may help you to improve your professional writing skills.

Find interesting facts about the movie

  After choosing your subject movie, you need to find adequate information to help you in the discussion. There are useful tips to help you conduct thorough research about any chosen film. First, you can do a preliminary search for information to ascertain if there is good content that can support and set the context of your science fiction ("Basic Steps", n.d.). It is advisable to search for the movie title from reference collections or online resources using web browsers. Science fiction movies usually contain a lot of ideas; therefore, you should not worry about getting help; you only need to be relevant and careful about the resources you want. Second, when you know there is enough information, you need to find the materials from various sources available such as internet/online resources. Remember, information about the characters and the plot is very crucial to discuss your movie effectively. Sometimes, fantasy movies analyses writings or publications like novels which contain the flow of events in the film. Once you find the resources, evaluate them to keep the materials that can provide you credible and reliable information. Third, it is crucial when researching to make notes; go through the resources and note the key events in the film that will be useful in your assignment. Make short notes in a notebook and ensure to indicate the source(s) on every point you note to help you simply reference. Lastly, watch the movie itself; this is the most useful source of the information you want to present in your essay. Ensure to watch the film you selected several times.

Plan essay structure

  Your objective in writing is to discuss your arguments effectively and ensure ideas flow accordingly. Essays may vary in content depending on the topics, but all follow a standard writing structure. Your information may not reach well the intended audience if you do not follow a familiar outline. The formal format of writing essays contains four main components: the first paragraph is an introduction, body paragraphs, a clear conclusion, and a list of cited sources or references. Writers from Edu Jungles says that essay structure is the first impression to command the attention of your audience. Your assignment must not look like a form of new invention in the writing industry. When planning to structure your essay, it is advisable to draft an outline with crucial sentences of vital information from the movie, each forming a body paragraph.

Start writing

Writing is the core business in every assignment after you collect data and plan your essay structure. When you want to write the essay, begin by organizing the information from your movie research and sample essays. Prepare your first draft by getting your ideas on the writing material; the first draft is a rough copy of your article. The first draft will help you organize your arguments and determine the format of your final essay. After putting your ideas in the first draft, you can revise it as many times as possible, where you will come up with a final product to submit to your professor.

Proofread three times

  The ultimate goal in essay writing is to produce an article that is simple to read and contains credible information without common errors. Remember, a lot of mistakes in your essay may lead to unsatisfactory grading, which is naturally something you do not want. After presenting your best film arguments, you should check if your article is clean and free of errors for at least three times. You can read through your assignment to check for common mistakes and possibly unnecessary wording. Highlight and correct errors such as sentence structures, punctuation, word varieties, spelling errors, among others. You can pay for essay writing at online writing services for professional writers to do your assignment.  Another important thing you can do is sending the file to your learned and honest friends who can assist you in proofreading; you can compare your proofread copy with their proofread work to make a final copy of the assignment. Sometimes, it is preferable to use online proofreading tools like spellcheckers to help you highlight common mistakes in a more straightforward manner. By proofreading, you make your arguments in the body paragraphs easy to understand and to flow, which will be interesting to your professor.

How do you write an assignment about an exciting movie?

Well, writing an essay about fantasy films can be a daunting experience for most students , especially those who are not fans of getting into cinema halls. It may be a difficult task when your instructor recommends you choose a movie of your interest. However, there are ways to help you out, such as the ones listed above. But most importantly, remember to follow the standard essay structure and proofread your work before turning in to your professor. Hopefully, you'll find a great movie for your essay.

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The Essentials of Writing a Science Fiction Film Review for College Students

By Film Threat Staff | September 14, 2023

Science fiction is a genre that transcends boundaries, exploring the realms of the future, space, and technology. It challenges our perceptions of reality and invites us to imagine different worlds and possibilities. As college students, writing film reviews not only allows us to appreciate this fascinating genre but also hones our analytical and critical thinking skills.

However, writing such reviews or essays can sometimes be challenging due to various factors like time constraints, balancing multiple assignments, or finding the right words to articulate our thoughts. In such scenarios, some students might opt to pay for essays online . There are numerous services available where students can hire professional writers to craft their essays, ensuring quality content delivered within deadlines.

Understanding the Science Fiction Genre

Science fiction is a broad and diverse genre that often incorporates speculative, futuristic, and fantastical elements. It explores themes such as advanced technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, and extraterrestrial life.

In science fiction films, these themes are often used to comment on current societal issues or speculate about the future of humanity. For example, films like “Blade Runner” explore questions of artificial intelligence and what it means to be human, while “Interstellar” delves into space exploration and its potential consequences.

Notable sci-fi films like “Star Wars,” “The Matrix,” and “2001: A Space Odyssey” have had a significant impact on popular culture and the film industry. They’ve pushed the boundaries of visual effects, storytelling, and thematic exploration, setting the bar high for future films in the genre.

The Role of a Film Review

A film review serves several purposes. It provides an analysis and evaluation of a film, discussing its strengths and weaknesses. It offers potential viewers an informed opinion about whether they might enjoy the film or find it worthwhile.

Unlike a film summary, which simply recounts the plot, a film review delves deeper. It examines various aspects of the film, including the plot structure, character development, cinematography, and thematic content. It also often includes the reviewer’s reaction to the film and their interpretation of its meaning.

Preparing to Write a Science Fiction Film Review

When preparing to write a science fiction film review, the first step is to select a film. Choose one that interests you and that you feel you can analyze in depth.

Next, research the film. Try to understand the director’s vision and intent behind the film. Look up details about the film’s production, such as how certain special effects were achieved or how the film was received by critics and audiences.

This process is akin to seeking custom writing help , where a writer delves deep into a subject to provide a comprehensive and insightful piece. In both instances, thorough research and an understanding of the subject are crucial for producing a high-quality result. Just as custom writing help can assist in creating a compelling essay or report, your research will aid in crafting a well-informed and engaging film review.

Finally, watch the film actively. This means paying attention to more than just the main plot. Take note of the film’s visual style, how scenes are shot, the performances of the actors, and any recurring themes or symbols. These notes will be invaluable when you start writing your review.

Components of a Science Fiction Film Review

A comprehensive science fiction film review includes several key components.

Start with an introduction that provides a brief synopsis of the film, and mentions the director’s name, and the release date. This sets the stage for the reader and gives them basic information about the film.

Next, analyze the plot. Discuss the story arc, how the narrative builds to a climax, and how it resolves. This examination should go beyond mere description and delve into how effectively the plot is constructed and conveyed.

Character analysis is another crucial aspect. Discuss the portrayal of characters, their development throughout the film, and how they contribute to the overall story.

In the realm of science fiction, visual effects, and technological aspects play a significant role. Analyze these elements and discuss their effectiveness and their contribution to the world-building in the film.

Identify the themes and messages of the film. What does the film convey about society, humanity, or our future? How are these themes expressed and explored?

Finally, share your personal opinion and rating. Was the film engaging? Did it succeed in its goals? Your subjective perspective adds a unique touch to the review.

Writing the Review

When writing the review, structure is key. Begin with an introduction that captures the reader’s interest, followed by the body where you delve into your analysis, and conclude with a summary of your thoughts and your rating of the film.

Maintain a balance between fact and opinion. While your perspective is important, grounding your points in the film’s content is crucial for a credible review.

Use persuasive language to convey your viewpoints. Your goal is not only to inform but also to persuade the reader of your perspective.

However, if you find yourself overwhelmed with multiple assignments or struggling to articulate your thoughts effectively, you might consider the option to pay someone to do an assignment . Just like hiring a tutor, this can provide you with expert assistance and ensure that your review is well-structured and insightful.

Reviewing Your Work

Once your review is written, the work isn’t over. Proofreading and editing are crucial steps to ensure your writing is clear, concise, and free from errors.

Don’t underestimate the value of feedback. Have your peers or mentors review your work. They can provide valuable insights and point out any areas that might need improvement. This feedback can be instrumental in refining your review and developing your writing skills.

Writing a science fiction film review is an enriching experience that not only deepens your understanding of the genre but also enhances your writing skills. As you navigate through this journey, remember that your reviews can inspire others to explore this exciting genre. Happy reviewing!

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Essay 1: What is Science Fiction?

Rising above “genre fiction”.

To name and define Science-Fiction is an act of rebellion against those who seek to diminish its worth. These are the readers whom Ursula LeGuin accuses of often calling the genre “escapist” while being privately frightened of its literary strength and revealing of haunting truths. Beyond aesthetics, beyond means, the essence of Sci-Fi as LeGuin states is a descriptive genre that distillates truths of the present and then expands upon them. These realities are magnified to reveal their innate truths. Science is simply the means by which to expose these realities. Science works for these purposes because it is at the essence of the modern world and, in some respects, functions as a modern pseudo-deity. While one could argue that today many talk away science, a generous soul with a teaspoon of mercy may respond that many of those who today reject the truths of science do so […]

What do we call SF?

I actually haven’t read much Science-Fiction, or at least not for a while. My early culture in this genre comes exclusively from my father, who wasn’t much a reader. To me, S-F was first and foremost video games, movies, and comics. And I think it’s safe to claim that 19 th century literary works and games like StarCraft II don’t share a common purpose or structure and barely share an aesthetic guideline. So then, how could we justify this common label of “Science-Fiction”?

Well, first thing that comes to mind: they all introduce the reader to one or more products of a fictitious science, or fictitious products of an existing science, and then it kind of extrapolates on that. I had previously encountered the concept of novum presented by Darko Suvin, and it seems really relevant to me. Most science-fiction works elaborate on some kind of premisse: “let’s say […]

Sci-Fi is a worldview and methodology

I believe that, as any Genre, the spectrum of Sci-Fi is not self-defined. It is not the authors’ intention to create “Sci-Fi films/novels” and thus get such a category, but that some works are shaped and referred to as “Sci-Fi” by cultural forces and contexts. Therefore, from a genre perspective, “science fiction” is flux. At its beginning, Sci-Fi may be a kind of wonder related to geographical discoveries and the unfolding of human history. It is an imagination of folded space and unknown time, thus expanding them. For example, The War of the Worlds can be seen as a kind of geographical fiction with a fixed narrative method, similar to nautical novels such as The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym and the stranded genre such as Robinson Crusoe . Such stories always create extreme environments, place the protagonist in a dangerous situation that he has no choice but to face, rely […]

What is science fiction?

Science fiction is a genre of fictional works that depict such fantasy content about science as future technology, time or space travel, parallel universes, artificial intelligence, etc. According to Isaac Asimov, science fiction is like a social experiment, depicting fictional societies. He sees science as the great and unifying principle of the earth, while using science fiction as a special medium to popularize scientific knowledge while prompting people to consider the connection between human beings and various aspects of technology and history, and to consider the harmonious development of human beings and society as a whole.

In my opinion, I agree that science fiction is also a fictional genre. Its narrative is driven by events, technologies or societies that are impossible, unreal, or take place in the future, in the past or in a secondarily created world. The genre exhibits different characteristics depending on the reality, possibility, probability and […]

What is Science Fiction?

Science Fiction is rooted in material and historical actualities, which differentiates it from Fantasy or Myth. It looks at a world that we have defined as normal and reorders it. Many of the material players are present, satisfying the need to feel recognizable, but details have been altered pushing the narrative into a zone that is unfamiliar. As Suvin states, Science Fiction is broadly defined by “the presence and interaction of estrangement and cognition”.

Science Fiction employs a form of synthetic thinking with the goal of illustrating a new reality. The abnormality of this new world is only comprehensible in its contrast to the readers empirical reality.  In this way, Science Fiction simultaneously relies on and challenges the existing social framework of society. Science Fiction is neither utopian nor dystopian but rather an alternate space that activates qualities from both worlds, as a heuristic method to condition the reader to consider […]

Science Fiction, The Art of Not Exploring the Moon

The beginning quote by Louis Althusser in the essay, “Science Fiction and Critical Theory,” by Carl Freedman, in which it says, “To change the world is not to explore the moon…”. This is not the full quote, nor the full meaning, but it did strike me. The point of changing the earth is not to explore the moon, but maybe exploring the moon can help us change the world. To me, that is Science Fiction, the point of Science Fiction is not to simply explore a universe that is being taken over, of a world that is heavily impacted by the climate crisis, Robot control, or a Space Mission, it is about using said themes to hopefully help change the world that we exist in.

I read Science Fiction because it reminds me of the ways our World could go, the ways technology could adapt, the way another life […]

Science Fiction – A safe zone for criticism

Science Fiction is about the concerns for “here”, it speculates about what the future will be like by exaggerating the existing conflicts at present. There are five elements for action cycle in the stage performance directing theory- Inciting incidents, Crisis, Catastrophe, Climax and Denouement. Science Fiction is like revealing the catastrophe and climax resulting from these conflicts.

Science Fiction is a safe zone for all kinds of criticism towards the society since it uses metaphor to escape from being accused of pointing at the reality. It’s like using the concept of multiverse and build the world based on the elements we have right now and choose a controversial path to go to the extreme. When all the topics are merged together it only feels like an itch, but when the topic is extracted apart and put under the spotlight it will be strong enough to blow our minds. It is about performing […]

What Is Science Fiction?

Let ’s start at the beginning. I’m a magician. I’ve been a magician since I was twelve years old.  So Arthur C. Clarke’s quote has framed my life, my career, and my view of the world.  “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” said Clark. And certainly, we’re living in a time when there’s magic all around us.

I began reading Science Fiction as young boy, absorbed by the power of speculative fiction. And, to be honest, the adventure of space travel and the future. I embraced the idea that Science Fiction has been called the literature of Ideas (Gilks et al.), and it is most certainly a very new genre of literature […]

Science Fiction (Sci-Fi) is the genre that discusses and displays stories in alternate realities by presenting the author’s vision of answers to three questions:

1) What if? 2) What could happen? 3) Why and how? (optional)

First, by considering and answering the question of “what if,” the author provides the setting that differs from the daily reality to innovate or change one or multiple ordinary storytelling elements as time (when), place (where), species or characters (who and whom), and events (what) via techniques like defamiliarization and displacement. For example, tons of Sci-Fi works involve changing the setting of time, while Xeno works innovate new species, and these two also can happen simultaneously in one piece. Note that not all Sci-Fi works are about the future: Gravity’s Rainbow (1973) sets at the end of WWII, Counterpart (2017) mixes the present and the 1970s, and […]

what is science fiction: a reflection

Science fiction is a genre that considers futuristic expressions of utopia and disaster. It is an art form that stretches and tests the limits of what we hold true in the realms of time and space and is deeply reflective of the state of the world at present. Science fiction differs from mythology as it is focused on the future rather than the past/ and or mysticism. Science fiction’s titillating nature in marrying catastrophe with beauty is, in some ways, its jarring reflection of the present. Science fiction can consider technology, climate crisis, or biological warfare as a site in which the anxieties of the future can be played out. The science fiction genre is deeply rooted in the worldbuilding process, as it attempts to structure society and the physical world anew. Be it across different dimensions or […]

What is Science Fiction? 👽

I’ve got to be honest, my views on science fiction are very split. On the one hand, I find that science fiction has a propensity for being the home-genre of the type of authors who like to write unnecessarily complex pieces of absolutely mindless, inaccessible, boring bullshit. Such pieces tend to be full of weird names like Ekevinium or Pastrami-genesis69. On the other hand, some forms of science fiction are insanely beautiful, thought provoking works. Personally, I like Ursula K. Le Guin’s description of science fiction as being descriptive instead of predictive. Reading past works of science fiction allows today’s readers to glean a good sense of what the author’s present looked like. We are able to ascertain a sharper understanding of what historic people’s general fears of the future […]

What is Science-fiction?

On the one hand, science-fiction is an exaggerated portrayal of the present from the author’s point of view. Seeing how humans- our lifestyles, and technologies do nothing but harm to the world, we know and are afraid of our own future. Science-fiction is an attempt to warn, create fear, and console oneself that at least a handful of humans will survive and thrive in the worst case scenario, and that humanity will not perish. Science-fiction is something that changes according to its times. A century ago, in The Wars of the Worlds, we see that humans weren’t capable of matching up to the alien invaders on their own. But a work where humans are incompetent of defending themselves would not sell in today’s time. I believe, when it comes to contemporary science-fiction works, we give ourselves too much credit in terms of technology, morals and ethics. Whether it’s a good […]

Science Fiction’s Metaphor

Science Fiction’s Metaphor

     Ursula K. Le Guin’s definitions for science fiction are interesting and compelling. She mentions that science fiction is a “metaphor […] drawn from certain great dominants of our contemporary life—science, all the sciences, and technology, and the relativistic and the historical outlook”.  In this sense, it’s like any other form of fiction, yet, at the same time, it conveys something new. Science fiction, as its name specifies, needs a scientific fact. In the end, we can take this fact to an incredible context, but it is still science. In other words, it’s something we can grasp from our normal understanding of science, an extension of what we’ve discovered to this day.

     I define science fiction as a disguise. Science Fiction is a tool to disguise reality and question ourselves.  Just like a metaphor, it hides something and pretends it is something else. […]

Who is Dionysios: A Metaphor and The New Birth of Tragedy

Friedrich Nietzsche used to call a balance between Apollonian and Dionysiosian culture in his early work The Birth of Tragedy , which was a representative work of his early life. If our traditional literature including poems and prose should be called an Apollonian culture, then Science Fiction should be the Dionysiosian side. In The left hand of darkness , Ursula Le Guin wrote that “Apollo blinds those who press too close in worship. Don’t look straight at the sun.” Based on that, Science Fiction is a balance of power as a Dionysionian power — insane, madness, irrelated to the true world, messy imagination of an inexisted world. 

But wait, that is not all. Someone has mentioned the Sun in some other way — that Sun will no longer be represented by Apollo — instead, that is the Sun which people are […]

Science fiction presents contemporary concerns through surrealist and fantastical metaphors. Stories of aliens and warfare, of technology and advancement, of utopia and fallibility hardly describe visions of pure fantasy. Instead, these plots reconcile existing strife, or at the very least, anticipate the pains that lay in the future if current trajectories are left unencumbered.

The original version of H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds manifests an alien invasion at the heart of the British Empire. Superficially, the tale was not out of the ordinary. Popular literature of the day envisioned the foreign powers attacking European homelands, and public perceptions swayed with these narratives. Fears of coming war were well-founded, and in many ways, the tripods’ attacks on southern England forecast the gruesomeness of the next century.

Yet, science fiction’s grandeur also provides cover, enabling authors to subtly consider ideas that are even less palatable to the masses than global warfare. […]

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Analysis of The Elements of a Successful Sci-fi Film in Avatar

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21 Architecture

Nic Clear is Head of the Department of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Greenwich, where he also teaches a postgraduate design unit that specializes in the use of film and animation in the generation, development, and representation of speculative architectural spaces.

• Published: 02 October 2014
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The usual practice when discussing science fiction and architecture is to look at the architecture “in” science fiction, particularly in science fiction films. This chapter starts by mapping out a definition of science fiction with respect to Darko Suvin’s “novum” and Adam Roberts’s “technology fiction,” arguing that some of the most significant utopian or speculative architectures, from early-twentieth-century avant-gardes, International Style modernism, postwar pop architecture to more recent cyberarchitectures, should be considered as full blown works of science fiction. The chapter also develops the idea that in architecture and science fiction, it is “representations” of technology that both tend to deal with, and concludes that architecture, by actively engaging with the speculative possibilities of science fiction, could find a critical alternative to the banalities of late-capitalist corporate architecture.

When discussing science fiction’s relationship with architecture, the usual practice is to look at the architecture “in” science fiction—in particular, the architecture in SF films (see Kuhn 75–143 ) since the spaces of literary SF present obvious difficulties as they have to be imagined. In this essay, that relationship will be reversed: I will instead discuss science fiction “in” architecture, mapping out a number of architectural movements and projects that can be viewed explicitly as science fiction. It is not my contention that the concept of science fiction should be applied to every aspect of architectural production; however, the domination of the architectural profession by conservative, even reactionary views of the built environment as simply an extension of late capitalism needs to be critiqued, and the possibilities afforded by an engagement with the discourse of science fiction are therefore much needed.

But which science fiction? The definition used here to discuss science-fictional architecture takes as a central idea Darko Suvin’s conception of the “novum.” Suvin contends that science fiction is a “literature of cognitive estrangement” (372) expressing an “exclusive interest in a strange newness, a novum” (373) that distinguishes the represented world of a text as “an alternative to the author’s empirical environment” (375). The concept of the “novum” will be a cornerstone of my assessment of those architectural projects best described as science fiction. Following China Miéville, however, I reject Suvin’s sharp distinction between science fiction and fantasy, as well as any rigid conceptions of “hard” vs. “soft” SF. An insistence that the science has to hold up, which as Miéville points out it rarely does, is for this chapter of little importance. What is of more importance is whether it can be used in a creative and useful way.

Of equal relevance is Adam Roberts’s conception that science fiction should more correctly be called “technology fiction” in that technological instrumentalities “enframe” the world in a way that abstract science does not (see Roberts 11 ). Roberts’s argument suggests that it is technology rather than “science” that is the motive force of science fiction, something that is also true for much of the architecture developed from the late nineteenth century onward. Or, to put it more accurately, it is representations of technology that both SF and architecture tend to deal with, and this too will be one of the main themes developed throughout my chapter. My focus will be on the ways in which those representations are used to critically define an imagined future. My main intention is to make an explicit connection between the genre of science fiction, as a system that uses conceptions of novelty and alterity, and examples of technologically “speculative” architectures that are largely un-built, even unbuildable. Technical considerations alone do not define and constrain the novum: it can also include the social and political dimensions of a project an architect is attempting to imagine.

In Archaeologies of the Future , Fredric Jameson, following Suvin, argues that utopian writing is a subset of SF (xiv). Given that architectural theory has had such a close affinity with utopian ideas, it seems strange that the claim of utopian architecture as science fiction has not been made more explicitly before. One of the issues that may have contributed to this confusion is the terminology that surrounds many of these projects. Within architectural discourse, the terms “speculative,” “utopian,” and “visionary” are often seen as interchangeable, and they are frequently used within the same context and applied to the same projects (see Spiller, Visionary Architecture ). Throughout this chapter, the term “speculative” is preferred for a number of reasons. First, it emphasizes projects that have not been realized, whereas many utopian blueprints have been attempted, if not actually “realized.” (As architectural historian Manfredo Tafuri argues, utopian transformations cannot be achieved through architectural means alone, requiring wider social and political changes.) Second, not all speculative projects are utopian, in the same way that not all science fiction is utopian, even if the utopian is always a part of science fiction. Third, the term “speculative” has interesting connotations within SF itself, since “speculative fiction” is often used as an alternative point of reference by ambitious “literary” SF writers who wish to distance themselves from the genre mainstream—an ironic fact given that the term was coined by Golden Age legend Robert A. Heinlein.

Unlike literary science fiction, there are few nineteenth-century figures, such as Mary Shelley, H. G. Wells, or Jules Verne, who might be seen as founding figures for a technologically speculative architecture. Throughout the nineteenth century, architectural technology made some dramatic shifts: these advances enabled buildings to be taller, with longer spans and more open facades, and enabled people and materials to travel longer distances more quickly. The introduction of these new technologies, combined with the development of other advances in sciences as diverse as physiology and psychology, even transformed, as Jonathan Crary has argued, the way the world was perceived and represented. Given the advance of industrialization and the social and political possibilities it offered, and combined with the onset of more technologically advanced construction techniques, it still took some time before a truly futuristic vision of architecture became possible, and even then the deployment of those ideas lay within the practical realm rather than the speculative. Buildings such as Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace, designed for the Great London Exhibition of 1851, employed advanced techniques in prefabrication and was a visual tour de force, representing a new form of global consumption and communication. All Paxton essentially did, however, was to scale up existing construction technologies (see Piggott 6–8 ).

It was not until the emergence of the architectural avant-gardes at the beginning of the twentieth century that the conditions to create technologically inspired speculative architectures arose, and it is significant that two of the most advanced uses of speculative architecture came from countries whose economies were still essentially agrarian: Italy and Russia. Perhaps it was the absence of those new technologies that created the most potent conditions for the architectural experimentation that took place. Of all the early-twentieth-century avant-gardes, the Italian Futurists were perhaps the most extreme expression of a rejection of older forms and values and an almost ecstatic embrace of the new. Founded by the poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti with the publication of “The Futurist Manifesto” in 1909, the movement became infamous for its proselytizing of speed, dynamism, and new technologies, including the technologies of war.

The main expression of Futurist architecture was La Città Nuova (The New City) designed by Antonio Sant’Elia and largely developed as a series of small, exquisite perspective drawings that were exhibited as part of the Futurist Architectural Exhibition, Nuove Tendenze, in Milan in 1914. The technological ambition, combined with the scale and social vision, of La Città Nuova clearly marks it as a science fiction project: the New City envisioned by Sant’Elia completely erases existing structures and replaces them with a series of massive buildings that house both industrial works and the population. This population was expected to be mobile and dynamic, and the buildings deployed a scale and aesthetic that might have been more appropriate for civil engineering projects. In “Futurist Architecture,” originally written by Sant’Elia alone and then transformed by Marinetti (largely by inserting the word “Futurism” wherever he could), the authors pronounce:

We must invent and rebuild the Futurist city: it must be like an immense, tumultuous, lively, noble work site, dynamic in all its parts; and the Futurist house must be like an enormous machine. The lifts must not hide away like lonely worms in the stairwells; the stairs become useless, must be done away with, and the lifts must climb like serpents of iron and glass up the housefronts. (36)

Sant’Elia was, like many other pioneers of Futurism, killed in World War I, and while his influence can be seen directly in a few architectural projects, his significance lies in how broadly his ideas were subsumed into the mainstream of European modernism.

Drawing for Antonio Sant’Elia’s exhibit La Città Nuova (1914).

A Soviet offshoot of Futurism, Kazimir Malevich’s Suprematism, developed an architectural language that combined abstract expressive forms, the tectonics of industrial construction, and an agitprop sensibility of social transformation. Working under the collective title of Constructivism, this group of designers attempted to create an architecture that would fuse radical politics with radical aesthetics via the use of advanced technology. One of the major projects from this period was Vladimir Tatlin’s plan for a monument for the Third International (1919–20), often referred to as “Tatlin’s Tower.” This tower, designed as the headquarters of the Comintern, was to be a 400-meter-high, double-helical steel structure; inside were four rotating substructures: a cube, a pyramid, a cylinder, and a hemisphere, each of which would house a particular department and rotate at a different speed. The plans also contained a radio station and a projection facility that could project messages onto passing clouds. Given the available technology in Russia at the time (or indeed anywhere), the tower was a work of pure science fiction: if built, it would have been a third higher than the Eiffel Tower. Moreover, given the scale of the design proposed by Tatlin, it is unlikely that the substructures could have been supported, let alone rotated. However, the project was always more a symbol than an actual proposal, a clear articulation of a future in which Soviet Socialism would make the creation of such structures possible (see Lynton). So confident in Russia’s technological destiny was Tatlin that he was depicted in Dadaist Raoul Haussman’s collage “Tatlin at Home” (1920) as half man, half machine.

If Tatlin’s Tower was science fiction because it required resources and technologies that did not yet exist, the works of artist and architect Lazar Markovich Lissitzky (a.k.a. El Lissitzky) can be seen as SF because he was attempting to describe a type of space that didn’t yet exist—through the construction of a series of drawings and paintings that he called “Proun.” Proun developed ideas from Malevich’s Suprematism as well as from Futurism and Cubism; they are not simply drawings for architectural designs but combine different techniques and projections to map out a new spatial and tectonic language appropriate for the new social order. Proun, principally through the use of axonometric projection (a kind of 3D planar rotation), created spaces that were “atopical and polymorphous” ( Bois 57 )—literally, “out of place” and “multiple.” Lissitzky’s ambitious plans were never realized, though he did design displays for the U.S.S.R.’s pavilions at international exhibitions, including the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City.

“Proun” painting by El Lissitzky (early 1920s).

Perhaps the most explicit synthesis of Constructivist programs to operate within the realms of science fiction were the speculative proposals designed by Iakov Chernikhov. In his 1933 book 101 Architectural Fantasies , Chernikhov explicitly called for an architecture that aspires to think the unthinkable: “Architectural fantasies show us new compositional processes, new modes of depicting; they nurture a feeling for form and colour; they are a training ground for the imagination; they excite creative impulses; they draw out further new creativity and ideas; they help find solutions for new architectural intentions” (62). The fantasies themselves constitute an imaginative taxonomy of form and representation, ranging from highly abstract plays on light, color, and even musical composition to proposals for new towns and factories (see Chibireva). Chernikhov later produced industrial miniatures that developed the fantasies as hard black-and-white illustrations looking almost like woodcuts, along with a series of industrial tales that were never published in his lifetime. A highly respected teacher, Chernikhov’s graphic works remain deeply influential on architectural avant-gardes.

Many other theoretical works produced by other Constructivist architects can be seen as science fiction: the Vesnin Brothers’ Palace of Labor (1922), Ivan Leonidov’s Lenin Institute (1927), Mosei Ginsburg’s Palace of the Soviets (1934), all show an approach to technology that was well beyond the capabilities of Russia at the time. By 1934 the dreams of the Revolution and the progressive ideals of Constructivism were being suppressed by the reactionary nightmares of Stalinism, and Russian architecture took a major step backward into monumental neoclassicism. Yet the legacy of the Russian avant-garde has been picked up by numerous architects both formally and politically and is still of major importance today.

At the same time that the Futurists and Constructivists were developing the idea that the city needed to be designed and (re)organized along industrial and technological principles, French architect Tony Garnier articulated a similar proposal with his Une Cité Industrielle (An Industrial City) in 1917. Une Cité Industrielle was a call for an industrialized form of socialist town planning where there were no churches or police force. The Cité itself was rigorously engineered, structured according to programmatic zoning, and with the construction of all the components meticulously mapped out; Garnier’s drawings show blast furnaces represented with the same exquisite detail as the civic center. The systematic application of an advanced use of materials and technology integrated into a proposal for a new social and political organization—what Anthony Vidler calls Garnier’s “social utopianism” (271)—is what makes Une Cité Industrielle a work of science fiction.

While the Cité was never built, Garnier’s ideas were extremely influential in developing theories of urbanism during the early twentieth century, especially those of Swiss architect Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier. While often derided as emblematic of the airy hubris of modern town planning, Le Corbusier’s architecture, especially in its earliest stages, is much more radical than its detractors are usually willing to credit. Completely rejecting the historic form of the city, Le Corbusier fervently believed that new technologies would be key to creating a modern urbanism, free from the ills of traditional cramped and overcrowded urban centers. With his radical town planning proposals, the Ville Contemporaine (The Contemporary City, 1922), the Plan Voisin (1925), and the Ville Radieuse (The Radiant City, 1931), Le Corbusier set out an agenda for wholesale transformation, formally through the development of innovative building techniques, spatially through the application of a new urban syntax, and politically—in the Ville Radieuse at least—through the imposition of an egalitarian technocracy. His new, abstract, highly mechanized conception of the city constitutes a science fiction, which he unsuccessfully attempted to apply to various real situations throughout the 1930s. Le Corbusier’s urban visions have often been seen as prototypes for many twentieth-century dystopias, literary and filmic (see Hayward), with critics particularly focusing on his supposed hyperrationalism—for example, citing his dictum that the house should merely be seen as a “House Machine” ( Le Corbusier 227 ). But a close inspection of what he designed, rather than what he said about his designs, reveals a much more sensuous and playful architecture. His large-scale housing blocks, the “Unites,” are far from the sterile, repetitive, Brutalist nightmares that the term “Corbusianism” stereotypically conjures up.

In 1951 the nationwide Festival of Britain promoted the desire for a futuristic United Kingdom based around science and technology and breaking away from the urgent need for reconstruction and the mundanities of rationing and postwar austerity. It also marked the 100th anniversary of the 1851 Great Exhibition at which the Crystal Palace had debuted. The main exhibition venue, on London’s South Bank, presented postwar Britain as forward-thinking and technologically sophisticated. Its centerpiece was the Dome of Discovery, a structure that resembled a flying saucer, which at the time of its construction was the largest dome in the world. Adding to the skyline was the Skylon Tower, a cigar-shaped, steel “tensegrity” structure—a floating design of cables and structural masses. The Festival was hugely successful, with the main site attracting nearly 8.5 million visitors, though it could be argued that its futuristic stylings were a glossy attempt to conceal a Britain very much in decline (see Forty).

Another major influence on the “futuristic” sensibilities of postwar Britain was the 1956 exhibition held at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London called “This Is Tomorrow.” A multidisciplinary show featuring the work of 12 artistic teams, it was to prove a seminal influence on the burgeoning culture of Pop Art. Its most iconic image is a delirious collage from Richard Hamilton entitled “Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing?”—an image that, with its excerpts from houseware ads and its address to modish urbanites, does as much as any to set the tone for postwar consumerism. The event—and Hamilton’s collage in particular—mightily impressed an ambitious young British author named J. G. Ballard, who claimed that it was “a vote of confidence, in effect, in my choice of science fiction” ( Miracles 188 ). And indeed, Ballard’s mature work would grapple with many of the same themes: the consumerist appeal of stark, iconic, sexual imagery; the ambivalent repulsion with and fascination for hyperurban venues; the lurking fear that “the future is just going to be a vast, conforming suburb of the soul” (Ballard, “Interview” 8).

Riding the wave of queasy optimism unleashed by the “This Is Tomorrow” exhibit were a group of young architects who took the possibilities of technological innovation to new extremes and blurred the lines between science fiction and architecture in ways that had not been seen before (or since). Known collectively as the Archigram Group, they came to public attention with the publication of the first issue of their eponymous magazine in 1961 and their exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in 1963. Archigram were celebrants of new technology and the possibility that a new architecture would do away with the old, “boring” ways; their use of garish collages and Pop graphics created the promise of an architecture of pleasure and liberation, facilitated by consumerism. Archigram’s ideas were developed through a series of playful projects such as Peter Cook’s Plug-In City (1964) and Instant City (1968), Ron Herron’s Walking Cities (1964), and David Greene’s Rokplug and LogPlug (1969)—all of which (as their titles suggest) celebrated the mobility and transience of modern life, where we have all become technonomads. Herron’s Walking Cities, for example, imagined intelligent, mobile structures, while Cook’s Plug-In City, by contrast, imagined modular dwellings that could be removed from and inserted into any number of architecture frameworks. The inspiration of the American space missions was clearly evident in Greene’s Living Pod (1966) and Mike Webb’s Cushicle and Suitaloon (also 1966), the latter envisioning portable environments of membraneous shells, almost like waldoes. Within these projects, however, there was also the possibility of a darker, more hermetic aspect to modern technology, a technocratic claustrophobia.

Drawing for Ron Herron’s Walking Cities project (1964). Image courtesy of the Estate of Ron Herron.

One of the great influences on the development of Archigram’s generation was the engineer Richard Buckminster Fuller, best known for his Dymaxion projects and his adaptations of the geodesic dome. (Fuller’s own great SF project, “Dome over Manhattan,” was a floating structure projected to cover midtown from 64th to 22nd Streets.) The majority of Archigram’s projects are quite clearly within the science fiction genre; there is often little attempt to disguise their fantastical aspirations. They use science fiction as an attack on the banality of mainstream architecture, even modernist architecture, which they felt had become hidebound and normative, unable to respond to changing social conditions. The main critique of Archigram is that their work is narcissistic, lacks rigor, and is politically naïve, if there is even a politics present at all (see Hejduk); however, their influence, particularly as teachers in fine arts schools, cannot be underestimated, and their experimental exuberance should not be dismissed.

If Archigram saw the movement to a society of consumerism as benign, then the Italian design group Superstudio took the opposite view completely, resisting and opposing consumer culture. Led by Adolfo Natalini and Cristiano Toraldo di Francia, both committed Marxists, Superstudio spawned conceptual projects such as a “Continuous Urban Monument: An Architectural Model for Total Urbanization” (1969), which envisioned a single building that spanned the entire surface of the earth. Composed of interlocking grids, this hypertrophied global megalopolis—echoed in many contemporaneous New Wave SF texts—was an ironic comment on the banality of modern architecture. Displayed as a series of beautifully composed collages, the Continuous Urban Monument is a work of SF architecture at its purest, pitched in a dystopian vein. By contrast, Paolo Soleri’s vision of “arcologies”—immense, self-sustaining architectural ecologies designed as an alternative to wasteful suburban sprawl—is more utopian and futuristic, subtly critiqued in Robert Silverberg’s 1971 novel The World Inside , with its vision of vast, teeming “urbmons” (“urban monads”).

The Situationist International emerged in 1957 from a number of Marxist avant-garde groups. Led by Guy Debord, who had been a key member of the Letterist International, the Situationists were concerned with the transformation of everyday life and a total reimagining of the city. Situationist ideas regarding the city were first developed through the Letterist International’s theory of “Unitary Urbanism,” consisting principally of the concepts of “psychogeography” (the ludic, personally motivated mapping of urban landscapes) and the “derive” (a mode of subconscious wandering). The spirit of this attitude toward urbanism can be gleaned from a text written by Gilles Ivain (a.k.a. Ivan Chtchetglov), “Formulary For a New Urbanism” (1958) , which calls for a completely new spirit in architecture, with cities predicated on emotion and desire rather than function and utility. “Everyone will live in their own personal ‘cathedral,’” he writes. “There will be rooms more conducive to dreams than drugs, and houses where one cannot help but love. Others will be irresistibly alluring to travelers” (38).

The Dutch architect Constant Nieuwenhuys, who had also been a member of the Letterists, developed the most comprehensive proposal for a Situationist architecture with his “New Babylon” project. New Babylon went through various iterations, but there were a number of consistent themes and ideas. It was to be constructed on the principles of “homo ludens” rather than “homo faber”; the overall layout and construction would be determined by the inhabitants and in a constant state of flux; and the use of robotic systems would ensure freedom to roam the extended city structure, which expanded from a series of nodal points. Constant maintained that New Babylon was an unrealizable utopian dream impossible in capitalist consumer society, yet like any good work of science fiction, he saw it as way of critiquing existing social and political conditions. In Simon Sadler’s words, New Babylon’s “dynamic labyrinth” could only be conceived as “an ongoing project founded upon degrees of social freedom and creativity unimaginable in utilitarian society” (146–47).

Ironically, the generation of architects that followed Archigram and the Situationists, while adopting many of the visual elements of those movements’ playful architectures, replaced their flights of fancy with a more utilitarian approach. For this generation, speculation was of secondary importance to construction, the use of industrialized imagery to highlight the functional aspects of architecture within a “high-tech” aesthetic that expressed this functionalism stylistically. High-tech architecture is one of the first clear examples of a late-capitalist style, and its techniques echo Jameson’s famous anatomy of postmodern art. Its methods are historical pastiche, borrowing from nineteenth-century neoclassicism, paying lip service to the Futurists and Constructivists, mimicking 1950’s sci-fi and Meccano. It is totally consumerist and highly corporate. High-tech has had nothing truly interesting to say about the city; its sleek mechanical surfaces sit seamlessly within an urban landscape of banks and insurance buildings.

As British high-tech became the favored architecture of big business, its stylistic flourishes giving way to a slick corporatism, another generation of architects—many of them American—was preparing to take up the science-fictional mantle. Neil Denari’s early projects, such as the West Coast Gateway (1988) and the Tokyo Forum (1989), develop a mechanical language through a series of ultra-cool black-and-white images: the drawings look as if they were produced by a machine but are, in fact, hand-drawn, their smooth forms suggesting the surfaces of spacecraft and rocketships (at the very least new forms of hybrid car). His early perspectives eschew the traditional Cartesian point of view, rendered as if from a helicopter, complete with head-up display. Denari’s contemporaries in the Los Angeles–based partnership collectively known as Holt Hinshaw Pfau Jones used similar aesthetic devices and shared an equally mechanistic approach to architecture (see McCarter), as did the work of Bryan Cantley, whose company Formula wears its SF credentials like a badge of honor. The debt owed by these architects, whether consciously or not, to the work of SF illustrators such as Chris Foss and to the stylings of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982), especially the work of designer Syd Mead, cannot be overstated.

The pages of contemporary architectural magazines, websites, and blogs are filled with images of buildings created using complex double-curved geometries and composed of apparently seamless materials; they are always sustainable, “smart” buildings with programmable systems and interactive facades, seeming to promise that the future we had always dreamed of is already here. The skies are always blue, the streets are always clean, and the spaces are populated by photo-shopped models drinking cappuccinos. Much of this architecture has been developed using computational software that allows the generation of complex shapes, the justification for this methodology being that it allows for optimum structural solutions and a more efficient use of space. Moreover, when linked into computer-aided manufacturing techniques, these forms can be produced cost-effectively. Such “parametric” tools are held by digital evangelists such as Patrick Schumacher of Zaha Hadid Architects to be a completely new style of architecture and the “only” way forward.

We should not allow ourselves to be seduced by the SF look and techniques of these projects, however. The real technologies that drive this architecture are the technologies of global finance, management, and procurement. Jameson’s words have never seemed more apposite: “Architecture is . . . of all the arts the closest constitutively to the economic, with which, in the form of commissions and land values, it has a virtually unmediated relationship” (56). Yet despite founding one of the most megacorporate entities in the field, the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, Rem Koolhaas is one of the most articulate critics of the “new” architecture. In his essay “Junkspace,” which itself reads like a frenzied stream-of-consciousness SF story, Koolhaas creates a vivid indictment of a culture trapped by its own hubris, technological addiction, and vapidity. It might seem contradictory that one of the main practitioners of contemporary architecture should be so vociferous in his condemnation of the practices of the architectural mainstream, but Koolhaas knows three important things: clients don’t read architectural theory, the essay in its original form is almost unreadable anyway, and its aggressive pugnacity makes him seem to be even more of a genius. In contemporary architecture, there really is no such thing as bad publicity.

With the growth of the Internet since the mid-1990s and the development of virtual and augmented realities, the assumption that architecture and architectural spaces have to be physical has been questioned by a few architects on the periphery of the profession and in the academies. Mainstream architectural practice has not embraced these new technologies in any way other than the commissioning of business websites, and so the possibilities of virtual and augmented reality as spaces of architectural inquiry are still largely unexplored. Indeed, given the rise of practices that require spatial skills in creating new digital environments and designing games and films, web-design architecture should be well placed to grow, but to date its main achievements have been theoretical (see Carpo).

Neil Spiller’s two issues of Architectural Design Profile devoted to “Architects in Cyberspace” were among the first attempts to deal with the concept of the virtual in a mainstream architectural publication. They both featured a wide variety of contributions from architects, artists, cyberneticians, environmental psychologists, product designers, and philosophers, but unfortunately Spiller’s lead has not been taken much further. Spiller’s own projects show a restless eclecticism borrowing from heavy metal music, Surrealism, alchemy, nanotechnology, synthetic biology, Pataphysics—and also science fiction, with the work of William Gibson, Jeff Noon, and Neal Stephenson being particular influences. One of the architects featured in both issues was Marcos Novak, a self-styled (trans)architect, theorist, composer, and artist whose “liquid architectures” tackle many themes of the Situationists while placing them within virtual worlds. His utopian ideas on virtual environments and his seductive data-driven forms represent one of the few attempts to synthesize the virtual and real-world aspects of architecture.

Of all the architects using the new spaces offered by speculative architecture, Lebbeus Woods is perhaps the most radical and inspiring. Through a series of projects that are formally innovative, programmatically challenging, and beautifully illustrated, Woods has produced some of the most exquisite drawings since Piranesi. Woods cares little for traditional architectural protocols, not to mention physics and gravity. His interventions are nearly always bricolaged from various elements directly inserted, sometimes improbably, into the existing city, and it is difficult to tell whether Woods’s insertions are acting as sutures to hold the scarred city together or working as irritants to force them further apart. Often situating his projects in contested areas such as Berlin (before the wall came down), Sarajevo, and Havana, or in disaster areas such as earthquake zones, Woods rejects the notion that architecture can remain neutral: his “Anarchitecture” manifesto calls for architecture to be “a political act.”

As this chapter has I hope shown, it is possible to trace a history of modern architecture as a form of science fiction. Yet few SF critics or historians have included architecture in the forms of media encompassed by the genre. John Clute and Peter Nicholls’s magisterial Encyclopedia of Science Fiction contains very few references to architecture, and Adam Roberts, in his otherwise excellent history of SF, never mentions architecture despite having a final chapter that covers painting, sculpture, performance, and digital art. One of the principal aims of this essay has thus been to alert SF scholarship to the centrality of architecture in the genre’s history—not just in the form of inspiration for specific SF texts (for example, the Crystal Palace as the model for the dystopian glass towers in Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We [1921]) but also as a crucial mode of science fiction in its own right. At the same time, I hope to provoke architecture into recognizing its own place within the history of SF and to embrace the field’s speculative possibilities in order to generate a critical alternative to the banalities of the corporate-architectural complex. Despite its often superficially futuristic appearance, architecture has lost its utopian desire to create a better society; it has at best contented itself with the goal of creating a slightly less worse society, for some.

We are clearly at a moment of great technological change. One hundred years ago, architects were imagining how the technologies of the Industrial Revolution might impact and transform our cities. Currently, the most interesting speculations involve a whole range of new technologies, from nanotech and synthetic biology to artificial intelligence and virtual reality. While SF literature is industriously exploring these domains, architecture has been content to sit timidly on the sidelines. Architecture needs to regain its curiosity and begin to ask “what if . . . ?” questions again. The importance of science fiction, as numerous SF critics have pointed out, is that it provides an opportunity to develop a socially critical perspective on society. Science fiction creates the kind of “cognitive maps” that Jameson calls for at the end of his postmodernism essay, offering us the possibility of navigating the “unmappable” technological spaces of late capitalism (89). Given the tools at architecture’s disposal, it, too, should be embracing these possibilities more fully.

Works Cited

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BRYN DONOVAN

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50 Science Fiction Plot Ideas and Writing Prompts

One of my most popular blog posts is my 50 Fantasy Plot Ideas and Writing Prompts , so I thought I’d share a companion post of sci fi story ideas and writing prompts. Some of these may be more along the lines of “speculative fiction” than science fiction. They include prompts about the environment, artificial intelligence, genetics, medicine, time travel, space exploration, alien races, and alternative histories.

The real value of sci fi ideas, of course, is the way the author uses them to explore questions about society, humanity, and relationships. I created these as interesting writing prompts for adults, but many of them might be appropriate for teen writers, too. I think in order to really learn how to write a science fiction story, you need to read a lot in the genre, but this can still be a fun place to start.

If you’re interested in writing science fiction and you don’t have an agent, you might want to take a look at my roundup of fantasy and science fiction publishers who accept unsolicited (or unagented) manuscripts. And if you’re not writing scifi right now, but you might be in the future, you might want to pin or bookmark the post for future reference!

• All citizens are temporarily neutered at birth. Would-be parents must prove to the government that they’ll be suitable caretakers and providers before they are allowed to procreate.
• All marriages must be approved by a department of the government, which analyzes massive amounts of data to predict the success of the union, its economic and social impact on society, the health and welfare of any children, and so on. It’s such a hassle that many people opt for government-arranged marriages instead.
• Global warming prompts rapid mutations in the human species.
• The world’s leaders broker a deal with the alien invaders that many see as unfair.
• Humans have discovered a way to communicate directly with animals, and all the meat they consume is lab-created.
• Extreme elective surgery is the societal norm, and humans undergo creative modifications that include extra limbs, cartoon-like features, and so on.
• Breeding modern humans with large amounts of Neanderthal DNA leads to interesting results.
• In this world, Napoleon’s army took over Australia, he never lost at Waterloo, France took control of most of Europe, and World War I and World War II never happened.
• An alien from a planet where no one else experiences empathy comes to live on Earth, believing they will fit in better there.
• A drug that makes people non-confrontational has been added to the public water supply and to all beverages sold by major corporations.
• The huge, thin sheets of material covering some trees and yards turn out to be discarded placentas.
• A low-level employee in a bureaucratic government office realizes the paperwork he files every day contains codes that determine others’ fates.
• A human and alien fall in love, causing an interplanetary crisis.

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• An alien doesn’t know how to tell the humans s/he’s become intimately involved with that s/he’s an alien, even though they will find out soon.
• High-speed robotic horses become a trendy alternative to cars and weave through heavy traffic with ease.
• Birds and butterflies are able to navigate on long migrations due to proteins in their bodies that align with the earth’s magnetic fields. Scientists put these proteins to a new use.
• An entertainment company synthesizes huge amounts of data they collected about viewer’s responses to movies and shows, and they use it to create a TV show that’s dangerously addictive.
• Mars has been terraformed by dropping nuclear bombs on its poles, and the first human colonists have been assured that almost all of the radiation has escaped the atmosphere.
• An attempt to save the honeybees had surprising consequences.
• Online bullying is made a felony, which leads to unforeseen complications.
• At a new underwater amusement park and resort, built at a greater depth than any other construction before, the guests face an unforeseen threat.
• Spies use tiny implants in the retina that record and transmit everything to the commanders in another country. The implants dissolve after a certain amount of time.
• The first time travellers seem to have no ability to improve the course of human events. If they kill Hitler, for instance, some other person does exactly what he did. They search for the way to really alter the timeline.
• Astronauts develop strange and unexpected symptoms in response to traveling at light speed.
• It’s easy to look up exactly where any person is at any given time.
• New fitness devices track your movements and everything you eat automatically.
• A new device automatically tracks your mood levels and emotions. This leads people to avoid more of what makes them unhappy and do more of what makes them feel good.
• People become human mood rings: they get implants that make them change color along with their mood.
• Criminals and dissidents undergo illegal genetic therapy to change their DNA so the government has no record of them.
• Euthanasia is legal and painless means are widely available. A detective specializes in suspicious cases of euthanasia that may have been murder.
• Books and videogames have both been replaced by interactive virtual worlds filled with fascinating characters.
• Colonists on another planet want to be an independent country and lead a rebellion.
• People from a civilization that mysteriously disappeared centuries ago, such as ancestral Puebloans in the U.S. Southwest, return.
• An alien planet outsources city planning by creating a complex, engrossing city-building videogame popular with humans.
• A time traveler from centuries in the future fails in their attempt to impersonate a person of the twenty-first century. They enlist someone’s help to carry out a mission.
• A virus can be transmitted from computers or other machines to humans with bionic upgrades.
• Advertisements appear randomly in thin air in front of a person. Getting media without this advertising is prohibitively expensive.
• A team of scientists attempt to genetically alter a human to adapt to another planet’s terrain or outer space travel. They accidentally make him or her immortal.
• Implants make telepathy possible between the humans who get them.
• The Air Force uses invisibility technology for the first time, but the pilot realizes her mission is morally reprehensible.
• People are nostalgic for snow, so they create artificial snowstorms.
• In a world where pain and suffering have been eliminated, people pay to experience a variety of negative sensations under safe and controlled circumstances.
• A secret society of scientists labors to make medical discoveries and to save the planet, even though a religious fundamentalist government has outlawed their activities.
• Medical researchers are attempting to bring people back to life after they’ve been dead for thirty minutes or even an hour and give them a full recovery. Their experimentation is unethical and/or leads to strange alterations to people’s brains.
• Someone is shrunk to a tiny size to perform a life-saving or planet-saving procedure impossible for a machine or an average-sized human.
• His loved one died, but is alive in a parallel universe, and he is somehow getting messages or clues about her life there.
• On Ceres, a large asteroid, there’s a fueling station for spaceships. Terrorists take over the station and disrupt space travel and trade.
• Because it’s too hard to screen for performance-enhancing drugs, they are made legal and are an important component of sports.
• The ability to make visual recordings of dreams has exhilarating and terrifying consequences.
• Because android “kids” have become so lifelike, amusing, and hassle-free, no one wants to have real ones.
• (bonus) Patients are woken up from hibernation when the cures to their diseases have been discovered.

I hope you liked these! And if one of them sparks your imagination, don’t feel guilty about using it–you’ll wind up putting your personal spin on it, anyway. Or maybe something on the list will inspire a completely different idea of your own!

Would you like some more? My book 5,000 Writing Prompts has 100 more science fiction writing prompts in addition to the ones on this list, plus hundreds of other master plots by genre, dialogue and character prompts, and much more.

Thanks for stopping by, and happy writing!

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21 thoughts on “ 50 science fiction plot ideas and writing prompts ”.

As much as I love reading and writing books, I’d definitely be interested in interacting with a virtual fantasy world. I’d also like the automatic fitness and mood trackers. I don’t write science fiction, but I’d love some of these to be real someday. Great prompts!

Hi Renea! Yeah, a few of these were wishful thinking. 🙂 Thanks for the kind words!

Hi, what a wonderful list! Thank you. I noticed that there are two #25’s listed so the list is actually 51. 🙂

Hahaha! Hey, I’m a writer, not a numbers gal. 😉 I re-numbered it so #51 is a bonus. Thanks, Laurie!

I like you list as well. “Bryn laughed as she posted her answer for miscounting her plots. Then the total number of characters in her post quickly appeared in her mind. “That’s never happened to me before.” as she smiled to herself. She started to get up to get a bottle of water. As she looked down pressed the keys to lock her computer screen, she quickly counted the pores on the back of her hand. “Wait a minute. What the heck is going on?”

Thanks for all the great sci-fi prompts, Bryn. 🙂 — Suzanne

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34. Is interesting. Outsourcing anything to other civilizations by means of games is a great idea.

Well written and interesting! You should check out my article on the physics of Black Holes: https://therealsciblog.wordpress.com/2018/06/20/black-holes/

Also I will follow anyone who follows me, so please please please follow me!

“In a world where pain and suffering have been eliminated, people pay to experience a variety of negative sensations under safe and controlled circumstances.”

That was actually the plot of a Star Trek: Voyager episode (Random Thoughts) in the 1990s. The only exception is that the trade of negative sensations was illegal, and sanctioned by the government.

Hello! I love your ideas. But what if someone uses one of your story plots and publishes the book? Would you want credit?

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I think you meant to say that Napoleon invades Austria, not Australia?

I have a good plot. the idea itself has been forming and ripening in my mind for 15 years. can i share with you? if so, please contact me by this mail. [email protected]

Science fiction is not just about aliens, mermaids, time travel, and more. Here, you can also write about deep and philosophical stuff, and even tackle societal issues. For example, issues on technological advancement such as the possible takeover of robots and the impending destruction of the planet are commonly emphasized in numerous science fiction novels. These and all the other issues in the society today are tackled in length in science fiction because there is no better place to explore them than in this genre.

Fantastic Plot Ideas! Thanks for sharing. Science fiction stories often illustrate the social reality of the current times. These stories give us a clear picture of how the technologies of today are affecting our daily lives, particularly our interaction and connection with one another. These stories help us understand the things that make up our current reality.

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Thankyou very much! I often write dilemma stories for my ethics class pupils to start or to complement a teaching unit. Fantasy and Science Fiction help us to talk to children even about explosive subjects. But I have less imagination as everyone thinks: Four or five ideas, and that´s it. So I just visited your collection to find more Ideas for my pupils. This was very helpful. Thanx in the name of the children.

Hi Cora! Ow wow, that is so cool! Your class sounds like so much fun. I’m so glad this was useful!

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How sci-fi films use asian characters to telegraph the future while also dehumanizing them.

A new video essay by Astria Suparak, part of an art exhibition on A.I. at Oxy Arts, interrogates why science fiction films often depend on Asian cultures without centering them.

By Evan Nicole Brown

Evan Nicole Brown

Culture Writer

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A new video presentation at Los Angeles’ Occidental College from Thai-American artist and curator Astria Suparak looks at how Asian characters and cultures are represented in American science fiction cinema.

In the work —  part of the show Encoding Futures: Critical Imaginaries of AI at the college’s public arts space Oxy Arts — Suparak’s visual analysis interrogates how Asians are often employed as two-dimensional props whose presence is used to signify a speculative future, while the environment of many of these films leans heavily on a patchwork of Asian cityscapes, symbols, and cultural traditions, creating a gulf between how the “future” is coded and who gets meaningful character development. The result is a long-standing trend of whitewashed science fiction films where appropriation is excused as a tool for depicting diversity on screen.

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Suparak’s video essay, titled Asian Futures Without Asians , exists as a database of science-fiction films that incorporate Asian culture as a shorthand to telegraph futurism while failing to develop real storylines and characters for Asian actors within these universes.

“I started off as just another viewer of sci-fi and escapist fantasy just to decompress after work, but it’s impossible, at least for me, to not notice how Asian cultures are used in this genre,” Suparak, who grew up in Los Angeles, tells The Hollywood Reporter . “When I knew I wanted to work on this project I started by watching the films that I had access to and cataloging the obvious visual markers of Asian-ness that I recognized on first watch.”

Suparak’s project compiles clips from several films and draws upon research culled from watching several more, like Flash Gordon , Star Trek , 2001: A Space Odyssey , Soylent Green , Logan’s Run , the Star Wars franchise and Blade Runner , to investigate how future societies are persistently rendered in non-diverse and non-progressive ways in visual media culture.

“This whole series of projects under the name Asian Futures Without Asians draws on over 50 years of white-made American futuristic sci-fi, so it’s absurd that in this realm of sci-fi where you can imagine anything — anything is possible — that we still have these really old, tired, stale stereotypes of Asian culture and what Asians can be,” Suparak says.

Techno-orientalism was first coined in Rutgers University Press’ 2015 book Techno-Orientalism: Imagining Asia in Speculative Fiction, History, and Media. Edited by David S. Roh, Betsy Huang and Greta A. Niu, it investigates the phenomenon of how Asia and Asians are represented in hypo- or hyper-technological terms, “while critically examining the stereotype of Asians as both technologically advanced and intellectually primitive, in dire need of Western consciousness-raising,” per the book’s description.

According to Suparak, there’s a prevailing media trope that situates Asian cultures as “ancient and static” — think samurais, plus katana swords and other props from eras long ago — while simultaneously being used to suggest technological advancement and the impressive speed of metropolises like Tokyo and Shanghai.

“They’re not only reflecting the biases and stereotypes and prejudices of the culture, but they’re also influencing that culture back,” Suparak notes of the big-budget Hollywood movies she references. That includes 2017’s Ghost in the Shell , a live-action remake of the Japanese manga of the same name, wherein Scarlett Johansson plays a Japanese cyborg — a casting choice that drew major whitewashing criticism upon its release.

Ultimately, Asian Futures Without Asians illuminates the lopsided nature of one Hollywood genre and critiques the way media is concepted to guide audience empathy. Suparak’s video essay investigates how artificial intelligence is coded in film, and the ways in which sympathetic robots and cyborgs, who are often white, are designed as “who the audience is supposed to root for,” Suparak says, adding: “The way they’re presented is in stark contrast to how Asian robots are often dehumanized.”

Encoding Futures — which examines how artificial intelligence molds society, and how algorithms have the power to define the world to come — was co-organized by Oxy Arts with Mashinka Firunts Hakopian, Mellon professor of the practice at Occidental, and Meldia Yesayan, director of Oxy Arts. It takes a multidisciplinary approach to looking at representation, both in terms of how the future is presented and who gets to exist there.

Says Hakopian of selecting Suparak’s work for the show, “Part of the reason why it was so crucial to include this work is because it is a really remarkable media archaeology that’s looking at how Hollywood cinema has shaped popular imaginaries of AI. And so, Hollywood has played an outsized role in determining what AI looks like, sounds like, feels like within the popular imaginary. And I think Astria’s piece does an incredible job of bringing that to the fore.”

Encoding Futures: Critical Imaginaries of AI is up through Nov 19, at Oxy Arts, 4757 York Blvd, Los Angeles, oxy.edu/oxy-arts .

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The 20 most scientifically accurate movies

Posted: March 7, 2024 | Last updated: March 7, 2024

From the beginning, the film industry has been obsessed with science. It’s thus unsurprising that science fiction is one of the most enduringly popular genres, giving studios a chance to showcase their unique brand of magic and allowing audiences to explore worlds and questions outside of everyday life. Even more remarkable is the extent to which many films, even fictional ones, have drawn on scientific facts to ground fictional realities and grant them a greater verisimilitude.  

'Rise of the Planet of the Apes'

The original Planet of the Apes   film remains a sci-fi classic, spawning a franchise spanning decades. In 2011, fans of the films finally got the origin story they’d long wanted, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes   focuses on Caesar (played in motion capture by Andy Serkis). The young chimp gains enhanced cognition due to an Alzheimer’s drug, and the stage is set for simian conquest, particularly once a virulent form of flu starts to spread across the globe. Though the film takes some liberties with established science, its depiction of various ape species is remarkably accurate, and its depiction of the spread of a pandemic hits particularly close to home in the age of COVID-19. The subsequent film,  Dawn of the Planet of the Apes ,  is likewise decently accurate from a scientific point of view.

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'Deep Impact'

The 1990s were seemingly obsessed with the idea that a meteor or asteroid might strike Earth and obliterate life as it exists. While Deep Impact   might not have become the cultural phenomenon Armageddon was, it is surprisingly accurate regarding science, particularly the type of devastation a comet crashing into the Atlantic could cause.   Combined with the film’s extensive special effects, this accuracy gives Deep Impact   the feeling of something that could happen in the real world rather than in the fantasy world of Hollywood.

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'Blade Runner 2049'

Ridley Scott’s original Blade Runner   is rightly regarded as one of the director’s finest films, and its much-belated sequel Blade Runner 2049   is another strong science fiction outing from director Denis Villeneuve. Like its predecessor, this film takes place in the future, but it is one in which climate change has ravaged the planet and fundamentally reshaped parts of the United States. While it may not always be strictly accurate, it accurately expresses the angst and concerns of the present, a moment when climate change has become an ever-more-present crisis. There’s no question that, if left unchecked, the world could very well become very much like the one seen in the film.

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'Ant-Man and the Wasp'

While the MCU might be most famous for its fight scenes and sprawling narrative arcs, every so often, one of its films manages to do something a little different. Ant-Man and the Wasp ,  though one of the studio’s more underrated gems, went so far as to  hire scientists to help get the science behind quantum physics right , including Spyridon Michalakis of the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter at Caltech. The way that the Quantum Realm is depicted draws extensively from what scientists have hypothesized, proving once again that there are many times when real science is just as fascinating as fiction.

'Woman in the Moon'

Though Georges Méliès’  A Trip to the Moon might be one of the most famous early space flight films, credit is also due to Fritz Lang’s  Woman in the Moon . Focusing on a group of astronauts who set off to the moon, it incorporated many of the prevailing scientific theories of the time,  particularly concerning spaceflight . Filmmaking has certainly come a long way since the film was released in 1929, but one can’t help but marvel at what Lang accomplished with the technology available to him, and it remains a marvelous piece of early science fiction filmmaking.

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'Annihilation'

Alex Garland’s Annihilation   deserves its reputation as one of the most haunting and disturbing science fiction films ever made. Its story is about a group of scientists who undertake a journey into a mysterious phenomenon known as the Shimmer, and it becomes a story of extraterrestrial terror and bodily mutation. Though it is not a particularly faithful adaptation of the original novel on which it’s based, Garland put a great deal of effort into getting much of the science for the film right. As a result, though there are many horror elements in the film, the fact that they are grounded in science gives them a potent effect.

'Moon'

Sam Rockwell gives one of his usual strong performances in Moon ,  in which he plays a miner on the moon approaching the end of his period of service. Like the best that science fiction has to offer, Moon   is philosophically rich, exploring weighty issues such as identity. It manages to do so thanks in part to the rigor of its science . Rather than immersing the viewer in the bombastic special effects so common in the genre, it hews much more closely to how mining on the moon would actually look, which grants it its claustrophobic feel.

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'Minority Report'

The power of science fiction as a genre lies in part in its ability to predict the advances of the future, and in this respect, Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report   is a standout. Its story about a cop who falls afoul of a crime-predicting algorithm is based on a short story by Philip K. Dıck. Things that seemed outlandish when the film was first released have become standard parts of everyday life, from touch-screen interfaces to robotic surveillance. There have even been advances in crime prediction, and scientists at the University of Chicago have developed an algorithm eerily similar to the one used in Minority Report.

'Finding Nemo'

Pixar has always been known as a studio that pays meticulous attention to detail. This extends to Finding Nemo ,  the beloved 2003 film that focuses on a father clownfish, Marlin, who sets out to save his son Nemo and, along the way, meets several other fantastic fish characters, including the absentminded Dory. It’s a fun and beautiful film but also true to science. Among other things, clownfish do indeed  live inside anemones , and whales do indeed seem to have their own form of language (this latter is the source of some major humor with Dory). 

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'Gattaca'

While science fiction is often concerned with the many benefits that science can bring to humanity, it also loves to examine the darker side of things. Gattaca ,  for example, presents a dystopian image of the future in which eugenics is the order of the day. This has created a rigid hierarchical society between those conceived by genetic engineering and those not. The film’s central premises feel even more feasible than ever, given the many advances in genetic science that have taken place in the intervening decades. Now, the future that Gattaca   imagines seems just around the corner, and the film’s scientific accuracy makes its social commentary even more biting. 

'The Andromeda Strain'

The works of the late Michael Crichton have repeatedly been adapted for the screen, and one of the earliest examples was  The Andromeda Strain .  This is one of those films that becomes increasingly relevant, focusing as it does on a group of scientists who grapple with a dangerous organism from outer space. As is true of much of Crichton’s work, there is a scrupulous attention to detail, and though its central crisis is fictional, it is still one that is rooted in real concerns in the scientific community. This is precisely what makes this film from the 1970s such compelling viewing in 2023.

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'Apollo 13'

The power of cinema is largely in its ability to transport viewers out of their limited experiences and into the world of the fantastic. This is true even in a film like Apollo 13 ,  which is based on the true story of an aborted moon landing and the efforts of NASA to rescue the astronauts. It perfectly combines a competent director (Ron Howard) and stellar performances (including from such giants as Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon). What’s more, it is also surprisingly accurate, reflecting many of the realities faced by the men as they struggled to survive in space.

'The Martian'

Throughout his career, Ridley Scott has shown great skill in directing sci-fi masterpieces, and The Martian   is one of his most extraordinary works. Based on the novel of the same name by Andy Weir, it focuses on Matt Damon’s Dr. Mark Watney, who has to find a way to survive on Mars. In addition to being a compellingly written and acted survival drama, it is also remarkably realistic, eschewing the more sensationalist elements of some sci-fi to focus on the quotidian. Though it takes some liberties with the established science surrounding Mars and its environs, i t is still one of the more scientifically accurate films in sci-fi.

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'Her'

Joaquin Phoenix delivers one of his most remarkable performances in Her ,  in which he plays Theodore Twombly, a man who finds himself falling in love with his AI assistant. What makes this film remarkable is its accuracy  in depicting the world now , where AI continues to grow at an alarming pace and home assistants like Amazon Echo are increasingly commonplace. While the film steers away from horror, it is nevertheless a cautionary tale about the dangers of investing too much emotional energy in digital assistants, sentient or otherwise, given that they have no intrinsic reason to remain loyal to their human masters. 

'Arrival'

Denis Villeneuve is a director who has shown a particular penchant for creating visually stunning and philosophically rich sci-fi films. It features a stunning performance from Amy Adams as a linguist who plays a key role in keeping war from erupting between humans and extraterrestrials. Like the best sci-fi, Arrival   is very much a deeply human story, but it is also grounded in various scientific theories . This allows the aliens of this film to be truly unique and, far from being just like humans, they are so utterly alien that everything about them, including their writing system, seems to have sprung from a very nonhuman consciousness. 

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'Contact'

Hollywood has repeatedly evinced a fascination with contact between extraterrestrials and people here on Earth, and while many films in this subgenre lean into the fantastic or the unrealistic, Contact   is far more grounded in science. This mainly stems from the original story being penned by noted astronomer Carl Sagan and his wife, documentarian Amy Druyan . It’s the type of film that leans heavily into its ideas, but it also features a predictably strong performance from Jodie Foster.

'Alien'

Equal parts horror and science fiction, Ridley Scott’s Alien   packs a punch. Who could forget, for example, the creature of the title, which sees the crew of a spaceship as the perfect host to reproduce? Indeed, precisely this parasitic life cycle earns Alien   the distinction of being remarkably scientifically accurate despite its horror trappings. Biologists have particularly praised the extent to which it depicts how a parasite can move through different stages of life quite quickly, and it is in part this embodied verisimilitude that allows the film to still feel so disconcerting and viscerally upsetting. 

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'Interstellar'

Christopher Nolan produced some of his finest work in Interstellar ,  which managed to combine an emotionally rich and evocative storyline with some of the most astounding visuals to have emerged from Hollywood sci-fi filmmaking. Of particular note is its depiction of a black hole, which is astonishingly accurate. The level of scientific sophistication in the film dovetails with its rich human story. It focuses on several astronauts (played by Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway) who attempt to find a planet that can accommodate humanity since Earth has become almost uninhabitable. 

'Jurassic Park'

Based on Michael Crichton’s novel of the same name, Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park   was yet another of the director’s titanic successes. Its story about the titular park and the mayhem that ensues when the dinosaurs escape has a great deal of contemporary relevance. The sophistication of the CGI is still a marvel. Though it takes some liberties with how various dinosaurs appeared, its depiction of several species, most notably  T. rex ,  remains astounding for just how meticulously they were re-created and for how accurate they were based on the paleontological consensus at the time of the film’s production.

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'2001: A Space Odyssey'

Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey   remains one of the most extraordinary pieces of science fiction filmmaking in the genre's history. Sweeping, operatic, and philosophically rich, it is remarkably accurate in its depictions of science. Since its release, it has held up remarkably well, particularly when depicting space travel. Several experts, a noted astrophysicist, have praised the film’s accuracy . It is thus one of those rare films that never sacrifices cinematic artistry for scientific precision but instead finds a remarkable and powerful balance between these two elements. 

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