The Arts: Cael Keegan "Is Space Straight? Close Encounters of the Familiar Kind in American Blockbuster Science Fiction"

Session 4, 3 p.m.:

Abstract: The New Hollywood directors of the 1970s thrilled audiences with daring visions of space travel, alien encounters, and speculative technologies that dramatically expanded the aesthetic range of cinema. Landmark films such as Alien, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, Star Wars, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind created new ways of viewing and participating in cinema around speculative times, spaces, and worlds. The 1980s-90s turned this outward journey inward, introducing audiences to cyberspace: Films such as TRON and The Matrix led audiences on incredible journeys into the possibilities of human-machine interface. However, since 9-11, blockbuster depictions of outer/inner space have acted less to explore the expansion of perception and more to re-center traditional American values, especially the nuclear family and its sex and gender roles. This talk addresses current representations of space in 21st century American blockbuster science fiction films such as Gravity, Interstellar, and The Martian to consider why—in an era when America’s manned space travel programs seem to be ending—Hollywood’s depictions of space are more politically invested in heterosexual futurity, and less in the utopian potential of other encounters.



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