Films of every era reflect the concerns and fears of Western society. The acceleration of technology, the loss of a concrete world, the uneasy relationship with humans and ever increasing complex machines are inducing a fear of losing the ability to discern reality. The reality of ideas from science and the world around are woven into the narratives that we use to explain life.The films we watch reflect our hopes and fears and as the fears increase so do films with a shared theme of alternative realities. To know reality and search for the true Self is the job of the hero and the protagonist in recent alternative reality films.

Abstract: The science fiction films which feature the angel Gabriel (The Prophecy (1995), Van Helsing (2004), Constantine (2005), Gabriel (2007), and Legion (2010)) represent a trend in exploring specific socio-cultural issues of America. All of these films explore fears over the loss of faith in American culture in a post 9/11 society. They are comparable to the ways in which science fiction films of the 1950’s addressed fears of the Cold War. By utilizing the alien invasion plot structure from the 50’s, contemporary plots have a pre-defined structure and film language in which to explore the themes of a crisis of faith. The fallen angels featured in all these films have their textual basis in the apocalyptic Jewish text of 1 Enoch, which presents an alternate origin of evil tale to the one found in the Christian Bible, which attributes to wicked fallen angels and provides the religious archetypal themes, moral basis and story ark for the fallen angels of the films. Furthermore, the films evoke an “uncanny Other” through the use of the angel Gabriel, who is a familiar Christian figure but who is uncanny in his modern portrayals, allowing frightening fears of the loss of faith and Christian identity to be explored through a familiar figure. Finally, the fears of encountering a “Muslim Other” in a post 9/11 world, and the millennial fears of uncertainty, are the cultural factors that lead to this crisis of faith present in all of these films.

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2000. Graduate Programme in Film and Video. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 173-180). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pMQ67716.

This thesis articulates theoretical views on science fiction in relation to our world as viewed from a postmodern perspective. Inherent herein, is the exploration of the ambivalent nature of the theme of the apocalyptic and its pervasive influence in contemporary science fiction texts, in particular the selected canonical works of Arthur C. Clarke and contemporary film. The pertinent idea inherent in these texts is its concerns regarding the future of humanity. The social anxieties of our postmodern age are foregrounded thereby bridging the intersection of apocalyptic narrative with the concept of the postmodern. Of particular significance is the presentation of social degeneration, the collapse of civilized society through advanced technologies as well as the ending and transcendence of human time. This study sheds important light on the need and search for meaning in a world plunged by chaos and incoherence. This is imbued in the way science fiction texts mirror and develop such concerns in our postmodern period. In an attempt to construct meaning it thereby renders an exploratory examination of our postmodern world in relation to its dreams, visions and anxieties. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

Proefschrift Universiteit van Amsterdam. / Met lit. opg. - Met samenvatting in het Engels.

Science fiction films may be viewed as existing as threads within a web, and at the same time constituting the web. The metaphor is apt: texts and contexts and their relationship have a difficult accommodation with each other, an interdependent and dynamic relationship. The text is a thread in the web, as are elements of context, yet the threads are in a symbiotic and constantly changing relationship with each other, as the web is constantly in a state of renewal and change. At the same time, the text itself is a web, as are the various contexts. The threads are both ephemeral and fleeting, while incredibly strong. This thesis is about the polysemy of science fiction film: its subject is the films of the fifties that belong to the genre of science fiction. But the area of study began as an investigation of the science in science fiction films; the way in which films construct that science, the end result of that construction and the totality of the discourse of science in relation to other discourses of power and influence. The investigation of those issues involves a multi-layered investigation into science fiction, in a similar way to Tulloch and Alvarado's approach to the Dr Who television series.1 Approaching science fiction films from a perspective of genre, as in chapter one, uncovers a set of arguments about the science in science fiction, as well as establishing the global nature of some science fiction. These concerns lead into the discussion in chapter two of the social and historical context of the fifties, specifically in the US. Science plays a major role in these contexts, in the sense of the importance of science in creating these contexts (from this perspective) as well as the effects of the application of this science. But the historical and cultural contexts tend to suggest that science fiction films are in large part both a response to the social and historical context, and also create that context. This would not be quite accurate: the production of many science fiction films mobilise other arguments, arguments relating to the industry of Hollywood, and the specific industrial context that gave rise to some very financially successful science fiction films, as well as some films where the budget was good for a few days filming. Science and technology are sometimes important elements in this industrial context as well. Part II traces the nature of science in these films, using the contexts in Part I to anchor the science and its implications and effects. Foregrounded is the debate in which science is both key player and, in many cases, antagonist. The debate is traced and the various representations of science and its nature are tracked and highlighted. Science can cause change, by virtue of its nature of uncovering superstition, but the worth or desirability of that change is open to question. The control of science is a related issue. The thesis examines science at a period that saw the efflorescence of science fiction films. The examination of those films tells us a great deal about the concerns of the time, as well as the science that figures so powerfully in the webs of culture of the fifties.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2007. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 178-182).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

From 1966 to1976, science fiction films tended to depict civilizations of the future that had become intrinsically antagonistic to their inhabitants as a result of some internal or external cataclysm. This dystopian turn in science fiction films, following a similar move in science fiction literature, reflected concerns about social and ecological changes occurring during the late 1960s and early 1970s and their future implications. In these films, "dystopian" conditions are indicated as such by music incorporating distinctly modernist sounds and techniques reminiscent of twentieth-century concert works that abandon the common practice. In contrast, music associated with the protagonists is generally more accessible, often using common practice harmonies and traditional instrumentation. These films appeared during a period referred to as the "New Hollywood," which saw younger American filmmakers responding to developments in European cinema, notably the French New Wave. New Hollywood filmmakers treated their films as cinematic "statements" reflecting the filmmaker's artistic vision. Often, this encouraged an idiosyncratic use of music to enhance the perceived artistic nature of their films. This study examines the scores of ten science fiction films produced between 1966 and 1976: Fahrenheit 451, Planet of the Apes, 2001: A Space Odyssey, THX-1138, A Clockwork Orange, Silent Running, Soylent Green, Zardoz, Rollerball, and Logan's Run. Each is set in a dystopian environment of the future and each reflects the New Hollywood's aspirations to artistic seriousness and social relevance. The music accompanying these films connoted an image of technological and human progress at odds with the critical notions informing similar music for the concert hall. These film scores emphasized the extrapolated consequences of developments occurring during the 1950s and 1960s that social activists, science fiction writers, and even filmmakers regarded as worrisome trends. Filmmakers drew on the popular perceptions of these musical sounds to reinforce pessimistic visions of the future, thereby imbuing these sounds with new meanings for listeners of the contemporaneous present.