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Full Description
The idea of the frontier--once, the geographical borderline moving further and further West across the North American continent--has shaped American science fiction television since its beginnings. TV series have long adapted the frontier myth to outer space and have explored American Wests of the future. This book takes a deeper look at the futuristic frontiers within such series as Star Trek, Firefly, Terra Nova, Defiance and The 100, revealing how they rethink colonialism, the environment, spaces of risk and utopian/dystopian worlds.
Harnessing forms of speculation and the post-apocalyptic imagination, these series engage with matters of the present, from the legacies of colonialism to climate change and the increasing integration of humans and technologies. In doing so, these series question in novel ways the very idea of borders and reshape cultural binaries such as Self/Other, wilderness/civilization, city/nature, human/non-human and utopia/dystopia.
Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction
Groundings and Points of Departure: The Frontier, the SF Frontier, and Neo-Frontier Spaces
Neo-Frontier Spaces and the Medium of Television
The Structure of This Study
1. Theorizing Neo-Frontier Spaces: Science Fiction, Space(s), and Frontiers
Science Fiction and the Post-Apocalyptic as Modes of Thinking
Re-Thinking the Construction of Space(s)
From Frontiers to Neo-Frontier Spaces
2. Frontiers of Futures Past: Outer Space and the Origins of Neo-Frontier Spaces in Star Trek and Firefly
Reading the Frontier in Star Trek
Pushing the "Final Frontier": Exploring Heterogeneous Spaces in Star Trek
Reading the Frontier in Firefly
Re-Envisioning the Universe: Connecting Spaces and Fragmenting Places in Firefly
3. Moving Beyond: Rethinking Binaries, Borders, and the Planet in Terra Nova
From the Settler Colony to Transgressive Neo-Frontier "Thirdspace(s)"
From the Wilderness/Civilization Binary to Places of Co-Presence and Interdependence
Neo-Frontier Climate Change Riskscapes and Capitalist World-Making
Utopian/Dystopian Patchwork Spaces and Utopia/Dystopia as Temporal Stages
4. Spaces in Flux: Re-Living the Present and Coming to Terms with the (Mythical) Past in Defiance
The Frontier City of Defiance and the "Interwoven Threads" of Urban Spaces
From Spaces of Colonial Belonging to Spaces of Ecosystemic Belonging
Post-Apocalyptic Terraforming Riskscapes and Technological World-Making
Fragmented Cityscapes and the Problems of American Dreaming
5. On the Brink: Making New Spaces and Collapsing Boundaries in The 100
The Ark and the Settler Camp as Spaces of Permanence and Temporariness
From Human/Non-Human Spaces to Technological Ecosystems and a Neo-Frontier "Ground"
Human/Non-Human Riskscapes of Uncertainty and Risky World-Making
Utopia/Dystopia as Political Choices and the Pitfalls of Social Dreaming
Conclusion: Neo-Frontier Spaces and American Culture in the Twenty-First Century
Videography
Chapter Notes
Works Cited
Index
