Full Description
This book explores contemporary existential science fiction media, including film, television, and video games, and their influence on society's conceptions of memory, identity, and humanity. Most poignantly, Ryan Lizardi argues, are the ways in which a recent cluster of science fiction media, including Gravity (2013), Interstellar (2014), Legion (2017-2019), Westworld (2016-present), Soma (2015), and Death Standing (2019), among others, present a vision of the future that is inextricably tied to an exploration of humanity that is more contemplative and comparative than traditional science fiction. The combination of the existential nature of this current trend in science fiction with the genre's ability to manifest these abstract concepts in a generic environment that is historically focused on new frontiers and ideas creates a powerful set of media texts that ask audiences to contemplate what it means to exist, think, and connect as human beings. Scholars of media studies, film studies, television studies, genre studies, and philosophy will find this book particularly useful.
Contents
Preface
Chapter 1: Early Existential Science Fiction
Chapter 2: Modern Existential Science Fiction
Chapter 3: Gravity, Ad Astra, and Generational Connections
Chapter 4: Interstellar, Arrival, and Continuity of Identity
Chapter 5: Annihilation and Refraction of Identity
Chapter 6: Legion and Fractured Identity
Chapter 7: Westworld and the Embellished Remake
Chapter 8: Assassin's Creed, Bioshock, and Alternative Histories
Chapter 9: Interactive Existential Science Fiction
Concluding Remarks
Bibliography
About the Author
