Argument Between Science-Fiction and Fantasy

Differentiate Science Fiction (Si-Fi) and Fantasy genre is always huge challenge for audiences. Subgenres Si-Fi fantasy movies, a deliberately blended genres of magic and sciences, is confusing audiences to differentiate Si-Fi and Fantasy. For examples is The Avengers (Joss Whedon, 2012). Si-Fi is enhancing the current scientific trends or defines future but Fantasy is not based in reality presupposing that magic and mythical/supernatural creatures exist. In The Avengers, IronMan is a hero who armed by high-tech weapon, but Thor is hero who actually a mythology characters. Mixture of cyborg (subgenres of Si-Fi) and Heroic fantasy (subgenres of Fantasy) blended for enhancing the entertainment to audiences. However, it did bring argument to film makers in differentiate films such as Avatar (James Cameron, 2009), The Lord of the Rings; The Fellowship of the Ring (Peter Jackson, 2001) and etc. 

Although Si-Fi Fantasy is confusing, but according to quoted by Miriam Allen deFord (by Aldiss and Wingrove, op. cit.) "Science fiction consists of improbable possibilities, fantasy of plausible impossibilities." Confusion is reduce and cognitive is more clear. 

Bibliography:

Science Fiction, (N.D.) Retrieved from http://www.treitel.org/Richard/sf/fantasy.html

Julie E. Czerneda, (May, 2006), Retrieved from http://www.czerneda.com/pdf/Science%20Fiction%20and%20Fantasy%20Workshop%20for%20Librarians.pdf

Film Analysis - Real Steel (Shawn, 2011)

Real steal [Image]. (2011, October 13). Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433035/

The movie sets of with the Charlie (Hugh Jackman) used to be a well known boxer turn into robot boxing trainer, it starts off with Charlie experiencing his career down turn. In a sudden he realized he has a son Max (Dakota Goyo), Max started travelling together with Charlie to earn money to pay his debts, Charlie loses all his money in a robot fight and Charlie found an old robot which lately was named Atom. Charlie start training Atom, Atom start winning number of matches. In the end, Atom make it to the WRB and defeated the unbeatable Zeus but Atom did not take the champion title but he was honour with title "People's Champion".

The sound effects in the movie is also one of the characteristics of science fiction, for example the walking sound of the robots.

Mostly features robot in most of film.

Real-Steel-Atom 610.jpg [Image]. (2012, March 5). Retrieved from http://protagonist.wikia.com/wiki/ File:Real-Steel-Atom_610.jpg 

Real Steel [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/media/ rm162707712/tt0433035 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433035/synopsis. (2011, June 15). Retrieved August 14, 2012, from IMDb website: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433035/synopsis 

Anti democratic goverment also shown in the film. For example, Zeus's owner Fara Lencova wants to buy Atom to become one of their boxing robots.

Roth, C. (2011, June). [real steel]. Retrieved from http://screenrant.com/real-steel-richard-matheson-interview-rothc-134914/ 

The in the movie there are a number of scenes where the show of high end technologies.

The Hollywood Review: Real Steel [Image]. (2011, October 3). Retrieved from http://www.knickledger.com/tag/lee-marvin/ Real Steel [Image]. (2011, October 13). Retrieved from http://kianfai87.blogspot.com/2011/10/real-steel-2011.html

 Using a transparent tab to control the robot's action.

Film review: Real steel [Image]. (2011, October 6). Retrieved from http://www.filmjournal.com/ filmjournal/content_display/reviews/major-releases/e3i95aecb5ea517bc6b9469643c0b79a46a

Uses a controller to control the robot's movement.

The Hollywood Review: Real Steel [Image]. (2011, October 3). Retrieved from http://www.knickledger.com/tag/lee-marvin/ Real Steel [Image]. (2011, October 13). Retrieved from http://kianfai87.blogspot.com/2011/10/real-steel-2011.html 

Shadow function and voice recognition system.

It also features a child or a girl in science fiction film. In Real Steel there's also a child Max that goes along with the main character Charlie. But in this movie, the child and the woman both play a very strong character which can also be mention as post modernism.

Melissa, M. (2011, October). Evangeline Lilly star as Bailey Tallet in DreamWorksPictures' action drama 'Real Steel'. [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.allmoviephoto.com/photo/2011_real_steel_030_big.html

This scene shows that woman can also able to repair mechanical stuffs. 

Roth, C. (2011, June). [real steel]. Retrieved from http://screenrant.com/real-steel-richard-matheson-interview-rothc-134914/ 

Max follows Charlie travelling around for boxing challenges to earn money.

Melissa, M. (2011). Real steel photo [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.allmoviephoto.com/photo/ 2011_real_steel_046.html Melissa, M. (2011, May 10).

Farra Lemkova is a very strong and powerful woman in the movie.

Bibliography:

Shawn, L., Susan, M., & Don, M. (Producers), & Shawn, L. (Director). (2011). RealSteel [Motion picture]. United States: Reliance Entertainment.

Real Steel [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/media/ rm162707712/tt0433035 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433035/synopsis. (2011, June 15). Retrieved August 14, 2012, from IMDb website: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433035/synopsis 

Film Analysis - The Terminator (James Cameron, 1984)

Skynet, a computer system fights a losing war against the humans who built it and who it nearly exterminated. Just before being destroyed, Skynet sends a Terminator back in time to kill Sarah, the mother to be of John Connor, the Leader of the human resistance. One soldier is sent back to protect her from the killing machine. He must find Sarah before the Terminator can carry out its mission.

The film consists of extraterrestrial life forms and time travel often along with futuristic elements such as spacecraft, cyborgs, or other technologies. Science fiction films have often been used to focus on political or social issues. Skynet began a nuclear war which destroyed most of the human population, and initiated a program of genocide against the survivors.

Retrieved from The Terminator (James Cameron, 1984)

In the Terminator films, the human race is struggling for survival against evil cyborg set out to destroy all of human kind. A cyborg sent back in time from year 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, who is soon-to-be-mother of the future world leader, John Connor (who battles the machines in the future and leads an uprising). In one scene, he is hunting down all women named "Sarah Connor", using a phone book to track his targets. He successfully kills the first two of the three listed women. It can’t feel pain and mercy.  A human also travels back to stop the Terminator from killing his leader’s mother, Kyle Reese. He protects Sarah and teaches her to defend herself by making bombs.

Retrieved from The Terminator (James Cameron, 1984)

The film introduces female lead through a show of physical prowess, instead of via a classic female stereotype such as maternal soother or sexual object. Sarah Connor realises that she is running for her life from a soul-less machine in human flesh that is implacably and violently determined to kill her, she transforms from a girl who can't balance her checkbook to a woman who can order a wounded. She is clear-headed, not panicky, focused in crisis and incredibly courageous.

The film reflects back to us our anxieties and fears about the present. The narrative of the film is depressed and violent, the colours used in the set designs are dark, and the rapidity of the cuts during the numerous action sequences is anxiety producing and frightening.  Yet, the film also tries to offer hope in confronting nuclear fear.  For example, Sarah’s shirt is a vibrant pink, which is a striking contrast against the darkness around her.  Also, she survives the terminator attack and becomes pregnant with the child to let the audience know that we could save the world from danger. Her survival gives us hope.  

How Jeep Will Blow its Terminator Tie-In [Image]. (2009, May 19). Retrieved from http://abesauer.com/ 2009/05/19/how-jeep-will-blow-its-terminator-tie-in/

Bibliography:

Wilson.K (n.d.) Science Fiction Film History. Retrieved from http://www.scififilmhistory.com/index.php?pageID=termi

Anonymous (2012) Women in Science Fiction Week: Is 'Terminator’s Sarah Connor an Allegory for Single Mothers?. Retrieved from http://www.btchflcks.com/2012/07/women-in-sci-fi-sarah-connor-terminator.html

Development Of Science-Fiction

The Burroughsian Period (1901 to 1926)  

Science Fiction: Almost exclusively soft, social commentary (e.g. A Trip to the Moon by H. G. Wells, 1901) and adventure (e.g. Under the Moons of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, 1912).

Central Publication: The All-Story Magazine, published by the Frank A. Munsey Corporation. 

The pages of All-Story were peppered with fantastic tales.

The Amazing Years (1926 to 1939)  

Science Fiction: Science was now the servant of the people, producing electric razors, penicillin, and nylon. It was embraced by the public. James Hilton parried the Great Depression with Lost Horizon (1932)

Central Publication: Amazing Stories, the first all science fiction magazine. 

Science had to become practical in a world that could no longer afford luxuries. Hitler's ranting made racism unpopular. Science fiction reflected this with more mature stories about searching for understanding between vastly different intelligences. The classics "Old Faithful" by Raymond Z. Gallun and "A Martian Odyssey" by Stanley G. Weinbaum (both 1934) are sympathetic portraits of fundamentally alien minds. 

The Golden Age (1939 to 1957)

Science Fiction: Stories rigidly extrapolating the effects of technological progress on society. 

Central Publication: Astounding Stories (still published as Analog). 

Science and morality were divorced during World War. The hard sciences — physics and chemistry faded from public view.

Science fiction gained popularity because of its successful prognostication of the A-bomb. Jack Williamson's classic Humanoids were a direct response to the atomic bomb: machines with built-in morality. Isaac Asimov's robot stories were an in-depth investigation of the implications of three simple postulates. 

The Space Race (1957 to 1969)  

Science Fiction: Soft, sociological, shying away from technology. Unpopular. Practical technology for the space effort was the order of the day. It was a grand adventure and science was popular once again. 

Central Publication: The anthology Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison (1967). 

John F. Kennedy pledged his nation to putting a man on the moon before 1970. The genre suffered greatly in popularity, but obtained its first real mainstream critical praise. 

Judith Merril brought the British New Wave — a movement toward soft, socio-psychological SF with an emphasis on literary values. Moulded by the Sixties' counter-culture movement, the alien in science fiction was replaced by human beings perceived as aliens, as in Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) and Frank Herbert's Dune (1965). 

The Day of the Bestseller (1969 to date)  

Science Fiction: Hard, though with a heavy Fantasy influence. Extremely popular. 

Typical Literary Figure: Barry B. Longyear, the first person ever to win a Hugo, Nebula, and John W. Campbell award in the same year.

The soft sciences were again in fashion. Having an analyst became the new status symbol. Alvin Toffler warned against Future Shock. 

The popularity of science fiction in the visual media had a profound effect on the genre. The literary excellence of the 1960s was replaced by a return to the simpler storytelling of the 1940s. Aliens were truly alien: totally dissimilar to humans. 

From 1985 to 2000s

1985 - H.G.Wells major of science fiction novel, The Time Machine.

1900s - The first science fiction film produced at 1902, A Trip to the Moon. “Trick effects” founded by George Melies at 1907.

1930s - The amazing years for science fiction. Science was now the servant of the people, producing electric razors, penicillin, and nylon. It was embraced by the public. James Hilton parried the Great Depression with Lost Horizon (1932).

1940s - The golden age period of science fiction film. Stories of science fiction film rigidly extrapolating the effects of technological progress on society.

1950s - Science fiction recognize by Hollywood as a commercial film genre. Science fiction gained popularity because of its successful prognostication of the A-bomb.

1960s - Declining of science fiction genre in Hollywood. Kingsley Amis defined science fiction as a situation that could not arise in the world we know, but which is hypothesized in the basis of some innovations in science or technology, or pseudo-science or pseudo-technology, whether human or extraterrestrial in origin. (Amis, 18, quoted in Sobhack, 19).

1970s - Science fiction been dominant genre for Hollywood film since the release of both Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977.

1980s - 1982 is a key year for science fiction, Blade Runner which produced at this year was an influential film. The potency of its imagery helped inaugurate the “tech noir” cycle. Films that married science fiction with the ambiance of a post war crime drama.

1990s - Tech noir came to dominate filmed science fiction in a stream of varyingly successful film. For example, Dark City, The 13th Floor.

2000s - Douglas Trumbull’s effects at 2001. For example A Space Odyssey, Star Wars and Blade Runner.

Bibliography:

Rickman,G (2004), ‘Introduction’, in The Science Fiction Film Reader. New York, United States. Pp. xiii-xxiii.

Sawyer,R. (n.d.) The Evolution of Science Fiction. Retrieved from http://www.sfwriter.com/owomout.htm

Genre Definition & History of Science-fiction

Genre Definition

According to Oxford Dictionary, genre is a style or category of art, music and literature. Normally, we defined genre as type of film. As time goes by, genre is developing and more elements are adding into it. While genre is developed, the old one is discontinued. One of the characteristics of genre is the story in the films repeat again and again. It repeats with rules, convention and see what can happen around the genre. The story keep repeating may produces two effects which are it can make the filmmaker focus on the specific genre and it can also attracts the audience to the development of the story.

History of Science-fiction

How does Science-fiction come from? The term “science-fiction” was first used by William Wilson in 1851. It then started in 1896, in the pulp magazines which produced by Frank A. Munsey. The pulp magazines filled with adventure stories in different locales and periods. After that, a science magazine called Amazing Stories with science-fiction stories had been published in 1926 that edited by Hugo Gernsback. It is the first magazine that published the stories with science-fiction in the early nineteenth century. The first science-fiction film called A Trip To The Moon by Georges Melies which produced in 1902. After that, science-fiction has develops with different characteristic and more element comes out in science-fiction genre.

Bibliography:

Bould, M., Bulter, A., Robert, A., Vint, S. (2009). ‘Fiction, 1895 - 1926’, in The Routledge Companion To Science Fiction. New York, United States America: Routledge. pp. 23 – 31.

James, E., Mendlesohn, F. (2003). ‘Foreword’, in The Cambridge Companion To Science Fiction. New York, United States America: Cambridge University Press. pp. xv –xviii.

Prince,S. (2010), ‘Film Genre’, in Movies And Meaning: An Introduction to Film 5th Edition. Arlington Street, Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Pp. 260.