Rationale
Having no sci-fi background myself, my unit may be more accessible to those new to the genre. My interest in SF has come through novels generally not classified as typical science fiction, but I have come to appreciate the genre and see its great relevance to today's students.
Until recently SF has had a credibility problem in literary circles. As a genre it is often relegated to pulp—popular, pleasurable yarns rather than serious literature, worthy of academic study. This problem may be exacerbated by the fact that an easy definition of the genre seems impossible and may even be counterproductive.
When I introduce the course to students, I discuss the ongoing influence of what many consider the first science fiction novel, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818). This mythic novel provides an essential framework to discuss scientific advancements and their unintended consequences. But as others have suggested, Shakespeare's Tempest could also be considered SF depending on how we choose to define it. So in order to structure the course, I begin with an inclusive definition:
SF is a form of fantastic literature that attempts to portray, in rational and realistic terms, future times and environments that are different from our own. It will nevertheless show an awareness of the concerns of the times in which it is written and provide implicit commentary on contemporary society, exploring the effects, material and psychological, that any new technologies may have upon it.2
As a genre, SF has long addressed visual modes of communication as part of futuristic technology. Orwell gives us "telescreens," Huxley gives us the "feelies," and Dick gives us the "empathy box." In each example we can see the power of the machine-generated image—to control, to entertain, and to transcend. Most educators are all too aware of this power, in the form of television, the Internet, and other media that captivate students. When students use such technologies, the image is often privileged at the expense of the text, and this predilection can be troubling as fewer students come to high school as competent readers. Still, as our traditional understanding of literacy expands to include visual and audio information in analog and digital modalities, it is essential for students to become active, critical viewers rather than passive recipients. My goal is to show students how to critically approach a multitude of texts, including film.
Perhaps because of its emphasis on technology, SF is ideally suited for film. Even before CGI (computer generated imagery), imagined worlds came into being on the screen, capturing the popular imagination. Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927), Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and George Lucas's Star Wars (1977) remain highly influential films, perhaps best known for the director's visual interpretation of future worlds. They seem to demonstrate the capabilities of cinema that literature may lack.
Obviously SF literature can be shaped by powerful imagery and literary techniques that may not translate well on the screen. Yet traditionally, SF literature has been distinguished from canonical literature because of its primary emphasis on ideas rather than the aesthetic form the ideas take. With canonical literature, both the ideas and the aesthetics are important. So while Huxley, Orwell, and Dick all have masterful moments where the stylistic qualities of the language are apparent, the ideas presented in their famous fiction are the most interesting and significant.
While Dick's original ideas enhance the value of Blade Runner, the film is most celebrated for its aesthetics, that is, its effective visual realization of a future cityscape. In this way, the film is a fuller sensory experience than the novel. And while the novel provides some imaginary inspiration, it is the film that creates the highly textured and believable future world of Los Angeles in 2019 (versus Dick's San Francisco of 2021). Here the old, decrepit buildings coexist with new technologies like gigantic video billboards and flying cars. The streets are overcrowded with the marginalized masses—Asians, Hispanics, punks, dwarfs, and Hare Krishna devotees who have not yet emigrated off-world—swarm below in the city streets. Yet empty buildings are common, and the corporate elite, represented by Eldon Tyrell, are isolated in towering, high-tech (and ironically ancient) ziggurats. A perpetual wet darkness blankets the traditionally sunny L.A, and the police are a constant, if ineffectual, presence.
Visually Blade Runner is stunning, and the sensory richness of the film is heightened by the Vangelis soundtrack. It is a film that will allow students to explore the elements of cinema, while simultaneously helping them explore and elaborate upon ideas in the novel. Overall, this unit aims to show students how these two texts work together as one "meta-art" classic and how the mode of storytelling affects the experience.
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