look at the figures and technologies of the per-
sonal computing movement.
Benedick, Richard.Ozone Diplomacy. Boston: Har-
vard University Press, 1991. Provides a detailed
examination of the discovery of the ozone hole
and the negotiations that led to the Montreal Pro-
tocol.
Cook, Richard C.Challenger Revealed: An Insider’s
Look at How the Reagan Administration Caused the
Greatest Tragedy of the Space Age.New York: Avalon,
- Traces the history of the space shuttle’s de-
velopment and deployment, describing the
equipment malfunctions and internal NASA de-
cision making that led to the crash.
Erickson, Jim, and James Wallace.Hard Drive: Bill
Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire. New
York: John Wiley & Sons, 1992. A thorough exam-
ination of the company; provides analysis of
Microsoft’s initiatives and releases throughout
the 1980’s, including profiles of competitors.
Fitzgerald, Frances.Way Out There in the Blue: Reagan,
Star Wars, and the End of the Cold War. New York:
Touchstone Press, 2000. Explores the history of
the Strategic Defense Initiative and President
Reagan’s attempt to provide the United States
with protection from nuclear attack.
Gregory, Jane, and Steve Miller.Science in Public:
Communication, Culture, and Credibility. New York:
Plenum Press, 1998. Discusses the ways in which
science came to the attention of the American
public in the 1980’s.
Reilly, Philip R.Abraham Lincoln’s DNA and Other Ad-
ventures in Genetics. Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.:
Cold Spring Harbor University Press, 2000. In-
cludes explanations of early advances in genetics
and DNA, including polymerase chain reaction
and mutation analysis, and discusses applications
of those techniques.
Shilts, Randy. And the Band Played On: Politics, People,
and the AIDS Epidemic. New York: St. Martin’s
Press, 1987. This exhaustive account of the spread
of AIDS in the United States discusses how the
search for a cure shaped medicine and epidemi-
ology.
Cat Rambo
See also AIDS epidemic; Apple Computer; As-
tronomy; Bioengineering; CAD/CAM technology;
Cancer research;Challengerdisaster; Cold War; Fetal
medicine; Genetics research; Halley’s comet; Infor-
mation age; Medicine; Microsoft; National Energy
Program (NEP); Nuclear winter scenario; Ozone
hole; Plastic surgery; Prozac; Reagan, Ronald; SETI
Institute; Space exploration; Space shuttle program;
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).Science-fiction films
Definition Motion pictures that focus on the
impact of actual or imagined science on society
or individuals
Early science-fiction films were associated with unrealistic
effects that often made them seem campy, especially to later
audiences. By the 1980’s, however, computer-assisted spe-
cial effects made possible a new level of realism that funda-
mentally transformed the nature of science-fiction cinema.
The films of the 1980’s thrived on these new effects technolo-
gies, which allowed filmmakers to represent the impossible
in a realist and compelling fashion.
A new generation of computer-assisted special ef-
fects was pioneered in the late 1970’s and showcased
in such movies asStar Wars(1977),Superman: The
Movie(1978), andAlien(1979). As a result, the
1980’s began with audiences expecting a high level
of sophistication from science-fiction films. Many
such films were sequels to the groundbreaking work
of the late 1970’s, including twoStar Warssequels,
The Empire Strikes Back(1980) andReturn of the Jedi
(1983), as well asSuperman II(1980),Superman III
(1983),Superman IV: The Quest for Peace(1987), and
Aliens(1986). It was in the science-fiction genre
that Hollywood’s twin emerging preoccupations with
sequels and effects-driven spectacle reached their
height, greatly encouraged by the determination
that each new movie’s special effects should improve
on the standard set by its predecessor.
The success of these series served to demonstrate
that the most apt literary models for cinematic sci-
ence fiction were not literary texts but comic books,
which similarly dispensed with both inner experi-
ence and explanations. Other notable contributions
to the superheroic subgenre of cinematic science fic-
tion includedFlash Gordon(1980),RoboCop(1987)
andBatman(1989). Animated movies made little
progress, although the advent in the West of Japa-
neseanimefilms, withAkira(1988), offered a pointer
to the untapped potential of that supplementary
medium.The Eighties in America Science-fiction films 859