unconscious, concerns are at the root of a great
deal of artistic expression.
Science-inspired anxiety is behind the defining
thematic conflict that unites most science-fiction
movies. This conflict can be expressed many ways,
but for our purposes let’s think of it as technol-
ogy versus humanity or science versus soul.^5 This
theme is expressed in stories that envision technol-
ogy enslaving humanity, invading our minds and
bodies, or bringing about the end of civilization as
we know it. The antagonist in these conflicts takes
the form of computers like the infamous HAL in
Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968);
robots or machines in films like Ridley Scott’s Blade
Runner(1982), the Wachowski’s The Matrixseries
(1999–2003), and James Cameron’s Terminator
movies (1984–2003); and mechanized, dehumanized
societies in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis(1927), Jean-Luc
Godard’s Alphaville(1965), and George Lucas’s THX
1138 (1971).
Alien invaders, another common science-fiction
antagonistic “other,” are also an outgrowth of our
innate fear of the machine. As soon as humankind
was advanced enough to contemplate travel out-
side the earth’s orbit, we began to speculate about
the possibility of life on other planets. Our fear of
the unknown, combined with our tendency to seeEarth as the center of the universe, empowered this
imagined other as a threatening force, endowed
with superior destructive technology, bent on dis-
placing or enslaving us. The otherness of the most
malevolent aliens is emphasized by designing their
appearance to resemble machines or insects. In
contrast, the science-fiction movies that reverse
expectations and portray alien encounters in a
positive light typically shape their extraterrestrials
more like humans—or at least mammals. One need
look no further than Star Wars’ comfortably fuzzy
Chewbacca (as opposed to Imperial storm troopers
and Jabba the Hutt) for evidence of this tradition.
While most science-fiction movies stress the
otherness of the antagonist, the opposite is true for
the sci-fi protagonist. Science-fiction heroes are
often literally and figuratively down-to-earth. They
tend to be so compassionate and soulful that their
essential humanity seems a liability... until their
indomitable human spirit proves the key to defeat-
ing the malevolent other.
Because science-fiction narratives often deal
with what-ifs, the setting is frequently speculative.
If those sci-fi movies are set in the present day, they
often heighten the dramatic impact of invasive
aliens or time travelers. Most commonly, the genre
places its stories in a future profoundly shaped by
advances in technology. This allows filmmakers to
hypothesize future effects of contemporary cultural,
political, or scientific trends. These speculative set-
tings may be high-tech megacities or postapocalyptic(^5) Per Schelde, Androids, Humanoids, and Other Science Fiction
Monsters: Science and Soul in Science Fiction Films(New York:
New York University Press, 1993).
1 2
The other in science fictionScience-fiction films often
emphasize a malevolent alien’s “otherness” by modeling its
appearance on machines or insects. The benevolent visitors
in Steven Spielberg’s popular science-fiction film Close
Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) [1] look much more
reassuringly humanoid than the hostile invaders his
collaborators created for War of the Worlds(2005) [2].
SIX MAJOR AMERICAN GENRES 97