ruins. In movies like Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner
(1982), the setting suggests a combination of both.
Of course, outer space is also a popular science-
fiction setting for obvious reasons. In many of these
examples, the technology-versus-humanity theme is
presented in part by dramatizing the consequences
of science taking us places we don’t necessarily
belong—or at least in which we are not physically
and spiritually equipped to survive. Science-fiction
films made before the 1970s tended to feature ster-
ile, well-ordered, almost utopian speculative set-
tings. Movies like Scott’s Alien(1979), with its grimy
industrial space-barge interiors, reversed that
trend by presenting a future in which living condi-
tions had degraded, rather than evolved.
The following list includes some notable science-
fiction films: A Trip to the Moon(1902; director:
Georges Méliès); Things to Come(1936; director:
William Cameron Menzies); The Day the Earth Stood
Still(1951; director: Robert Wise); It Came from
Outer Space(1953; director: Jack Arnold); Forbidden
Planet(1956; director: Fred M. Wilcox); Invasion of
the Body Snatchers (1956; director: Don Siegel); On
the Beach(1959; director: Stanley Kramer); Village
of the Damned(1960; director: Wolf Rilla); Fahren-
heit 451(1966; director: François Truffaut); Solaris
(1972; director: Andrei Tarkovsky); The Man Who
Fell to Earth(1976; director: Nicolas Roeg); Stalker
(1979; director: Andrei Tarkovsky); Mad Max 2
(1981; director: George Miller); Nausicaä (1984;
director: Hayao Miyazaki); Brazil(1985; director:
Terry Gilliam); The Fly(1986; director: David Cro-
nenberg); Akira(1988; director: Katsuhiro Ôtomo);
Until the End of the World(1991; director: Wim Wen-
ders); Ghost in the Shell(1995; director: Mamoru
Oshii); Twelve Monkeys (1995; director: Terry98 CHAPTER 3TYPES OF MOVIES
Science fiction and special effectsJames Cameron’s
Avatar(2009) puts a new spin on the science-fiction genre
by presenting humans as the cold-blooded alien invaders
using superior technology to threaten an unspoiled world
and its compassionate natives. The planet’s symbiotic
creatures and spectacular landscapes were created using
the most sophisticated digital technology in the history of
cinema. Ironically, the movie genre founded on audience’s
dread of technology also happens to depend heavily on
viewers’ attraction to high-tech special effects. The
speculative spectacle that audiences expect of science
fiction means that most films in the genre feature elaborate
sets, costumes, makeup, computer animation, and digital
effects.