Science Fiction

English speech

The science fiction genre is much more extensive and complex than we think. But what are most popular now are the sub-genre space opera themed movies such as star wars. But there is no simple definition of science fiction.

History

Fantasy fiction has a long history. The early Greeks were entertained by epic poems about various gods, monsters, and fantastic journeys to distant worlds. In the following centuries, fiction kept pace with scientific and geographic discoveries. Although the term 'science fiction' wasn’t used until the mid-19th century, but there are works before that time that we actually can call science fiction material and those works definitely could be some of the influences to this genre.

Core elements

The genre science fiction doesn’t have any special core elements because there are sub-genres in sci-fi and that would make it almost impossible to take out any core elements. But two of the most popular sub-genres and their core elements come here;

Space opera (Space Adventure)

This sci fi focus is more about action and a bit of romantic adventure and the setting is very often in space or some foreign spacy land. The films could actually have been common action movies. Movies in this type of sci-fi Star Wars, Stargate and Battlestar Galactica.

Post-apocalyptic (doomsday) books

This subgenre is a subcategory of dystopias. In these depictions, the civilized world is completely or partially gone under and people are fighting for survival. These films are often set further into the future. Good and well-known films include such as Planet of the Apes, Children of Men and Mad Max.

Important films

Star Wars

Star Wars is a franchise that primarily consists of a series of American science fiction films created by George Lucas during the 1970s, all the way to the 2010s. The first in the film series, Star Wars, premiered on May 25, 1977 in the United States and quickly became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon. The film's success led to two sequels, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). Twenty-two years after the original film's premiere did George Lucas a creation of a second trilogy as a prequel to the original trilogy consisting of Episode one  - The Phantom Menace (1999), Episode two - Attack of the Clones (2002) and Episode three - Revenge of the Sith (2005). In 2012, Lucas sold the rights to the Walt Disney Company. Ten years after Episode Three released the first part of the sequel trilogy, the seventh film in the series Episode seven - The Force Awakens (2015). It will be followed up by Episode eight (2017) and Episode nine (2019).

Planet of apes

Planet of the Apes is an American science fiction film from 1968, directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. It is based on the novel of the same name by Pierre Boulle. It received very much attention for its differently shaped social criticism where people and monkeys change places.

Three astronauts crash-land on a planet ruled by apes. They are captured, placed in cages and treated like contemporary apes. At the end of the film discovers George Taylor (played by Charlton Heston) that it is not another planet they landed on, but in fact they come back to earth in the future.

Avatar

Avatar is an American science fiction film, directed and produced by filmmaker James Cameron. Avatar had its world premiere in 2009. Avatar is Cameron's first film where computer animation expired on creating a new world, his early science fiction films have instead contained animated feature in stories that played out on Earth. The year is 2154 and humanity is forced to colonize and exploit a new planet. Indigenous people killed and deforestation. The film's protagonist, Jake Sully (played by Sam Worthington), a former Marine Corps soldier, wounded in battles on Earth and become paralyzed from the waist got the chance to be able to walk again.

Techniques used

The techniques that are used in sci fi are different. It depends if you look at a post-apocalyptic movie or a space opera movie. But in general there are much action, sometimes very fast sequences of a happening and sometimes long, extended scenes. The mechanics and technical devices in the movies are very futuristic made. There are many close-ups of futuristic technologies and scientific elements, the story is very often the conflict between good and evil. The producers also often uses something called Computer-generated imagery (CGI for short) and is the application of computer graphics to create or contribute to images in art, printed media, video games, films, television programs, and simulators. The visual scenes may be dynamic or static, and may be two-dimensional, though the term "CGI" is most commonly used to refer to 3D computer graphics used for creating scenes or special effects in films and television.

The lightings in sci-fi movies are sometimes very colorful or in a grey-ish color; it depends on director and sub-genre.

Actors/directors of importance

Harrison ford

He signed a Hollywood contract with Columbia and later Universal. His roles in movies and television remained secondary and, discouraged; he turned to a career in professional carpentry. He came back four years later, however, as Bob Falfa in American graffiti. Four years after that, he hit colossal with the role of Han Solo in Star wars (1977). Another four years and Ford was Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).

Jennifer Lawrence

Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence is best known for playing Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games (2012)
her big break came when she played Ree in winter’s Bone (2010), which landed her Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. Around this time, Lawrence scored the role of a lifetime when she was cast as Katniss Everdeen in the big-screen adaptation of literary sensation The Hunger Games (2012).

Steven Spielberg

Undoubtedly one of the most influential film personalities in the history of film, Steven Spielberg is perhaps Hollywood's best known director and one of the wealthiest filmmakers in the world. Spielberg has countless big-grossing, critically acclaimed credits to his name, as producer, director and writer. In a career spanning more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres and his early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as archetypes of modern Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking.

Influences

There are a number of ancient or early modern texts but they were all written before the term “sci-fi”.  These texts often include elements such as fantastical journeys to the moon or the use of imagined advanced technology.

One of the earliest and most commonly-cited texts for those looking for early precursors to science fiction is the ancient Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, the first known work of recorded literature. French science fiction writer Pierre Versins  argued that Gilgamesh was the first science fiction work due to its treatment of human reason and the quest for immortality. In addition, Gilgamesh features a flood scene that in some ways resembles work of apocalyptic science fiction.