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If science fiction is really about the present, then it's no surprise that the longstanding tensions between the United States and Middle Eastern countries should make itself known in tales of "desert planets." From Tattoine to Klendathu, planets full of barren dunes are usually not-so-subtle allegorical stand-ins for a stereotyped "Middle East." Let's take a closer look at five science fictional tales from the United States that deal more or less openly with the relationship between that country and the Arab world to find out more. More »
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It's Super Tuesday! No, that doesn't mean you're going to get bathed in cosmic radiation and gain super-strength and diamond skin. (At least, not necessarily.) Rather, if you live in one of a bunch of states, you'll be choosing your party's presidential candidate. When you make that momentous choice, the most important question to ask is, which president would be the most science fictional? We've got our own polling booth right here. More »
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Cloverfield has everybody talking about the way science fiction is dealing with the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, but that giant monster movie is hardly the first SF creation to tackle terrorism, high-tech surveillance, and governments run amok in the post-9/11 era. As the United States has cracked down on civil liberties at home, and invaded nations abroad, in the name of national security, a crop of futuristic and fanciful tales have sprung up to satirize and justify "the war on terror." These tales generally deal with one of five crucial post-9/11 themes, which we've enumerated (with examples) for you below. More »
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It's another installment of Entropist, a scifi culture column by futurist design maven Geoff Manaugh, author of BLDG BLOG. What would it be like to make horror films for the Red States? Maybe we've seen too many mutants warped by environmental damage and dioxin exposure, enough of government conspiracy flicks featuring Dick Cheney stand-ins and bad plots. Maybe it's time to make a horror film even the Red States can appreciate. Maybe it's time to unleash a Gigantic Hillary Clinton upon the streets of Kansas City. Fear so easily becomes politicized. Nightmares are the realm of unexamined scapegoats. More »
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When the movie Independence Day aired in theaters in summer 1996, audiences always cheered when aliens blew up the White House. Finally a journalist asked the White House Press Secretary about this strange audience response, and he replied that people were cheering because "they knew that the president had gotten to safety." The 1990s Clinton Era was a strangely science fictional time, an era when the President insisted that Camp David receive the SciFi Channel and White House press conferences dealt with Will Smith movies. With the possibility that another Clinton will be in the White House this year, it's time to go back through the mists of time to contemplate the five biggest themes in Clintonian scifi, or scifi created during the first Clinton's regime. We've laid it all out for you. More »
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