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Science Fiction- Genre Codes and Conventions- LC

The science fiction genre is used to warn us about specific (often negative) points of our society, and extrapolate them to show how these points can effect us, whether that be artificial intelligence taking over, or 10 foot tall blue people defeating us.

Typical conventions of science fiction include:

-A conflict between good and evil- this tends to be humans vs something extra-ordinary (Think of the Terminator, or the Xenomorph), however the extra-ordinary is sometimes not the villain, such as the Harkonnens in the Dune films, though thee films still have the elements of the extra-ordinary, like riding huge worms.

Futuristic technology- this is to an extent. Though many do feature futuristic technology, it is not the same kind of tech as films like Star Trek. The technology may be advanced, such as T-800s, or space travel, however they still have rooting in modern society, as we can travel space, and artificial intelligence does exist.

Set in the future- in order to tell a science fiction and still have it feel realistic, it must be set in the future. For example Blade Runner (Scott, 1982) was set in (the then-future) 2019, and its sequel Blade Runner 2049 (Villenueve, 2017) being set, as said in the title, in 2049. This allows the speculative nature to work, as we cant speculate on the present since we know what's going on.

Science fiction, by definition, must deal with some sort of science, and in many cases the science used can be extremely accurate. For example, Interstellar (Nolan, 2014) created the

most accurate depiction of a black hole in a movie:

This realism allows us to feel that the scenarios playing out on screen could in fact be the future, positioning a sense of excitement in some, and horror in others.

Many science fiction films also act as horror, due to the fact that, as humans, we fear the unknown and unnatural. This comes in many different forms, but arguably the most iconic is the xenomorph from Alien (Scott, 1979)

Science Fiction films I would recommend to understand the genre:

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