Endangering Science Fiction Film (AFI Film Readers)

At a time when SF cinema has become `dangerous' once more for its cultural relevance and its ontological, epistemological, and aesthetic exploration of grand ideas and problems, it has also become `endangered'-primarily by superheroes and the genre of fantasy. Redmond and Marvell's collection is thus a welcome reminder of the power of SF film to provoke us to thought and action in the real world in which we live. Bringing together strong essays from an international mix of media and cultural studies scholars who write on a variety of important topics and films, Endangering Science Fiction Film would also work well in the classroom. -Vivian Sobchack, University of California, Los Angeles

Between cognition and commodification, revolution and reaction, affect and effect, between the sublime and the ridiculous, SF is perilous and imperilling. It can dislocate any sense of space and time, unsettle any exceptionalism, destabilise any prejudice, or it can hew to privilege and reaffirm power. Either way, as this collection shows, SF is a threat. -Mark Bould, University of the West of England

Dangerously taboo, progressive, conservative; provocative; Endangering Science Fiction Film, an exciting collection of insightful and rigorously researched essays, shatters our comfortable preconceptions about SF film and the present and future worlds that they explore. A must-read for the SF student and scholar. -Stacey Abbott, University of Roehampton