Martian Pictures

Analyzing the Cinema of the Red Planet

O’Brien Stanley, Nicki L. Michalski, Lane “Doc” Roth (Autoren)

Buch | Softcover

246 Seiten

2018
McFarland & Co Inc (Verlag)
978-0-7864-9893-2 (ISBN)

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Mars has long served as a screen upon which we project our dreams, hopes and fears. Each chapter of this text takes a different concept - such as the depiction of women, othering, fears of government or environmental issues - and examines how that concept has been depicted in movies about Mars.

Mars has long served as a blank canvas for illustrating society's aspirations and anxieties--a science fiction setting for exploring our "future history." Covering a wide array of films from Soviet propaganda to Hollywood blockbusters, the authors examine a range of themes and concepts in motion pictures about Mars--attitudes about women, fear of government, environmental issues--and how these depictions changed over time. A complete filmography provides a concise summary of each film discussed.

O’Brien Stanley is a professor of film studies in the Department of Communication at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, specializing in television and film genre studies, science fiction film, and Super-8 film production and preservation. Nicki L. Michalski is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at Lamar. Her areas of study include popular culture, spiritual communication and rhetoric. Lane “Doc” Roth recently retired from Lamar University, where he was an associate professor. His primary interests are the depth psychology of Carl Jung, film theory and classic American films. Steven J. Zani is a professor of comparative literature and academic dean at the American University of Ras al Khaimah, in the Arab Emirates. His interests include popular culture, biblical hermeneutics, romanticism and Freudian psychoanalysis.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

“In the beginning…”

Preface

Introduction: Mars as a Blank Canvas

Part 1: Exploring Mars

One. Conformity, Survival and Hope: Genre Parallels Between Combat Films and Movies on Missions to Mars

Two. Deviant Discoverers Lead the Way to Mars: Critical Thinkers, Rational Recorders and Non-Conformists

Three. Space: The Final Frontier and the Agencies That Get Us There

Part 2: Invaders from Mars

Four. Alienated: Martians as the Other

Five. Zombies of the Stratosphere

Six. “I Think They Want Us to Come and Find Them”: Prometheus, Film and the Greek Myth of Etiology

Part 3: Mars and Society

Seven. Human Women, Female Martians and the Evolution of Interplanetary Gender Role

Eight. Is There a Tea Party on Mars? Business and Politics as Usual on the Red Planet

Nine. Planet B: Climate Change, the Exploitation of Earth and Mars’ Portrayal as Refuge and Resource

Ten. Using Our Religion: Heaven, Hell and the Projection of Human Vanity on the Martian Landscape

Eleven. Not Quite Total Recall: An Analysis of the Three Versions of the Story

Twelve. The Funny Side of Mars: Comedic Science Fiction

Thirteen. Survivalism and “Prepping” for Life on Mars

Filmography

References

Index

Erscheinungsdatum	14.07.2018
Zusatzinfo	13 photos, filmography, bibliography, index
Verlagsort	Jefferson, NC
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Gewicht	308 g
Themenwelt	Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Film / TV
ISBN-10	0-7864-9893-5 / 0786498935
ISBN-13	978-0-7864-9893-2 / 9780786498932
Zustand	Neuware