This podcast explores constructions of Otherness in science fiction. Looking at a wide range of aliens, monsters and cyborgs, this episode discusses how difference is encoded thematically in popular sci-fi texts. The episode begins with an overview of historical ideas about the monstrous before moving on to discuss depictions of Otherness in films as diverse as Terminator, The Omega Man and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Bibliography
Clarke, James. The Cinema of James Cameron: Bodies in Heroic Motion. Columbia University Press, 2014.
Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome. “Monster Culture (Seven Theses)”. The Monster Culture Reader. Ed. Jeffrey Andre Weinstock. University of Minnesota Press, 2002. 37-56.
Colossus: The Forbin Project. Dir. Joseph Sargant. Universal Pictures, 1970. Film.
Goscilo, Margaret. “Deconstructing “The Terminator.” Film Criticism, Vol. 12, No. 2, 1987, pp. 37-52.
Larson, Doran. “Machine as Messiah: Cyborgs, Morphs, and the American Body Politic.” Cinema Journal, Vol. 36, No. 4, 1997, pp. 57-75.
Sound Study. “Sci-Fi Spaceship Sounds for Focus | Study Ambience [1 HR].” YouTube, November 9, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tyilJfmLDU&fbclid=IwAR35-_WLRrfAwkqrGJvUplL0p9Qk6AiIXb9zPi5hkeh0r-SLxjQR3yglYSY.
Recchia, Edward. “Invasion of the Body Snatchers: High-Tech Heroes and Electronic Villians in Films of the Computer Age.” Studies in Popular Culture, vol. 17, no. 2, 1995, pp. 1–15.
The Omega Man. Dir. Boris Sagal. Warner Brothers, 1971. Film.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Dir. Jim Sharman. 20th Century Studios, 1975. Film.
The Terminator. Dir. James Cameron. Orion Pictures, 1984. Film.
Science Fiction and Culture 