Lost in space: Impact of American Sci-Fi Movies to Popular Culture

We live in a world of advanced technology, but as curious being we always imagined far beyond what science has told us. As technology expands, our minds grow exponentially with out ability to imagine as well. Movies are a way to express and appreciate one’s mind. Science fiction stories are imaginative stories based on scientific facts. When we integrate these two, we have ourselves a great movie genre. As we humans are, this movie genre has evolved over the years. From the ridiculously crafted saucer-pans imagined as spaceships from the 50’s to the extraordinarily realistic spaceship from Interstellar. As John Beard indicates in his article (Beard, 1998:2), every sci-fi movie has become evolutionary but not revolutionary due to the fact that the technological changes aren’t always dramatic. All things aside, why does these American films have a part in the popular culture? How do they affect the lifestyles of people? Firstly when we think about the entertainment industry on the global level, the USA products always come first. Having the resources and brains of a futuristic world for sci-fi they know what to provide for the audience. Also from the John Beard’s article (Beard, 1998:2), Americans assume that they are a part of these futuristic scenarios. They like to think that they own the future and many of these movies promote some great imaginary futures.

As the movies become more complex, the glimpse of future for the people also becomes more complex and intriguing. Well before 80’s we didn’t have dark and decaying portrayals of the world. When this transaction happened, the audiences felt like the movies were being honest about the future and they loved it. The movies I am going to be discussing mainly are 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick, Alien by Ridley Scott and Interstellar by Christopher Nolan.

Interstellar (2014) by Christopher Nolan is a space exploration movie, which also deals with the concept of love. The movie is set on future where the cultivation in the world is dying. To survive extinction, a group of people is selected to find a new world to live on. The premise is simple, but it is done in such a dramatic and atmospheric way the viewers are glued to their seats. The aspect that sets this movie apart from any other movies of this generation is that the science behind the movie is supported from many points of views, as the scientist Kip Thorne was an advisor for the movie. For example, when they land on the high-tidal ocean planet, the time passes a lot faster than our time. This can be explained by the phenomenon that the time runs slower when you’re in a stronger gravitational field.

What does this mean for popular culture? In Storey’s article it’s said that popular culture is what is left over after we decide what the high culture is. (Storey, 2009:6) It stands out as an inferior culture to the high culture. However, the exclusivity of a popular film’s audience nowadays is related to the product itself. That’s what happens with Interstellar and I believe that this movie doesn’t think of it’s audience as stupid people and wants them to appreciate and discover more about the scientific facts given in the movie. This doesn’t happen quite often that and I’m sure it will stay as a milestone for making sci-fi movies. One can have a gripe about the narrative of the movie though. Towards the end of the movie the protagonist played by Matthew Mcconaughey explains what happens and what is going to happen in the black hole. In 2001, viewers are left to examine and figure out what is explained at the end. This was done with great cinematography and with no dialogue. However in Interstellar everything is explained for the audience. Also the relatable characters help to attract viewers as well. If this wasn’t a story about a guy trying to see his daughter again, not many could relate to the whole saving the world motive. I believe that was lacking in 2001. There was nothing for the audience to grasp the story. That was why people didn’t appreciate that movie for what it was, at the time. Some movies need time to cement their status in the movie genre.

Another point that should be made I believe is loneliness in the movie. We are nothing and everything in the universe. When we see Matthew’s character Cooper drifting into the black hole or when we see the desperation of loneliness in Matt Damon’s character Dr. Mann’s eyes, we feel as pathetic as they are in that moment. Whatever we do, we have to face some obligations alone and it can be scary. The soundtrack of the movie is sometimes quite loud and often very still. Loudness can make us feel the greatness of the obstacles they are trying to get through and the stillness makes us feel alone. Sci-fi movies often deal with loneliness and if done right, the audience will feel lonely as well. I believe the other movies in this article deal with loneliness more greatly than Interstellar though.

Directed by Ridley Scott, Alien is a sci-fi horror movie made in 1979. It follows the story of a crew in a spaceship get killed one by one by an unknown alien. At first one of the members of the crew got impregnated by a strange alien egg, then it burst out of his chest later. This alien called Xenomorph is the ultimate survivor in the whole universe, however to reproduce it needs a host organism to grow inside. This creature became an icon or an eikon in the popular culture over the decades. Popular culture has seven pillars to stand on and eikon is one of them (Fishwick, 1985: 131–132). We can dissect these seven pillars to identify all movies to distinguish their status in the popular culture. Whole movie is based around this alien killing all the people in the spaceship until Ellen Ripley played by Sigourney Weaver succeeds to put him outside the airlock of the ship. The premise is quite indifferent to the other slasher movies like Friday the 13th or Halloween. The uniqueness of the movie comes from the fact that it’s in space and everything is an unknown. Introducing sci-fi elements to the horror genre was quite new at the time and it was a huge hit. The Xenomorph is partly seen throughout the movie, keeping the suspense high all the time. This deadly monster is quite tall and has a very distinctive look and also has acid for blood that can melt through basically everything. However, there’s something interesting about this creature altogether. According to Stephen Mulhall this alien form is simply the life itself, the greatest Darwinian masterpiece that survives and reproduces (Mulhall, 2001:19). We later learn in Prometheus (a spin-off to Alien) also directed by Ridley Scott that these creatures are made for destruction for a whole planet. Dropping a hundred Alien eggs would completely destroy any life in any planet. This creature is libido itself, life and pure immortality. Being in the popular culture for more than thirty years, let’s talk about why Alien related media keeps coming back. Alien was scariest when it was screened back in the day, due to the fact that the unknown makes everyone uneasy in his or her seats. Nowadays we know what happens in the movie even if we haven’t seen in before. This is the power of popular culture, even though it makes us appreciate the works of past we still can’t get the original experience of media like Alien. However, it still makes us hungry for more of this franchise. Popular culture feeds the hunger of general masses of people and vise versa. Also in Alien the loneliness factor is a big game changer in movies. In usual slasher movies, the victims run away from the killer, trying to reach a person to help them. In Alien, there’s nobody to help and nowhere to run in the spaceship. This claustrophobic atmosphere is copied a lot in many sci-fi movies. One of those is Gravity, which is a quite new film. In Gravity an astronaut is set loose from her station after a crash and trying to get back to the earth safely. Like in Alien there’s nobody to help and the chances of success is very low. In both of the movies quietness shows how lonely the characters are up in space.

Even though Stanley Kubrick is a very different director from other well-known filmmakers, his presence in popular culture cemented itself over the years. As a filmmaker, the artistic nature of his directing and his attention to detail is always present in his movies. 2001: A Space Odyssey is his sci-fi masterpiece made in 1968 and still remains as one of the best in that genre. The groundbreaking visuals, excellent presentation and an awe-inspiring score give the audience a one of a kind experience. Why is Kubrick, a very strange direction, a huge inspiration for mainstream Hollywood? To understand that we should look at the sci-fi movies after 2001; such as Alien, Terminator, Blade Runner, Star Wars Trilogy and etc. All of these very popular sci-fi movies were made after 2001 and it proves that this genre had the best recognition with it.

The movie is about evolution and the plot seems disconnected for many people. It opens with the apes becoming aware of their surroundings with the Monolith, an outer space object. Then it follows a crew of people in a spaceship on a mission. Until the end of the disconnection of HAL9000, the concept of tool is very important. The evolution started with the tool with apes and it ended when tools didn’t need the humans. HAL9000 is so advanced that its creators the humans are boring and unnecessary. When HAL tried to kill them, Dave defeated HAL with the most basic object, a screwdriver. This ends the relationship between mankind and tools. However, now the humans have to face the fact of drifting into the space and dying. Then man faces his death and the evolution continues with the birth of the star child at the end. (Hoch, 2000:1,2,3) We may not see it at first but, one of the seven pillars of popular culture theories is present in this movie. The evangelical story of Jesus dying and resurrecting is a subtext here with Dave. The God can be depicted as the creatures that made monolith and took in Dave for his last meal. Theology will not fall, because it helps and creates tradition. (Fishwick, 1985:97) Belief functions as a social category even if nobody believes in that spiritual belief system (This theory comes from Slavoj Žižek*). It doesn’t have to be put there intentionally; it can be already in the mind of the filmmaker without thinking about theology.

Science fiction genre in movie industry had its first chance with Metropolis (1927), however it didn’t catch the attention of the masses until 2001: A Space Odyssey. Nowadays the genre grows so exponentially, we can’t find many big budget movies without any elements of sci-fi. As I’ve addressed above, this impact creates a phenomena in popular culture which shapes the way people think. It makes people more immersive with science and broadens their horizons. In Fishwick’s Parameters (Fishwick, 1974:9), it is said that pop challenges the boundaries and eliminates the conventional walls between any form or art, non-art and high and low culture. Back in the day the science was a high-end topic, which only a few people were capable of understanding, but now with the impact of American sci-fi cinema many people grasp at least the basics of sciences. We can make an example of Interstellar and the scientific debates after it’s release. To sum up, sci-fi genre in American cinema is getting more and more attention every year and the impact of it on the popular culture is inevitable.