nous: A Butt Load of Research Part 2

Moving onto the next genre

Conventions and Tropes of the Science-Fiction Genre:

Science Fiction films deal with speculative, fictional-science that is not widely accepted by the mainstream scientific community. Themes and plots typically revolve around futuristic settings and elements along with aliens and time travel. Science fiction films also tend to have social or political commentary and also my deal with philosophical issues such as the human condition.

Other major themes of science fiction films include:

magic or the supernatural
monsters - which then typically ventures into the horror genre
disasters and/or apocalyptic events
the human mind/brain or identity
robots

For the visual style of science fiction films, there are really two categories of images: alien and familiar. The alien images being those shots and angles that audiences are not accustomed to seeing and the familiar images being the images and shots expected to be used within film. The alien images may be repeated in order to normalize them within the film, then making the familiar images "alien." Another option being the juxtaposition of the two types of images.

Science fiction typically includes commentary on social issues into the plot, using either more an allegorical viewpoint or a futuristic setting to display what could happen. Most controversial issues are represented through two general story lines: Utopian or Dystopian. The more common being a Dystopian society, to show what is wrong with society in current time and what it could lead to.

Soft Science Fiction

I talked about this briefly in a previous post, but now I'd like to go further in depth.

Soft science fiction surrounds the social sciences such as psychology, anthropology, economics, politiacal science, or sociology. Films may focus more on the emotions of characters or on the overall setting and it's impact on the characters. Social science fiction falls under this sub-genre. Social science fiction focuses on society and themes of human nature.

Examples:
Host (2013)
Her Dir. Spike Jonze (2013)
I'm Here Dir.Spike Jonze (2010)