The Development of the Science Fiction Genre:
Dystopic Reflections on Modernity and Post-modernity
The city has been described as a container (Mumford, 1964), and as such, it has been one of immense change. Throughout history, ideas have formulated, structures assembled, and societies destroyed. The climax of this change is the emergence of modernity. The technological, scientific, economic, political, and social transformations produced a civic society, or popular culture, that began to express its opinions and perspectives regarding society to an extraordinary level. The medium with which this was accomplished has varied, but the major ideological principles carry underlying themes and reflect historical and modern occurrences. Science fiction portrays the diversity of these views, as well as the sequence of philosophical thought which created our present era.
Some sci-fi films and literature were created for entertainment purposes alone, but the majority, especially with regards to the underlying philosophical and social perspectives, do in some form reflect the socio-economic upheavals of the late 1800's and early 20th century. However, the science fiction genre is not limited to the theater, but also encompasses every aspect of popular culture. Beginning with writings, this genre is intriguing in its bizarre and often elusive combinations of history, modernity, and imagination.
Jules Verne is nearly a universally known author in the sphere of science fiction. Creating a relatively utopic portrayal of technology in his works, scientific progress is intertwined with thrill, excitement, exploration, as well as danger (Jules Verne, 2006). Such books as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth reveal a mode of thought prevalent during this time period. New discoveries were being made in nearly every field, and this created curiosity and wonderment. While respecting the potential hazards, it showed a fascination with science rarely seen today. Science was a promising and unknown field, and many were thereby motivated to explore it through science and literature. The dominant ideals of the 19th century also played a role in this worldview, as the notorious obsession with urban and global progress in the industrial age often merged perfectly with the pursuits of science.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, science and technology have advanced exceedingly more rapidly than in any other era of human history. Society as a whole was rapidly changing, and the possibilities of what could be accomplished drove human ambition, often to an extreme. While this generated excitement and enthusiasm, it also resulted in apprehension. Although such authors as Jules Verne saw progress as idyllic, other prominent writers were beginning to see the fallacies of progress pursued for its own sake. This is one of the main factors in the development of the science fiction era – science as a tool of demise instead of healing and betterment. As the separation between the scientist and the general population grew with the complexity of the field, the understanding between the two began to disappear.
Such a radical field as science inevitably resulted in social conflict, and dystopic portrayals of scientific advancement began much earlier than the 20th century. Considered the first science fiction book, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (Science Fiction, 2006) addresses the creation of life and the responsibilities of humankind if such a power is obtained (Shelley, 1818). It is one of the first pieces of literature to ask whether a semi-human life form would be justified in wreaking havoc upon the world if mankind was the first to wrong him. Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is also an early example of dystopic science fiction. Incorporating the mad scientist image, Stevenson illustrated a disturbing view of an intensifying fascination with science, as well as concern with the morality of scientific experimentation. The ethical dilemmas that are now common place were only beginning to be addressed. Such early books led the way for the explosion of science fiction works in the 20th century.
While scientific developments have and still play a significant role in the scientific genre, it is also a manifestation of the socio-political problems and changes of the 19th and 20th century. The rapid and often surreal atmosphere fostered by this revolutionary time period understandably resulted in psychological and sociological questionings of reality by both the individual and authority. The innovative freedom the media offered allowed both feelings of apprehension and approval to be expressed. Although science fiction is not a creation of the 20th century alone, it has gained unprecedented popularity during this time period. The film industry is partly to blame, as the entertainment market exploded from the 1920’s to the present day. However, the rise in the demand for science fiction is also due to the effects of the pathway modern history has followed: mercantilism to industrialism to modernity and on to post-modernity.
Albeit the dystopic view of society has more noticeably surfaced in the 20th century, it existed in the early forms of science fiction as well. H.G. Well’s The Time Machine, written in 1895, (H.G. Wells, 2006) vividly portrays the results of trusting in technology alone. After various wars in which the bomb is the main symbol, civilization thousands of years into the future has been reduced to an existence of underground barbarous rulers steeped in cannibalism and a class above ground oblivious to their peril or slavery. This challenged the core idea of the industrial era that humanity was on a course of infinite progress.
Distrust of the bureaucracy also undoubtedly caused many of the philosophies found in science fiction books and movies. Fritz Lang’s 1926 film Metropolis was probably one of the first and most influential (Metropolis, 2006) film in the science fiction genre. The elite is depicted as living in luxury and having absolute control over the working class, which suffers underground working day after day on dangerous machines (Lang, 1926). The power of the worker is also depicted, when a revolt causes chaos and disorder, as no one is left to run the machines that the city relied upon. Dependence upon technology was a growing concern in the late 19th century, as new innovations such as electricity, running and motor vehicles became ingrained into everyday life. Once dependence upon technology began to invoke hesitation and fear of the potential outcome of the city, the dystopic view of the city and society became expressed in a futuristic manner.
Metropolis was also one of many works which depicted the atrocious living conditions of cities in that era. Child labor and unjust factory conditions were rampant, due to the success of industrialism. While the ruling elite gained the economic benefits of mass production, the working class was forced into inhumane working conditions as a means of mere survival. Critics of this new form of urbanity became highly influential with the middle and lower classes. Charles Dickens Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol, for example, all depicted the greed of the bourgeois and the oppression of those born to a lower class.
H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man is another example of the early emerging critiques of capitalism. Written in 1897, the character of the invisible man represents the failures of the market economy (Cantor, 1999). A socialist, H.G. Wells saw individualism as a road to egoism, social estrangement, crime, and class oppression. In the book, Higgins is a scientist who discovers a method by which to become invisible. This newfound autonomy allows him to act as the ultimate anarchist, so individualistic that he has become freed from all restraints. This socialist philosophy saw the disorder and inequality of a free economy and believed that it would allow individuals to become omniscient, unrestrained totalitarians.
However, the shortcoming here is that socialism merely creates the same problem. Those in power become equally corrupt as the invisible man did, as no legal restraints are placed upon them (Cantor, 1999). While capitalism results in economic inequality, governmental control is somewhat restrained. In this form of socialism, governmental control of the market leads to an unjust totalitarian government which controls the market. In turn, the corruption leads to a much larger wealth gap than ever existed in capitalism. Ironically, H.G. Wells, the founder of science fiction (Cantor, 1999), feared not order but disorder. It was such Marxist ideologies, existing in literary and philosophical spheres, which shifted the anxieties of later science fictions to socialistic critiques. Both perceived society as a dystopia, but the different forms of social ills and varying perspectives merely led to different forms of dystopic science fiction.
Social injustices were escalating not only in America, but also throughout the world. Critics rose not only to condemn the present situation but potential social ills as well. The alarming events occurring throughout the globe invoked many terrifying events of the future. Metropolis was created in Germany, for example, during the rise of Hitler’s Third Reich. Fascism dictated Italy by 1922 with Benito Mussolini (Fascism, 2006), and Communism was overthrowing czarist Russia before 1920 had begun. Views of the city and modern society were changing from dissatisfaction to terror, and this was expressed in every medium of culture and politics possible. Situated in a unique time period of rising media influence and silent films, counter totalitarian ideologies could easily be expressed, especially in free nations where totalitarianism had not taken its hold. Various perspectives and opinions of society have always existed; they have merely become freely communicated in the last two centuries.
Although a Communist or similar regime had not overthrown the United States, the inequality of capitalism still allowed for misgivings beyond the early socialist era. The disputes and tensions over new and influential technologies caused more people to begin asking questions about the society they lived in. Revolutionaries had become much more common in history, and the tumultuous atmosphere of the late 19th and early 20th centuries fostered this mindset. The globalization of society also affected the philosophical environment, as the media, automobiles, airplanes, etc. minimized the globe temporally and mentally, allowing for much more free and rapid exchange of information. Ideas could now gain acceptance in an enormously short amount of time, including radical or illogical ideologies. This merely accelerated the fear, excitement, and anarchy around the world. And as socialists within the United States became more powerful, capitalists were often plagued by the fear that capitalism would be overthrown, despite its positive aspects (Booth, 1985). This lack of balance caused continual conflict, which escalated to the climax of the Cold War. The paranoia and unease during this time were then represented in the media accordingly.
Critics of socialistic, tyrannical governments responded to the developments of Communism and its constituents. George Orwell, in 1984 (Orwell, 1949), describes the ultimate end of mindlessly following totalitarian governments and the promise of technological advances. The party represents a government which has become so powerful that it no longer requires laws or even any sort of persuading logic to control the populace. Any deviation is quickly dealt with by “vaporizing” the person, who is never seen or heard from again.
No true protests arise due to the fear, and the “proles”, or proletariats, are so concerned with remaining comfortable that every absurd deception the party provides is accepted without question. Memories are constantly erased by subtle persuasion, a vision of ultimate mind control being achieved, without a significant advance in brain technology. Orwell painted a picture where even memory was controlled, as history was not accurately recorded, and the world was progressing to a point where no living person remembered how life had been any different. This is a partial reflection of Stalin’s regime, where photographs of executed persons were altered to erase their existence.
The absolute destruction of logic, termed as “doublethink” in the book, challenges the essence of our perception of totalitarianism. 1984 not only claimed that society was heading towards a state of absolute physical control, but one of mental control as well. Here psychology and technology have also developed to such a point that the smallest change in facial expression could be discerned by the Party experts as treason. Such psychology seems implausible, and although the book is in some aspects an exaggerated satire, it does put forth possibilities that we have not yet contemplated, because no experience of such a regime yet exists. Written shortly after World War II, this was an entirely new perspective of dystopia. Here Big Brother represents not only a regime which must be obeyed at all costs, but the ideology must also be internally worshiped. The significance of this was that society had actually found methods with which to accurately determine true allegiances, regardless of physical actions. Another one of George Orwell’s books, Animal Farm, is a satire depicting the ruinous end of rebellion in the name of socialism and equality. Here the animals rebel against the tyrant farmer to create a utopian society, only to find that the pigs themselves become the tyrants. Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 also portrays such a society, where books are burned, and any real knowledge is suppressed (Fahrenheit 451, 2006). It was such works, as well as capitalistic political propaganda, which began to greatly influence the public’s opinion about socialism.
These new perspectives in science fiction were also a result of the startling advances in military technology. The events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for example, created a whole new fear – a nuclear holocaust. Not only did Americans feel less protected after Pearl Harbor in 1941, but now their government was taking a much more active stance in the creation of atomic weapons (Abbot, 2006). Although only a few such disasters in only a few cities have ever actually occurred in America, it is the possibility more than the occurrence that essentially creates the fear.
The bomb quickly became a central theme in science fiction (Wagar, 1989). As the disconcerting events of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War gave science fiction substantially more popularity and credibility (Gale Research, 1997), the nuclear holocaust and Communist dictatorships were integrated into the science fiction medium, whether plausible or not. The threat of Russian Communists during the latter half of the 20th century induced both real and unfounded phobias within both the general populace and administration. As the McCarthy era caused both distrust in Communism and capitalism, dystopic views of society continued to increase and circulate.
The immensely successful Star Wars trilogy is one such depiction of a world where wars were merely one explosion in space after the other, similar to the theme of bombs. Although extremely fantastical, it does reflect the obsession with the effects of nuclear war, a very potent threat during the Cold War. Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strange Love is a satirical representation of the nuclear war phobias, as well as a statement about the antics of the Cold War. This film addresses not only the threat of nuclear attack, but the possibility that technology could spiral out of all human control. Later films (e.g. The Matrix and The Terminator) also incorporate the idea of a nuclear apocalypse and the eventual collapse of the regulation of modern warfare within other science fiction ideologies. Ideas of extraterrestrials also originate from the idea of society being controlled by an unseen, uncontrollable force, and are intricately connected to the idea of a large scale disaster, as portrayed in the 1996 film Independence Day.
Cyberpunk is one of the recent science fiction genres of social and technological cynicism, concentrating on the social effects of machines (Cyberpunk, 2006). Such films as the Matrix and Terminator trilogies depicted a world controlled and terrorized by the machines it had created, and although it is possible to dismiss trends in cyberpunk as merely entertainment ruses or technological phobias, the ideology behind cyberpunk is not limited to the last three decades. Fear that man would be controlled by his creations can be seen much before the advent of computer technology, and cyberpunk has simply been science fiction modernizing. As the Internet and the use of computers became essential to our everyday lives, the use of cyberspace in movies revealed the fantasy and lack of knowledge behind the new technology that we allow to control every part of our lives.
As innovations such as nanotechnology miniaturize our life and pervade every aspect of it, bewildering questions about the nature of these mechanisms result (Selin, 2006). The rapid increase in technological advances also encourages us to think of much higher possibilities, as so much has changed in a short period of time. The paradoxes of time in theoretical physics are consequently more frequently contemplated, in such movies as Back to the Future and The Butterfly Effect (Time Travel in Fiction, 2006). Technology has also caused the repeated themes of life and the soul within the increasingly life-like machines science has created. One of the earliest examples is 2001: A Space Odyssey (Nofz and Vendy, 2002), which depicts a computer as having human emotions.
As biological and genetic technology has advanced in the late 20th century, a new genre of science fiction has emerged that focuses on biotechnology. Movies such as The Sixth Day, Jurassic Park, The Island, and Gattaca, portray the endless ethical dilemmas of embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, and genetic enhancement (Gattaca, 2006). In the 1982 film, Blade Runner, genetic engineers have created machines which look identical to humans – replicons for slave use. However, once the replicons rebel, humans are forced to war with their creations, and decide whether the replicons are actually human. The idea of playing God and the essence of life is clearly portrayed in these films as a route to dire abuse and paradoxical dilemmas. The city in this film is completely dark, and even technology is not a real improvement. Wars, congestion, and unsanitary conditions still prevail, and it is the quest for technology that has created more violence and oppression. It is merely a modernized form of the early science fictions – fear of the consequences of delving into the unknown realms of science and the essence of life.
Besides biological dystopias, environmental catastrophes are also a common theme in such movies as The Day After Tomorrow, where our use of the biosphere causes a new ice age, global warming, or some other disaster which destroys society, symbolized in the destruction of major cities. As cyberpunk has begun to decline in popularity as the mysticism of computers dies with their common use, science fiction has merely shifted to what is unknown and possibly troublesome in the 21st century. These are simply new forms of the science fiction genre, which have again emerged from the social factors and debates of the era. They merely reflect these issues in a provoking, entertaining, and often exaggerated form, causing us to ask questions about apparent and unapparent reality.
Dystopic science fiction tends to portray urbanization as a weak, destructive, or bleak entity. Beginning with Metropolis, the city, symbolized by the skyscraper, has become a powerful manipulative tool and isolated leisure of the elite that the worker is forced to maintain. Others, such as Terminator 2, Blade Runner, and Time Machine see the city as doomed to destruction by the work of human hands, whether by warfare or scientific meddling. And in The Day After Tomorrow, the true weakness of the city is revealed, as global climate changes obliterate nearly all traces of human civilization. Science fiction is created by individuals who see pride in human creations as folly, as so many forces can instantly destroy entire civilizations.
While globalization has eradicated the ancient view of the city as an isolated entity, the basic idea of the city remains. Instead of a society being represented in a single city, it is represented in merely a mass of cities. The borders of nations, states, and cities play a complex role, but society as a whole can be seen as one city, which includes the diversity of our planet. The changes of the city’s form, and the entire global landscape, have incurred enthusiasm, concern, and trepidation within the administrative, bureaucratic and proletariat domains. As the media gained influence and power, these various ideological views were expressed in the form of science fiction. It is a mirror image of modernization, distorted to the perspectives of various ideologies. Its success and popularity were a result of its unique era, and it is a collection of philosophical statements in addition to entertainment. The importance of the city is apparent in nearly every science fiction book and film, as it is the major cities that are the center of corruption or are destroyed by sudden disasters. It represents the fears of society and the potentially realistic future of the city.
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