I: Foundations of Physics and Fiction

1a: What is Science Fiction? (Definitions)

1b: Imagining Other Worlds (Heliocentrism)

1c: The Extraterrestrial Voyages of Early Cinema Video Response: Introductions and Imagination

 

II: Romantic Origins of the Genre

2a: Automatons (The Uncanny)

2b: Superheroes/villains (Electromagnetism)

2c: Frankenstein and The Golem

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III: The Industrial Utopia

3a: The Future City (The Atom) Lecture

3b: Utopia and Nature (The Aether)

3c: The Legacy of Metropolis in Modern Science Fiction

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IV: The Industrial Dystopia

4a: Dystopic Colonialism (Human Error)

4b: Relativity and Responsibility (Special Relativity)

4c: Imagining the Romantic Past in Alraune

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V: The Technology of War

5a: The European Godzilla (Societal Collapse)

5b: Nazi Science (Fringe Theories)

5c: Censorship of Science Fiction Essay I Due

 

VI: European Aftermath

6a: Exiles in the Alien Landscape of Europe (Operation Paperclip)

6b: Revolutionary Thought (Quantum Theory)

6c: The Spectacle of the Cold War in Raumpatrouille

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VII: Paranoia and Imposters

7a: The Threat of Disney (Simulacra)

7b: Big Brother (Social Control)

7c: Simulations of Life in World on a Wire

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VIII: The Legacy of the Rocketeers

8a: The Space Race (Black Holes)

8b: Anxiety over Armageddon (Star Wars)

8c: Socialism in Space

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IX: Nuclear Tensions

9a: The Rise of Survivalism (The Post-Apocalyptic Western)

9b: The End of the East (Reunification)

9c: The Other as Ally in Enemy Mine

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X: Post-Colonial Projections 

10a: The Alien as Self (Cultural Exoticism)

10b: Väterliteratur (Space Opera)

10c: Coming to terms with the Past in Vortex

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XI: Space and Escapism

11a: Deconstruction of the Genre (Exoplanets)

11b: The Objectified Self (Designing Life)

11c: The Alien as Macbeth in The Wild Blue Yonder

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XII: The Coming Ecology

12a: Final Days and Final Girls (Ecological Terror)

12b: Alternative History and Artificial Intelligence (The End of History)

12c: Toxic Traditions in Hell

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XIII: The Digital Age

13a: Trans-humanity (Digital Afterlives)

13b: Connectivity (Social Minds)

13c: The Delusions of a New Age in Lo and Behold