Invaders at the door : science fiction film invasion narratives of the 1950s

Public talk Warrnambool city centre campus in association with the arts centre

In the eye of the beholder? The unadulterated beautiful and the threatening grotesque in a selection of young adult science fiction narratives

This paper looks closely at the aesthetics of the bodies and landscapes in Monica Hughes' Invitation to the Game and M.T. Anderson's Feed – the flesh, the wires, and the pixels – to consider the complicated relationship between the often “unadulterated” beautiful and the “threatening” grotesque in these (and other) science fiction narratives that involve the hybridisation of the artificial and the organic.

Endangering science fiction film

Endangering Science Fiction Film explores the ways in which science fiction film is a dangerous and endangering genre. The collection argues that science fiction's cinematic power rests in its ability to imagine ‘Other’ worlds that challenge and disturb the lived conditions of the ‘real’ world, as it is presently known to us. From classic films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Solaris to modern blockbusters including World War Z and Gravity, and directors from David Cronenberg to Alfonso Cuarón, contributors comment on the way science fiction film engages with dangerous encounters, liminal experiences, sublime aesthetics, and untethers space and time to question the very nature of human existence. With the analysis of a diverse range of films from Europe, Asia, North and South America, Endangering Science Fiction Film offers a uniquely interdisciplinary view of the evolving and dangerous sentiments and sensibility of this genre.

Eye tracking the sublime in spectacular moments of science fiction film

In this chapter I will explore science fiction film spectacle as a particular type of endangering sensorial experience. Employing eye-tracking technology to assess where a small group of viewers look, I will contend that through its spectacular set pieces, science fiction film creates two distinct gazing regimes. First, such spectacular scenes create an experience of sublime contemplation where the viewer is (haptically) lost in the wondrous images liquefying before them. These moments of sublime contemplation create the condition where the viewer feels as if they have had an outer-body experience; one that has been cut free from the borders of the linguistic-led self of everyday life. Second, I will argue that certain scenes of science fiction spectacle work to commodify the viewing experience, creating a gazing pattern that is ‘driven’ by the mechanics of the event moment, by the theme park ride aesthetic and the logic of late capitalism. Set in this sensible, empirical context, the sublime dangers of science fiction film can be considered in two distinct ways. On the one hand, when the viewer is caught gazing in a moment of sublime contemplation there is embodied transgression and transcendence: here I will postulate that the viewer exists purely as a carnal being, or are newly if momentarily constituted as post-human, in the impossible present or possible future world that has been spectacularly imagined for them. On the other hand, when the viewer is presented with a spectacle that demands attention to the mechanics and drivers of the scene as it unfolds, a viewing position is created where the very rhythms of the theme park ride is created, where capitalist life is simply being re-engineered. Sublime and spectacular science fiction endangerment, then, liberates and destroys, and it is the encounter between these two vexing poles that is of central concern in this chapter. My focus will predominately be on the eyes, on vision. Undertaking a small-scale empirical study that uniquely utilizes eye tracking technology, this chapter will concentrate on what viewers attend to, gaze at and ‘contemplate’ when viewing two differently constituted ‘spectacle’ sequences: the sun explodes scene from Sunshine (Boyle, 2007) and the Godzilla enters Manhattan scene from Godzilla (Emmerich, 1998).

Introduction to the special issue on science fiction

This introduction to a special issue of Thesis Eleven devoted to science fiction begins by exploring the way the genre has been handled by German and French critical theory and their Anglophone equivalents. It proceeds to a discussion of the historical sociology of the genre and, thence, to an account of what it terms the dialectic of science fiction endangerment. Finally, it concludes with a brief overview of the various contributions to the issue.

Why do you write? Creative writing and the reflective teacher

Whether we write creatively or academically (or both) it takes time to understand the reasons why we ‘want’ to write, and the more we write the more we fully begin to appreciate why we write and why we have to write in the first place. From the age of nine, I kept a diary and now, 31 years later, I’m still writing down thoughts, opinions, feelings and aspirations. Nearly every day, I actively participate in recording my reflections. These reflections are part of an academic writing ritual that fuels research ideas and potential narratives associated with reflective teaching practices. I have discovered that the daily practice of imagining and writing compared to academic research and writing has more similarities than differences. Other creative writers who operate in higher education as learning and teaching academics have also taken note of ‘the similarity between the processes of writing fiction, and writing learning texts, not the contrasts’ (McVey, 2008, p. 290, emphasis). More specifically, I have come to realise that strengthening one’s use of the imagination via self-confessional writing exercises is a central ingredient in order to fulfill a well-rounded learning and teaching career.

This story wants to be danced : creative writing, dance, convergence and confluence

I suggest ways the discipline of dance can enrich and challenge the discipline of creative writing. I focus particularly on improvisation in dance, relating this to creative writing pedagogy, classroom structure and activities. Much possibility exists in utilising moments when creative arts disciplines touch. How might creative writers and creative writing courses use such fusions? I draw on material theory and briefly upon transformative and collaborative education theories in my exploration of these ideas.

Diasporic Greek-Australian writing deconstructed : challenging Europe with new voices, new perspectives

Contemporary Europe, culturally, historically and linguistically is filled with contradiction, silences and paradox.

Diasporic creative writers in Australia who are associated, either by virtue of their cultural heritage or through an intellectual engagement with Europe, can in fact provide a radical potential in contemporary European cultural analysis.

Deconstructing and interpreting narratives, prose and poetry of bilingual writers can open up unexplored areas which, up till now, have been either repressed or marginalised. This critical endeavour, drawing on recent post-colonial criticism, is a new way to interpret fiction, stories and even modern fairytales. It appears less threatening and confronting to venture into those cultural, psychological and subliminal areas which contemporary Europe perhaps wishes to forget or renounce. It is however an alternate method which can be used to compel criticism to puzzle over such areas and so open up new perspectives as well as allow for new voices.

Madonna of the eucalypt : novel and exegesis

The thesis comprises a novel and exegesis. The novel explores migration and spirituality in a family saga that moves from the islands of Sicily to the Australian Mallee desert. The exegesis concentrates on the "unknowability" of the creative process, which is explored through the journey motif.

Exploring the fantastic: new critical frameworks in an evolving genre

This thesis (creative practice/exegesis) argues that fantasy fiction can function as a progressive socio-political literature. Using the Marxist theory of the Frankfurt School it explores the relationship between fantasy and science fiction via utopian/dystopian representation. Through this dialogue a new understanding of the genre is voiced.

Alien aesthetics

Melbourne was visited by Bruce Sterling, one of the founders of the science fiction genre of cyberpunk, for the very first time. Bruce's work as a future thinker and visionary who has been shaping the forefront of design and technology can be followed at his Wired column, Beyond the Beyond. His public lecture at Deakin Edge on August 18th tackled the bleeding edge of contemporary culture: Alien Aesthetics. The idea of Alien Aesthetics is better known through the work of Ian Bogost. According to Bogost, Alien Aesthetics is not concerned with trying to "satisfy our human drive for art and design, but to fashion design fictions". These kinds of alien design fictions can be seen in the images produced by Google's Inceptionism, which capture the deep dreams of artificial neural networks. Alien Aesthetics is also present in pop culture, as in the work of artist Holly Herndon, whose new album Platform has been heralded as a fusion between critical thinking about technology and creative exploration of what she calls "alien sounds". This kind of cross-pollination between contemporary theory and creative practice also took place at a free parallel event at LOOP Bar on August 17th: Conversations about Alien Aesthetics. This event was organised by a partnership between the School of Communication and Creative Arts at Deakin University and The New Centre of Research & Practice, a global research platform dedicated to transdisciplinary exchanges between art and science, and featured local and virtual speakers from the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and Brazil.