Author Archives: johannah rodgers

RWA7: Science Fiction Across Media

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We have dedicated almost half of our course to reading, studying, and thinking about 20th c. science fiction in print media.  While our next three classes will be dedicated to a consideration of science fiction in non-print media with a focus on film media, given the short amount of time we have to dedicate to this exploration, there is no way it will be as thorough as even our introductory investigation of print-based 20th c. science fiction in the U.S.  Nevertheless, we all know how important non-print media is to the genre of science fiction and it is my hope that you will continue your study of that subject in future classes.

For this unit, I hope to give you some basic information about how to read a film and what some of the differences are in analyzing print-based, or verbal, and film-based, or visual, texts.  To that end, I have put together some readings that will help lay out the basic terminology for analyzing films and a few of the key issues involved in such an analysis.

Overall, we will continue to use our “What, How, Why, So What?” Model of Textual Description, Analysis, and Interpretation even though the texts we will be studying are films, not printed short stories.  While several “Elements of Fiction,” can be used to discuss non-print texts, when it comes to the technical analysis of film and how meaning is constructed in film, there are significant differences across media.  I leave it up to you to decide how involved in learning about and understanding the “Elements of Film” you wish to be.  Should you decide to use a non-print text as the focus for your final project, you may need to become quite involved with these elements.  However, if you do not decide to do that, I invite you to dedicate your time in this unit to thinking about the similarities and differences between print and non-print media in relation to what you already know about the “Elements of Fiction” and the properties and affordances of verbal language.

For our next class, please read  “The Language of Film” by Michael Wohl (2008), re-read Philip K. Dick’s short story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale,” and watch and take notes on Total Recall (1990).  Afterwards, in your Reading Journal, please write about your experience of watching this film after reading the story, paying particular attention to the SIMILARITIES and DIFFERENCES between the How and Why of the texts in different media and your experiences of reading each.  Finally, for the purpose of class discussion, please choose one scene from the story to discuss in relation to the film.

Class Notes, March 15, 2017 (David Roman)

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Today__
1)Questions about the Midterm
:3 sections (1/ definitions of key words; 2/ short essay response (about three paragraphs) re: elements of fiction; 3/ short essay response re: elements of SF)
Sec1
1.Genre
2.Definition-
3.Why the term is important in SF studies
Sec2
Three paragraphs about some particular element of a story we have read(examples:setting,
plot,character, theme, narrative point of view, figurative language/style).
(sample question):
-*the way in which a story is told often helps to develop the meaning of the story. Consider the narrative
points of view in ONE of the following stories*-
Sec3
One page(three to five paragraphs) open-ended question related to the study reading, and interpretation of SF.
(sample question):
-*Write about two diff characters from two diff stories that we have read
Compare/contrast characters and reflect on similarities and differences may have to say about SF in the era they werent wrriten in*-
_____________________________________________________________________
2) Re: Vlad’s question, three major “eras” of SF + genre issues
>Pulp Era – 1920s-1930s
>Golden Age – 1938-1946 example(“we can remember it for you wholesale” by Philip K. Dick)
>New Wave – 1960s-1970s
-(Post New Wave)-current era
*theorectical – ideal
*historical – realistic
1945- Atomic bomb was first used
(Early 1960s):
the comics code(1960s)
silver age of comics(1960s)
Civil Rights Movement
The Beatles
JFK Assassination (1963)
(post new wave)
9/11
Questions about government
-counter cultural revolution of the 1960s
_______________________________________________________________________
3)”Helen O’Loy” Discussion
*published 1938-*WW2 is about to begin
*CHANGE IN EDITORSHIP OF AMAZING STORIES*
*Hugo Gernsback
*Successor to Hugo: { John C Campbell }
happy/tear-jerker ending
Highly structured
Technologies can replicate and mimic humanity
Technologies become human like
Helen could not imagine being a robot
with “Helen O’Loy” robots are equal to humans; in “Reason'(1941),robots are suprassing humans and
dominating them
Specific details of the technologies being built and implemented
Both stories are about sentience and human consciousness
If we can create life, does that give us the right ot take it away?

SF Studies Keywords

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Professor Rodgers’ Keywords for Literary Study

SF [Definitions of SF] [History of SF as a Genre of Literature]

Genre [Norton LitWeb] 

Genre SF

Novum [sf encyclopedia]

Canon

Megatext [sf encyclopedia]

Verisimilitude

Extrapolation 

Neologism

Cognitive Estrangement

Reading Protocols

Subjunctivity

“Zero World” (the empirically verifiable properties of the world, i.e., “the real world” (Suvin))

Pulp [sf encyclopedia]

Medium / Media

Science fiction sub-genres:

Space opera
Hard sf
Steampunk [sf encyclopedia]
Cyberpunk  [sf encyclopedia]
Slipstream
Scientific romances
Horror
Fantasy
Satire

SF in the U.S. in the Twentieth Century: Four Major Eras

Pulp Era
Golden Age
New Wave
Post-New Wave

SF Themes: Identity/Exploration; Nature/Culture; Self/Other; Human/Machine

Gender
Time Travel
Automation
Artificial Intelligence
Dystopia
Utopia

RWA6: Preparing for the Midterm Exam and Reading Gernsback and H.G. Wells

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The main assignment for this week is to prepare for the midterm exam, which you will be taking on Monday, March 20.  Additionally, although we have not yet had much time to discuss the “pulp era” in science fiction, which extends roughly from 1926, when Hugo Gernsback, who is sometimes referred to as the “father of science fiction [in the U.S.],” publishes the first issue of the magazine Amazing Stories until 1938 when Robert W. Campbell takes over the editorship of the magazine from Gernsback, I’d like you to read some texts from this period.  Please read the following: 1/ Gernsback’s April, 1926 editorial to the first issue and first volume of Amazing Stories, 2/ Gernsback’s June 1929 editorial to the first issue and first volume of his next magazine Science Wonder Stories, and 3/ a story by H. G. Wells published in the 1926 issue of Amazing Stories and/or The Time Machine (1895).  Please don’t hesitate to e-mail me with any questions about the midterm or the readings: jrodgers@citytech.cuny.edu

March 13, 2017 Class Notes: Preparing for the Midterm, Monday, March 20

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Preparing for the midterm exam:

  • Review Course Notes (both those posted and those you have taken)
  • Review your assignments
  • Prepare study cards for each story that we have read in the context of the elements of fiction and SF keywords, themes, and issues

 

Our midterm exam will consist of two parts: 1/ some short definitional questions of Literary and SF Keywords; 2/ two short essay questions, i.e., three paragraphs each, each asking you to do a close reading of a passage from a text or to discuss some attribute of or theme of a text in the context of other texts that we have read

What we have read so far:

“We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” (1966) by Philip K. Dick

“Day Million” (1966) Frederick Pohl

“The Second Inquisition” (1970) by Joanna Russ

“Time Considered as a Helix of Precious Stones” (1969) by Samuel Delany

“About 5,750 Words” by Samuel Delany

“There Will Come Soft Rains” (1950) by Ray Bradbury

“Reason” (1941) by Isaac Asimov

“Fondly Fahrenheit” (1954) by Alfred Bester

“Helen O’Loy” (1938) by Lester Del Rey

 

Common themes and concerns:

1/ there is some confusion or disorientation at the beginning of the story that is generally cleared up by the end

2/ all of the stories deal in some way with advanced technologies

3/ all of the stories are concerned in some way with the fate of humanity

4/ all of the stories try to guess what the future will look like

5/ all of the protagonists are affected or impacted by technologies

6/ many of the stories deal in some way with the relationships between humans and machines and/or nature and culture/society

7/ All of the stories are interconnected.  The authors write in response to the themes, characters, plots, and settings of other authors

 

Some key discussion questions:

1/ What will be/is the fate and/or role of humanity in a world of endless technological progress?

2/ Are humans inferior machines?

 

Sample midterm exam questions:

Section 1: Definitions of Keywords and Terms

Sample question:

 

Genre

 

Definition:

 

Why the term is important in SF studies:

 

Section 2: Three paragraphs about some particular element of a story we have read [see elements of fiction]: setting, plot, character, theme, narrative point of view, figurative language/style

Sample question:

 

The way in which a story is told often helps to develop the meaning of the story. Consider the narrative points of view in ONE of the stories we have read.

 

Section 3: One page (three to five paragraphs) on a more open-ended question related to the study, reading, and interpretation of SF

Sample question:
Write about two different characters from two different stories that we have read.  Compare/contrast these characters and reflect on what their similarities/differences may have to say about the characteristics of sf in the era in which they were written.

RWA5: “Hyper-Reading” Del Rey and Reviewing SF Keywords

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RWA5.1: “Hyper-Reading” Del Rey

This week, rather than engaging solely in “close reading,” as we have for the last several weeks, we will engage in a combination of “close reading” and what the literary critic N. Katharine Hayles refers to as “hyper reading.”  To engage in this “hyper reading,” or what is sometimes called, “distant reading” exercise, please read Lester Del Rey’s “Helen O’Loy” (1938) in the context of its original publication.  The story was published in Astounding Science Fiction and edited by John W. Campbell.  If you’d like to read a bit more about the author, you will find information about Del Rey here.

While you will certainly attend to the elements of fiction and science fiction in the story as you read it, you will also be thinking about these and the story in general in relation to other stories and texts published in the magazine.  To do this, please flip through the issue of the magazine in which the story was published.  Look at the paratextual elements: the cover, the advertisements, the table of contents, the editor’s introduction, and the titles and authors of the other stories included. Then, please read the story, attending not only to the verbal content of the story but also to any illustrations or captions that accompany it.  

Afterward, in your Reading Journal, please write about your experience of reading this story.  Did reading it in the context of its original publication change your understanding of the story?  If so, why?  If not, why not?  How did the inclusion of one or more illustrations relate to your reading of the story?  Did the illustration(s) enhance your understanding of the story or were they more of a distraction?  Did the illustrations function in some other way?  Please explain.  

Finally, of the many different paratextual elements of the magazine (cover, illustrations, advertisements, titles, captions, table of contents, editorial), choose one that most stood out for you.  Why did it interest you?      

For your reference and assistance with this Time Travel Experience:

Wikipedia Timeline of Historic Inventions

Wikipedia: 1938

RWA5.2: Literary Studies and SF Keywords: Please read through the definitions and comments that have been contributed to the SF Keywords post by members of our class and review this list of terms, making sure that you have an understanding of what each one means.  If you have have any questions about any of these terms, please bring these to our next class session.

Class Notes, March 8 (Yamit Benamu)

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Agenda
1. Bester Discussion
2.RE-orientation- where we are -where we are heading
3. Next Assignment
Writing texts, How to summarize and write a synopsis.
Asimov’s “Reason” (1941) how to describe, what happens, what are some themes and issues in the story
The coming to self consciousness of the robot (QT, Cutie)
Science and Religion / Advancement of machine learning/ master/slave dialectic
Allegory of the Cave : Plato c5th century BCE Ignorance vs truth and representation
Descartes : QT quotes Meditations “I think, therefore I am.”
Jean Jacque Rousseau, “the social contract” – The rights of man
Astounding SF John C. Campbell Editor.
Golden Age- Very heavy in Hard SF
Can time travel be considered Hard SF?
Why is superman not Hard sf?
Teleportation at the the atomic level now exists
“Quantum Entanglement” physics
“Fondly Fahrenheit” and “Reason” are Hard SF
Myth- is not really the domain of SF, but it is related to SF
HUBRIS, SENTIENT< MEGATEXT VS CANON
Megatext_ Writer-ly term. writers response to other writers, reflections, connections, relationships between texts
Canon- Critical term – Outlined by a larger community
Media- Medium
Literary Studies                 SF Studies               Media Studies
Writing/ print/ verbal language
Material culture
Photography emerges in mid 19th century
9th Century BCE writing—>Plato Homer–>0–>15th c printing press—>1840 photography–>1880 telphone–>1900 Film Electricity 1994 1914 WW1
Lester Del Rey “Helen O’Loy” 1938
Robert A Heinlein “Universe” 1941
Works discussed/referred too
Martian
Jurassic Park
Life
AI (2001)
Wolverine
Passenger
The Arrival
Star Wars -Space Opera
Dragon Ball Z
Wayward Heights

March 6, 2017: Class Notes

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March 6, 2017

It is a fiction about a robot gaining consciousness.  [see Professor Rodgers’ handout: “Writing About Texts”]

“Reason” by Isaac Asimov is a short story.  It is about …

There are these two engineers who are living inside a ship and they need to keep the reactor going.  They get a new robot and they put it together and it is like an advanced robot.  HOw do they put it?  The robot’s name is QT, also called “Cutie.”  So they tell QT that they made him and his purpose is to serve them, but QT does not believe it.  So QT goes off and develops his own story about how he was created, which is the reactor, i.e., the Master created him, to serve the master and the humans in there are inferior and they need to go and now he is in charge and blah, blah, blah.  

This story is about a robot gaining consciousness and achieving his beliefs.  Setting: space station?  Year?: 2058 A.D. Main characters: Mike Donovan, Gregory Powell, QT-1, The Master, other robots, Franz Muller, Sam Evans

The story is about engineers and a new robot.  QT thinks he is smarter than the engineers.  QT makes all of the robots follow him.  He does not believe that beings and planets are

The story is about two engineers that constructed a robot whose logic contradicts the logic of their reality.  The conflict is whether or not the robot can complete its purpose based on its beliefs or the reality.

QT-1 believes that human beings are not important.  They die fast and they are expendable.  

Destiny (video game)

TV show: Dr. Who (“The Ood”): alien race made to serve

“Reason” by IA is a short story set in the year 2058AD.  The robot that they have constructed gains consciousness and believes that it the humans that built him did not really build him.  Therefore, he develops his own beliefs and that the converter is his one true creator and his one purpose in life is to serve him/her/it. 

Narrator: third person omniscient

Can you read Bester’s “Fondly Fahrenheit” as a continuation of Asimov’s “Reason”?  Why?  In what ways may it be a commentary on Asimov’s “Reason”?