James Tiptree Jr.’s “The Girl Who Was Plugged In” is a dismal depiction of the relationship of one woman with her body, and the relationship between that body and the world. The story, first published in 1973, presents a dystopic future where revered celebrities referred to as “gods” are elevated by mega-corporations, most notably GTX, [...]
Set at 8:49pm, “somewhere in the 20th Century,” Brazil (1985) conveys nightmarish aspects of the past, present, and future. Its unnamed metropolis is dark and dystopic. When the bombs explode, the band quite literally plays on because terror is so commonplace. Denizens dress in the fashion of the 1940s, and the propaganda posters are styled [...]
James Tiptree Jr.’s “The Girl Who Was Plugged In” examines the ways technology can intervene, expand, and complicate the relationships and boundaries between a body and a person. First published in 1973, it is steeped in the cultural questions of the day regarding women, their bodies, and their agency. Written by an author who used [...]
Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake imagines a near-future, where the technology to improve humanity abounds, but is ultimately used to destroy it. The text delivers its brand of morality with a heavy hand, and within it many prominent themes of Science Fiction converge. It is an ecocriticism, and a cautionary tale, blurring the lines between [...]
Science fiction portrays a reality that is beyond what is currently our own. This reality may be presented in the form of an alternate or expanded present or past, or an imagined future. Through the exploration and use of metaphors of other-worldly elements and events, and predicted technological advances or outcomes, Science Fiction deals in [...]
