NecroFuturism
Jan. 10th, 2005 01:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jack_babalonNecrofuturism: The study of dead ideas of the future. Whatever happened to the bubble helmeted he-men of the yellowed and dusty science pulps standing firm against a swarm of bug eyed monsters with a ray gun in one hand and a damsel in distress in the other? Whatever happened to the silver jumpsuited space explorers of the early atomic age with their chisled chins, phallic rocket ships and the box shaped robot servants with chests of light up buttons? Hell even as a kid I can remember those cheesey movies predicting the complete downfall of civilisation, where savage punk rockers & bad latex masked mutants lurked among the nuclear ruins of New York City in the far and distant year of 1999.
Why am I so fascinated by this? One part is the kitsch of the imagery, I can remember being a kid and going through anthologies of the history of science fiction. The pictures filled me with a sense of excitement, as if the future I was reading about was surely on it's way soon, and by the time I would be an adult I would be somewhere out amongst the stars. Another part of it is the unique reflection this field of fiction provides us of the culture that produces it. The intergalactic manifest destiny of my grandfathers science pulps to the UNesque "Federation of planets" led by very human looking aliens that seemed to vary only by the make up applied to the forehead speaks volumes of the direction we as a society think we're going.
Today's tomorrow is very different and has been best defined (in my own humble opinion) by Ridley Scott's "Bladerunner" mixed with Orwellian omens of a corporate totalatarian society with a sprinkling of William Gibson's "Cyberpunk" novels thrown in. But then again who knows what laughable images our childrens children will say about Grandads antiquated idea's of "Cyberspace", "Cloning" and
"Nanotechnology".
Why am I so fascinated by this? One part is the kitsch of the imagery, I can remember being a kid and going through anthologies of the history of science fiction. The pictures filled me with a sense of excitement, as if the future I was reading about was surely on it's way soon, and by the time I would be an adult I would be somewhere out amongst the stars. Another part of it is the unique reflection this field of fiction provides us of the culture that produces it. The intergalactic manifest destiny of my grandfathers science pulps to the UNesque "Federation of planets" led by very human looking aliens that seemed to vary only by the make up applied to the forehead speaks volumes of the direction we as a society think we're going.
Today's tomorrow is very different and has been best defined (in my own humble opinion) by Ridley Scott's "Bladerunner" mixed with Orwellian omens of a corporate totalatarian society with a sprinkling of William Gibson's "Cyberpunk" novels thrown in. But then again who knows what laughable images our childrens children will say about Grandads antiquated idea's of "Cyberspace", "Cloning" and
"Nanotechnology".
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
on 2005-01-10 07:33 pm (UTC)RE:Dig it
on 2005-01-10 07:53 pm (UTC)It does make one wonder what the "working man" of science fiction would consist of?
no subject
on 2005-01-10 08:56 pm (UTC)Stories of drudgery, monotony, and servitude told from the robot's or clone's perspective, I would guess.
Heh!
on 2005-01-10 10:37 pm (UTC)Re: Heh!
Don't forget Mona Lisa Overtime.