Do Tread on My Dreams: The Perception of Cityscape in Science Fiction Films

Number: 25 April 1, 2007
Cem Kılıçarslan
EN

Do Tread on My Dreams: The Perception of Cityscape in Science Fiction Films

Abstract

The city, the urban landscape with its idiosyncratic skyline and bird’s eye presentations, has been one of the most dominant and recurring images of the cinematic representations of the science fiction genre. This preoccupation with the city and its visual depictions is hardly coincidental. An analysis of science fiction films with regards to their utilization of the cityscape and individual works of architecture reveals that there is a correlation between the meaning created by the science fiction film and the works of architecture shown on the screen. The architectural elements used in science fiction films are primarily compelling representatives of the modernist architecture and urban planning. Therefore, they make a visual commentary on the meaning created by the film in parallel with the ideology and mentality of the modernist thinking. Nevertheless, a survey of prominent examples of the science fiction genre reveals that these films make use of modernist architecture and urban planning to depict an inhuman, oppressive and totalitarian world; a view remarkably in contradiction with the basic tenets of the modernist ideal.

References

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  2. Æon Flux. Dir. Karyn Kusama. Perf. Charlize Theron, Martin Csokas, Jonny Lee Miller and Sophie Okonedo. Paramount Pictures, 2005.
  3. Albrecht, Donald. Designing Dreams: Modern Architecture in the Movies. New York: Harper&Row, 1986.
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  8. Blade Runner. Dir. Ridley Scott. Perf. Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos and Daryl Hannah. The Ladd Company, 1982.
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APA
Kılıçarslan, C. (2007). Do Tread on My Dreams: The Perception of Cityscape in Science Fiction Films. Journal of American Studies of Turkey, 25, 45-66. https://izlik.org/JA64AB78ZJ
AMA
1.Kılıçarslan C. Do Tread on My Dreams: The Perception of Cityscape in Science Fiction Films. JAST. 2007;(25):45-66. https://izlik.org/JA64AB78ZJ
Chicago
Kılıçarslan, Cem. 2007. “Do Tread on My Dreams: The Perception of Cityscape in Science Fiction Films”. Journal of American Studies of Turkey, nos. 25: 45-66. https://izlik.org/JA64AB78ZJ.
EndNote
Kılıçarslan C (April 1, 2007) Do Tread on My Dreams: The Perception of Cityscape in Science Fiction Films. Journal of American Studies of Turkey 25 45–66.
IEEE
[1]C. Kılıçarslan, “Do Tread on My Dreams: The Perception of Cityscape in Science Fiction Films”, JAST, no. 25, pp. 45–66, Apr. 2007, [Online]. Available: https://izlik.org/JA64AB78ZJ
ISNAD
Kılıçarslan, Cem. “Do Tread on My Dreams: The Perception of Cityscape in Science Fiction Films”. Journal of American Studies of Turkey. 25 (April 1, 2007): 45-66. https://izlik.org/JA64AB78ZJ.
JAMA
1.Kılıçarslan C. Do Tread on My Dreams: The Perception of Cityscape in Science Fiction Films. JAST. 2007;:45–66.
MLA
Kılıçarslan, Cem. “Do Tread on My Dreams: The Perception of Cityscape in Science Fiction Films”. Journal of American Studies of Turkey, no. 25, Apr. 2007, pp. 45-66, https://izlik.org/JA64AB78ZJ.
Vancouver
1.Cem Kılıçarslan. Do Tread on My Dreams: The Perception of Cityscape in Science Fiction Films. JAST [Internet]. 2007 Apr. 1;(25):45-66. Available from: https://izlik.org/JA64AB78ZJ