Saturday, November 10, 2018

Science Fiction was made possible by VISIBLE social change


I very much appreciate intelligent movie reviews because they save me -and how many others ? - time and money .
The best science fiction movies are based on the science fiction literature of scientifically literate writers or professional and gifted scientists like Carl Sagan ( " Contact " ) and Isaac Asimov ( " The Last Question " ) or by the decidedly odd but brilliant H.P Lovecraft ( " The Color of Outer Space " ) .

            One science fiction horror movie that gave me my first big scare was " The Curse of Frankenstein " ( circa 1957 ) . That was based on the Mary Shelley cult classic " Frankenstein " ) ( "  I will be with you on your wedding night ! " ) And her novel soon after the Italian scientists Galvani and Volta and the British Michael Faraday had explored the wonders of " animal electricity ".

               Cosmic horror and the arrogance of SCIENCE are great themes. Isaac Asimov explained how good science fiction projects present day trends in science and technology on to future SOCIAL orders. Asimov explained that science fiction only became possible in the last few centuries when PROGRESS and SOCIAL CHANGE really become visible to ordinary people.

                In 1938 ( night before Halloween   ) a radio version of H.G. Wells' " War of the Worlds " caused widespread panic in the United States. Of course, the world was on the brink of another war of the nations.

                 A number of 1950s film noir horror films like " The Day the World Ended " were chilling warnings to my generation that the SPACE AGE might never get off the ground.



Image result for Mary Shelley and Galvani

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Ron