HISTORY OF SCI FI

The first science fiction films appeared very early in film history, with a lot of silent films discussing themes of (at the time) science fiction, such as sending a rocket to the moon, seen in ‘A Trip to the Moon, Dir Méliès, 1902. The films often reflect current ideas of scientific research, such as:

·         2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968, Dir. Stanley Kubrick, when over a decade prior, 1956, Dartmouth College showed interest and began researching into artificial intelligent.

·         The Martian, 2015, Dir. Ridley Scott, when during the time research and preparations are being made to send a group of people to Mars.

·         Pacific Rim, 2013, Dir. Guillermo Del Toro, when it isn’t directly linked, CO2 emissions are a large part of the films plot.

The first science fiction films, from the 1900s to the 1930s, explored what is possible with science, and was influenced by science fiction literature. Science fiction literature was very popular at the time, and therefore influenced the films produced, such as ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hide’ and ‘Frankenstein’. They became popular due to how they were out of the ordinary, and this often caused them to be horror films as well as sci-fi.

Once we got to the 1930s and 40s, films advanced greatly in general, having the inclusion of sound. Films also reflected the current idea of World War II, with ideas of how it would affect the world in the future. Despite this, Sci-Fi films were still generally meant to spook people, and still had to become a mainstream genre.

During the 1950s, the sci-fi genre began to explore the idea of space, with how the Space Race was either in thought, or underway during the 50s. Many films explored the idea of space travel, but also aliens and the idea of extra-terrestrial life, such as ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’, ‘Invaders From Mars’, and ‘The War Of The Worlds’, a lot of horror and thriller is still within the sci-fi genre.

The 1960s sci-fi becomes less associated with horror and thriller, and becomes a lot more popular, with releases such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Lost World, and Battle in Outer Space. This is what many would consider the ‘golden age’ of sci-fi, in which the genre started taking a mainstream role.

In 1970s, sci-fi started to leave enter the young person’s cinema, and move more towards action, with the release of the huge sci-fi franchise, Star Wars. This gave sci-fi the younger approach, and appealing to all ages while still being able to be scary, with films like ‘Alien’

The 1980s is when many of sci-fi’s classics began to emerge with films like ‘ET’, ‘Back To The Future’, ‘Star Trek’, and the decade beginning with two films ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’ and ‘Star Wars: Return of the Jedi’ being massively popular. This allowed for sci-fi to become it’s own genre and not be a secondary genre that was tagged onto thriller, horror, but it still remained action, with sub genres such as space opera and space warfare emerging.

The 1990s saw the surfacing of CGI to help produce serious blockbusters, and elevated sci-fi from the olden practical effects that were expensive and hard to maintain, with films such as The Matrix, The Lawnmower Man, and Jurassic Park. Films are becoming more and more likely to become cult classics due to going where films haven’t gone, a lot of the time due to how they haven’t been able to.

Since then, sci-fi has become a respected staple in cinematic history, being able to advance beyond action or thriller films, with films such as Jupiter Ascending, Avatar, and The Hunger Games, which still have action elements, but delve deeper into different aspects such as political commentary and space opera. A large part of science fiction films of recent years has become less about newer films, and more about expanding on current franchises, for example, new movies in the 2000s and 2010s have expanded the franchises of, Ghostbusters, The Planet of the Apes, Godzilla, King Kong, Star Trek, Star Wars (of which happened twice), and others. There seems to be very little in sci-fi, and the film industry as a whole, of newer franchise, with notable new franchises being Pacific Rim and Avatar, which are both awaiting a sequel in 2018, and other science fiction films such as Passengers (2016) making its budget of $110,000,000 back only just as of 20 January 2017.