McLuhan’s Galaxies: Science Fiction Film Aesthetics in Light of Marshall McLuhan’s Thought

132 Pages·2019·1.74 MB·English

by  Artur Skweres

Second Language Learning and Teaching
Issues in Literature and Culture
Artur Skweres
McLuhan’s Galaxies:
Science Fiction
Film Aesthetics
in Light of Marshall
McLuhan’s Thought
Second Language Learning and Teaching
Issues in Literature and Culture
Series editor
Mirosław Pawlak, Kalisz, Poland
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13879
Artur Skweres
McLuhan’s Galaxies:
Science Fiction Film
Aesthetics in Light
of Marshall McLuhan’s
Thought
123
Artur Skweres
Zakład Filologii Angielskiej
Wydział Pedagogiczno-Artystyczny
Adam Mickiewicz University
Poznań, Wielkopolskie, Poland
ISSN 2193-7648 ISSN 2193-7656 (electronic)
Second Language Learning and Teaching
ISSN 2365-967X ISSN 2365-9688 (electronic)
Issues in Literature and Culture
ISBN 978-3-030-04103-8 ISBN 978-3-030-04104-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04104-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018961207
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part
of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission
or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar
methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from
the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or
for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to
jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
I dedicate this work to MB.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to express his thanks to Prof. Piotr Sitarski (School of
Media and Audiovisual Culture, Institute of Contemporary Culture, University of
Lodz, Poland) for his thoughtful comments and suggestions which have enhanced
the quality of this work. The book would also not be published without the helpful
guidance of Prof. Mirosław Pawlak (State University of Applied Sciences, Konin,
Poland and Department of English Studies, Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts,
Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland). Last but not least, the author would
like to express his gratitude to Prof. Tadeusz Gaworzewski (Department of
Education in Fine Arts, Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts, Adam Mickiewicz
University, Poznan, Poland) for his valuable assistance and unwavering support in
the development of artistic judgement and drawing skills without which this
monograph would not have taken its final shape.
vii
Contents
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
1 Clothes Make the Man—The Relation Between the Sensual
and the Sexual in Blade Runner (1982) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 The Clothes Make the Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.3 The Visual and Tactile Appeal of Blade Runner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2 Star Wars as an Aesthetic Melting Pot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.2 Aesthetic Melting Pot and Opulence of Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.2.1 Star Wars as the Meeting Place of East and West . . . . . . . 17
2.2.2 Between Technology and Nature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.2.3 The Maelstrom of Propaganda—From Visualization
of Power and Bombast to Detachment of the Jedi . . . . . . . 29
2.3 A Disturbance in the Force as a Response to the Electric
Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.4 Darth Vader as a Hybrid of the Literate and the Tribal . . . . . . . . . 41
2.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3 Horror Vacui and the Critique of Visual Society in Alien and
Terminator Films . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.2 Horror Vacui . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.2.1 The Frightening Space(s) of Aliens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.3 Failure of Visual Society in the Alien and Terminator
Franchises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.3.1 Failure of Visual Culture in Alien Films . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.3.2 Failure of Visual Society in the Terminator Franchise . . . . 57
ix
x Contents
3.4 Alien and Terminator as Monsters for the Electric Age . . . . . . . . . 58
3.4.1 The Monster of the Acoustic Space in Alien Films . . . . . . 59
3.4.2 Monster of the Visual Space Hunting the “Tribal Man”
(and Woman) in the Terminator Franchise . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.5 Obliteration of the Past as the Result of the Simultaneity
of the Acoustic Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
3.6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4 The Digital Natives and the Implosion of Humanity in The Matrix
and Avatar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4.2 The Spectacular Aesthetics of Avatar and The Matrix Trilogy . . . . 74
4.2.1 Exploring the 3-D Spectacle of Avatar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.2.2 Visual Spectacle in the Matrix Films . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.3 The High Definition Tactility of The Matrix Trilogy . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.4 Easternization and Tribalization in The Matrix and Avatar . . . . . . 86
5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Introduction
While the aesthetic and philosophical concerns of science fiction cinema are often
highly speculative, it can be argued that many of the observations made in the genre
are either coming true or may soon gain fulfilment. Hence, its focus on the relation
between science or technology and human life should also be analyzed through the
lens of scholars unassociated with the field of science fiction. That is why this
monograph proposes to analyze influential science fiction classics by treating them
as case studies which validate the theses of Marshall McLuhan. The works to be
discussed were carefully selected. Despite the renewal of interest in the genre,
which could be said to have made itself an important part of the mainstream culture,
it could be argued that many of the works of science fiction are derivative in nature.
The influence of several enormously popular franchises cannot be understated: from
Alien and Blade Runner, through Terminator, Star Wars, The Matrix to Avatar,
these films have defined the aesthetics of a science fiction film which would be
repeated or echoed in countless other works in the genre, regardless of the medium.
Hence, the purpose of the monograph is to focus on these few, continuously rel-
evant works to ascertain whether the predictions and intuitions expressed in the
films, especially in their aesthetic dimension, correlate with the observations made
by the famous Canadian. The reason for the employment of McLuhan’s theories in
the analysis of science fiction lies in their similarity: they each look at the causes in
the present and try to come up with possible results, anticipating their effects in the
future. For instance, McLuhan argued that under the electric conditions the patterns
of development are clearly visible, which leads the observer to anticipate the results,
even if the thing is conspicuous by its absence. This would explain why so many
works of science fiction share common themes; while clearly in some cases the
authors are inspired by one another, they also see the same patterns and come to the
matching conclusions based on the similar input of information.
The monograph is also a response to the fact that McLuhan’s theories have not
been systematically linked with interpretation of science fiction. It is a puzzling
phenomenon, since both deal with speculations and predictions concerning the
xi