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Jonna Rogers

Genre Analysis

In this essay, I will be analysing the genre of science fiction within TV and film. This genre
mixes scientific concepts with fiction to tell futuristic and, often, otherworldly stories. As well
at looking at the genre, I will be exploring how it has changed over time, since its debut in
1902 with Le Voyage dans la Lune, compared to modern day and how audiences’ reactions
to the genre have changed and progressed over time with the genre becoming more diverse
and telling a wider range of stories.

The science fiction genre has many codes and conventions. One convention it has is that
the media in this genre are typically set in a futuristic time periods. This allows for futuristic
and advanced technology to be used in the story without question as the time the story is set
in is already established to be more advanced as it is in the future.
As well as this, sci-fis are commonly set on Earth but in an alternate reality to our own. This
allows for the audience to still feel connected to the story as the setting looks familiar but is
different enough to allow unusual circumstances (like an alien invasion) to happen.
Science fiction stories are also often set in outer space. Setting these films and television
shows in outer space allows for the story to go in any almost any direction needed without
question from the audience. Outer space also gives audiences the feel of emptiness and
being alone as space is an endless location which adds to the suspense of the story.
This also links to the colours used within the gerne. Black and dark colours are often used to
further the idea of loneliness and emptiness. This is used to give bigger stakes to the films
as the dark colours signify that there is no one around to help the characters, that they are
on their own.

Another code and convention of this genre is that the main protagonist of the story must
save the world, often with help of a side-kick. This protagonist is usually human, or human
looking, and must fight against a alien or some kind of inhuman creature. This makes the
audience root for the protagonist as they want to see the humans defeat the monsters.
It is also common for the protagonist to be a scientist or someone of high intellect. This can
be seen in Arrival with Amy Addams’ character, Louise Banks. She is a highly intelligent
Jonna Rogers

linguistics professor who is able to decode and understand an alien language. Having
characters with high IQ allows the story to progressive when characters face certain
obstacles as the character will be intelligent enough to fix it.

As a whole, media within the science fiction traditionally star a white young adult male. This
trend can be seen across many of the genre’s television shows and films across decades
with films and shows like Star Trek, Back to the Future, Planet of the Apes. This leads me to
believe that the overall target audience for this genre is white males aged around 16-21
years old. This is because audiences want to see themselves represented on screen and
therefore will most likely go to see movies in which they are represented. This can be seen
in the audience turnout for science fiction films, even in recent films like Rogue One: A Star
Wars Story. According to BFI, the 2016 UK turnout was 66% male for this movie compared
to the only 34% female. White males are also the biggest group of “movie-goers”, which is
another reason as to why science fiction is mainly targeted towards and watched by a big
majority of males.

This audience has changed over the years compared to when the genre was first introduced.
This can be because of who is seen on screen. In the first science fiction film, Le Voyage
dans la Lune, the main actors are all older men. As the genre evolved the male protagonists
began to get younger. This can be seen when comparing film cast from different decades.
For example, the 1968 film, Planet of the Apes which has a older male lead compared to, the
1985 film, Back the the future stars the teenager Marty McFly. As the protagonist of the films
got younger it brought in different age groups as young males were now more interested.
However, in the 1970s brought films like Alien and Star Wars: A New Hope that had strong
female protagonists in the forms of Ripley and Princess Leia. This changed the audience for
science fiction as more females were introduced to the genre after seeing themselves
represented on screen.

However, females in films were not always presented as the protagonist. Some female
characters within science fiction are often labeled as damsels in distress or are the result of
sexulaisation. Even female protagonists were not immune to sexualisation as seen in Return
of the Jedi when Leia was seen in a ‘slave bikini’.

Another way that the narrative in science fiction has changed is that in modern sci-fi people
of colour (POC) are more represented, compared to films in the genre before the 1990s.
Examples being Pacific Rim, The Force Awakens, and Black Panther. However, white
protagonists are still more commonly seen.

Another way that science fiction has changed since the first film is in the technology used to
create the sets. In the early days of the genre Computer Generated Images (CGI) so to
create aliens and monster prosthetics, props and animatronics were used. Even in 1993s
Jurassic Park animatronics were used to create life like dinosaurs, according to Wikipedia.
However, now whole creatures can be made in science fiction films using CGI. For example,
The Hulk is created in The Avengers using CGI.
Jonna Rogers

Science fiction film can be distributed in a number of ways. One famous example is Avatar.
This film was first distributed in cinemas in 2D and in 3D and became the highest grossing
worldwide box office of all time. It was released in theaters as this viewing experience,
especially in 3D, in much more immersive than watching it on TV. After it cinematic run, it
was released on DVD and Blu Ray as this allows fans to collect the disk and also view
bonus feature that were not previously available. DVDs, as well as buying it online from
iTunes or Amazon, allows the viewer to keep the film and watch it whenever they want.
There is also the option to rent this movie from these online shops as renting is cheaper than
actually buying the film. This film is also often played on TV as a channel has bought the
rights and now is allowed to place adverts throughout the film. Playing Avatar on TV allows
it to reach a wider audience who would have not purposely watched it on their own.
There is another science fiction movie that was released in early 2018 that had a different
distribution run in the U.K. to Avatar. This film is Annihilation which had its global distribution
rights sold to the streaming service, Netflix. This allows audiences who may have not wanted
to go out to the cinema and pay to now watch it as they are already paying for this streaming
service. Having it on Netflix means that it is also more accessible to audiences as they don’t
have to leave their home to be able to watch it.

To conclude, I believe that science fiction has evolved over the years to show more diverse
and exclusive stories and have less stereotypical characters. With this change also allowed
the genre to be accessed by a wider audience making it a more popular genre.

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