Table of Contents Acknowledgments vi Prologue: Science Fiction and Cinema: Saving the Future by Believing There Will Be One 1 Part One: A Flickering Light on the World 1. The Self-Preventing Prophecy: How a Dose of Nightmare Might Tame Tomorrow's Perils 9 2. Society and Citizens Are Fools! The Favorite Cliché of Cinema and Fiction 15 3. 2001: A Space Odyssey: Shining Light on How Far We've Come 27 4. Living in a Science Fictional World: Biology and Destiny and Life 'n' Such 32 5. A Quirky Must-See Guide to Science Fiction Movies 44 Part Two: Admirable (But Flawed) Blockbusters 6. J'accuse George Lucas . or Zola Meets Yoda 51 7.
Avatar. Just Avatar. 75 8. The Lord of the Rings: J.R.R. Tolkien vs. the Modern Age 89 Part Three: Grinding Axes 9.
Roll Over, Frank Miller: Street Kids Are Better Than Those 300 Spartans! 101 10. Atlas Shrugged: The Hidden Context of the Book and Film 107 11. Demigods and "Chosen Ones" . Would It Hurt If Humanity Got to Play, Too? 117 12. Getting Science Fictional About a Better World: Marxists and Feminists and Feudalists and Libertarians, Oh My! 122 Part Four: Heroes and Villains 13. Name That Villain: Bad Guys and Aliens in Sci-Fi Movies 135 14. King Kong Is Back! The Ape in the Mirror 141 15. The Matrix: Tomorrow May Be Different 148 16.
A Mini-Rant: Why All Those Zombies Mean You'd Better Vote! 159 17. Buffy the Old-Fashioned Hero 162 Part Five: Dark Visions and Hope 18. Dune: What This Classic Teaches About "Point of View" 165 19. The Postman: The Book vs. the Movie 172 20. Man Against Machine: Surrogates, Clones and Dittos 177 21. Gravity: Unbearable Lightness . but Solid Storytelling 198 22.
Great Opening Lines from Science Fiction Tales 202 23. From Metaphor to Movie Magic--or Why We're Such Good Liars 205 Chapter Notes 221 Index 225.