What’s the story, mother? Some thoughts on Science Fiction Film and Space Travel

Abstract

Within our archives preserve not only evidence of the past, but also materialized imaginations of the future are preserved there. When dealing with film as a medium, the complex, multi-layered relations between imagined, and therefore also projected times, — past, present, future — can be traced. The genres of the fantastic film, in particular the genre of Science Fiction, reflects the present while dealing with the future. So-called deviant genres and subgenres — think SF, Horror or even Porn — have always portrayed social fears and hopes and have also reflected and influenced real technical development. Therefore, Science Fiction film can also be understood as a rethinking of human space travel, opening something like a metaphorical double-space between real and framed space.