Trysts Tropiques: The Torrid Jungles of Science Fiction

2018

eTropic

A search for imaginary cities and city-like objects portrayed in twentieth century science fiction magazine cover art employed digital tools and followed a PRISMA methodology for systematic analysis. The findings include a correlation between indigenous peoples being portrayed as possessing less advanced technology than human visitors or human city builders in the tropics. Human cultural tropes are identified in the depiction of indigenous peoples, and trends over time in the increasing sophistication of portrayals, and a decline in gratuitously sexual artwork are visible, which supports findings of other work on changing cultural perceptions of the tropics found in science fiction. Notable themes were the tropics as a place of conflict, simplistic depictions of women, the difference between the portrayal of jungle and desert environments and the colonial mythology perpetuated in cover art over this period. Science fiction cities of the tropics were often still or devoid of life, rather than vibrant, active places. An intriguing finding was that building a filtering model for tropical environments in a science fiction setting leads naturally to a consideration of how the concept of the tropics is based on arbitrary, Earthly, cartographic conventions, which do not exist on other worlds. This difference highlights the value-laden meaning of tropical environments and societies applied by the ‘alien,’ whether European colonist or visiting Earthling, and that the inhabitants of the tropics are not bound by these conventions.

Section: Tropical Culturesupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Magazines and Cover Artmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cities in Flight: A Descriptive Examination of the Tropical City Imagined in Twentieth Century Science Fiction Cover Art

2018

eTropic

“…Moreover, Miroslav Kotasek (2015) states, "In today's cultural situation it is almost impossible to have clearly defined borders between scientific 'concepts and terms' and their 'vulgar' usage in everyday discourse" (p. 64). Science fiction has also been found to reflect and track cultural change (Menadue, 2017b(Menadue, , 2018a(Menadue, , 2018b, and the relationship between science and science fiction is one that is becoming more relevant to research as science fiction is increasingly used to enhance research outcomes across many disciplines, most especially for education and advocacy (Menadue & Cheer, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who Reads Science Fiction and Fantasy, and How Do They Feel About Science? Preliminary Findings From an Online Survey

Jacups

2018

Sage Open

This article describes findings from an online survey Science Fiction & Fantasy: Your Experiences, launched in November 2015 and closed 1 year later, which received 909 unique responses. The survey identified characteristics of readers of science fiction, their knowledge and experiences of works, authors, and subgenres. It examined their attitudes to science and science fiction and their judgment of the similarity between real and fictional scientists. Contrary to declining reading habits, the science fiction and fantasy audience read consistently high volumes of books, as well as watching genre TV and film. We discovered that reading science fiction and fantasy may have a role in sustained, and cognitively beneficial, adoption of reading by young people and is complementary to other forms of consumption, rather than competitive. Science fiction was also found to be an important influence on the perception and acceptance of science by the public. Implications of this are that science fiction and fantasy are now a normal part of life for a wide range of people, and science fiction has a positive influence on popular interpretation, acceptance, and support of scientific endeavors. These results support earlier work that suggests science fiction is a valuable research tool for public engagement with science.

“…The genre appears to have a special relevance for the public as a source of thought experiments and speculation about the way in which people think about the human capacity to bring about change through the use of tools and technology ( Menadue, Giselsson, & Guez, 2019 ). In this regard, it may be regarded as a potent indicator of contemporary popular interests, and mapping of science fiction texts against historical changes in society and culture supports this approach ( Menadue, 2017 , Menadue, 2018a , Menadue, 2018b , Menadue, 2019a ). It is a genre that has an increasingly broad popularity and influence, with a consumer demographic today that is highly educated, takes an interest in real-world science, and which has come to reflect a less specialised audience than might have been the case in the early 20th Century ( Berger, 1977 ; Menadue & Jacups, 2018 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pandemics, epidemics, viruses, plagues, and disease: Comparative frequency analysis of a cultural pathology reflected in science fiction magazines from 1926 to 2015

Social Sciences & Humanities Open

2020

Self Cite

Science fiction includes many dystopian narratives, often featuring epidemics, pandemics, plagues, viruses, and disease. As science fiction has grown in popularity and prevalence it appeals to an increasingly broad demographic, is employed in research communication and education, and as a genre it is frequently argued that it reflects contemporary cultural interests and concerns. To identify the relevance of science fiction as an indicator of popular trends relating to the pathologies of disease, a word frequency comparison of selected key words found in the Google Books 2012 English Corpus has been made to a representative corpus of science fiction magazines dating between 1926 and 2015. Selected issues were reviewed to identify concepts, situations, and outcomes that could readily be measured against real-world examples from current and recent pandemics. The findings indicate that science fiction does appear to mirror and magnify contemporary literary trends, and provides potentially revealing correlations to real-world historical events. In this regard, science fiction might be regarded as a form of ‘cultural pathology’ of popular interests related to the spread and impact of disease that may be valuable in gauging the degree to which society is engaged with these topics at any specific time.